Do you know why I love Thanksgiving? Yes, because we gather family around and give thanks and blah blah blah, but what I love most is constructing the ideal bite on my fork. Flavors and textures that perfectly compliment each other, all at once. I think this is why I love bowls. Salad bowls, rice bowls, noodle bowls... you can eat a delicious bite with each spoonful (forkful, chopstick-ful?). Does anyone else think about their food this much? Should I seek help??
Anyway, my friend recently sent me the following recipe, and I shortened the title but it's really called "Crockpot Caramelized Pork Ramen Noodle Soup with Curry Roasted Acorn Squash" - a mouthful, right? A PERFECT MOUTHFUL. But before you click on the link and say... "wait, this takes 9 hours to make and calls for one thousand ingredients?!" let me calm you down right now. Your crock pot will do most of the work... just throw that pork butt in there with as many ingredients as you have (I omitted the red curry paste and the Chinese five-spice because I didn't want to go out and get them) and let it slooooowly cook. You don't HAVE to crisp up the pork at the end if you're low on time, but I would HIGHLY recommend it, as it really transforms the meat into something special. For the acorn squash, I only roasted it in olive oil, salt, pepper and a little brown sugar because, again, I didn't have any of the rest of the ingredients. But I still thought it was superb.
Raw carrots offer the perfect crunch, and the egg's creamy yolk adds a wonderful richness...
(Click here for a tutorial on soft-boiling eggs.)
Also, Sriracha on everything, always. Forever.
