Using Your Greens: Pork and Greens Soup

This recipe really floored me. The thing that took the most time was rolling the pork into tiny balls. And I used two bok choy heads plus some mustard greens (didn't have spicy on hand so used Mizuna and tatsoi).

It's got enough garlic to have your husband ask the next morning, "did you just eat some garlic?" But that's okay by  me. 

It was a big hit with my 6 year old daughter. Everyone asked for second helping! 

This recipe was originally posted by Israel Tockman several years ago. It took me this long to actually try it! 

And I shouldn't have waited so long. 

This recipe moves quickly, so I got everything prepped before launching in. It takes 5 - 10 minutes to cook. Blammo!

Pork and Greens Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 3 thin slices of fresh ginger
• 2 large cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp minced garlic 
• 1 lb ground pork (I got mine from Cooper Creek Ranch)
• 1 tsp arrowroot powder
• 3 - 4 (or as many as you like, really) garlic scapes, chopped to bite size
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Black pepper
• 12 to 14 oz greens (bok choy, mustards, I threw in a few kohlrabi leaves in there)
• Other ideas: add some cooked rice noodles or steamed kohlrabi cubes

How to: 

Prepped garlic, ginger, and washed the greens 

Put the broth on the stove on high. 

Got out a medium bowl and added minced garlic to the pork along with the salt, pepper and arrowroot powder (you could also use xantham gum or corn starch in the same amount). With a fork I combined the ingredients then rolled the pork into balls about an inch or so in diameter. Israel did half inch, but that was too labor intensive for me! 

Broth is ready at this point, and so I added the pork and let it simmer. 

While the pork is cooking, I chopped the greens. I used all of the bok choy, including the stems. If you have harder stems, you can compost those. Copped them into ribbons, about 1 inch wide. I also decided to throw in some scapes, which I loosely chopped and threw in with the greens. 

The pork took about 6 minutes to cook. I checked the middle to make sure all the pink was gone. 

Add the greens. Let it simmer for another three to four minutes until the greens are bright green. If you are adding rice noodles, I'd do that now. 

Serve! 

I ate mine straight up. Added some left over quinoa and brown rice to my husband and daughter's. 

Now, Israel had noted that he added some more flavor to his, which I totally missed when I was cooking. We ate it like this, which I thought was delicious. However, you can certainly add the following, as Israel did: combine 1 tablespoon of dark sesame oil, 1 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, and a half tsp of Korean red chili powder. Put two dollops in each bowl. Will try that next time! 

Let me know if you try the recipe, and if you made any variations. Till next week!