The Fanciest Ramen I've Ever Had

If you don't like ramen, please don't let this title scare you off. You don't even have to use ramen. Personally, I love ramen soup. Not all the time, but it's one of the staples I like to keep in the kitchen for when it's cold out, or if I don't feel like eating (or making) much for dinner. Since (news flash!) it's been pretty cold outside recently, I had a few packets of soup on standby in the house and decided to use them as a short-cut in Sunday's recipe, an easy and oh-so-good alternative to take-out.

Back to that in a minute.
As I mentioned, it's been pretty chilly lately, with it being December and all. This

I'm so glad we won't have to live like this in the summer!

weekend turned out to be a busy one because the weather called for an ice storm to hit town on Sunday, forcing us to push most of our weekend plans to Saturday. This turned out not to be a problem though because we needed to be out of the house - we finally got central air installed!! I know, it's December, we won't be able to use it for months. Growing up, my dad had a rule that the AC wasn't turned on until it was over 90 degrees outside, but I'm aiming to use it the first random, unseasonably warm day that appears, likely to be around the first weekend of March Madness. I can't wait until the day we* don't have to lug out the window units from the garage and can just press a button to turn it on!

      *And by "we", I mean Bart.

Bring it on, Richmond, I'm ready for spring, summer and fall.

So the intimidating ice storm turned out to be not much more than icy rain, but the dreary, cold, wet weather was enough to make me want to stay inside almost all day on Sunday, especially after having a busy Saturday. I did venture out in the morning to go to the Bizarre Bazaar Christmas show, a Richmond tradition, with my mom to get some Christmas gifts, house decorations, and of course, cookies. Thank goodness it was only rain and we were still able to go!

The view from my kitchen window on
a rainy December Sunday

When I got back to the house, I started the quick and easy preparation for dinner, which I adapted from this recipe. It's one I had pinned awhile back and have been wanting to try ever since.

A number of the comments I read on this recipe suggested doubling the sauce, which is what I ended up doing, with the exception of the garlic, and I was glad I did. The ingredient list below reflects that:

Ingredients:

• 2 1-lb pork tenderloins (the two tenderloins we bought were each just a little over a pound)
• 1/4c low sodium soy sauce, divided
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 4 small (or 2 large) garlic cloves, minced
• 4 3oz packages of ramen noodle soup
• 5 small carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 1/3c unsalted peanuts, chopped
• 3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4c fresh cilantro leaves
• Sriracha (optional)

Directions:

Place the pork in the crock-pot. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tbsp of soy sauce, the tomato sauce, hoisin sauce, sugar, ginger and minced garlic. Pour the mixture over the pork. I used a basting brush to make sure everything was covered. Cover and cook on low for 3 1/2 hours. You can cook it longer if you'd like, it will only make it easier to shred.

Once cooked, pull the pork out of the crock-pot and place on a cutting board to rest (for about 10 minutes). In the meantime, strain the sauce from the crock-pot into a small bowl. 

Cook the ramen noodles according to the package directions (excluding the seasoning packets), then drain. This is also a good time to chop up the carrots and peanuts if you haven't already done so.

Put the sauce from the bowl back in the crock-pot and combine with remaining 3 tbsp soy sauce, seasoned rice vinegar and sesame oil. Cover and cook on high for 10 minutes. While the sauce is heating up, shred the pork with two forks.

Once the sauce is done, turn the crock-pot off and stir in the shredded pork and noodles. Add in the carrots, peanuts and cilantro and serve. Of course you can add Sriracha if you desire, as Bart did.

I couldn't get enough of this meal and am already looking forward to making it again; it's definitely going to be high up on my list of quick and yummy meals as a take-out alternative.