Pork, eggplant, peppers, hoisin, the Fonz

Our TiVo's now playing list is getting so out of control that tonight we did something we almost never do: ate in front of the tube. We chose a sit-com we weren't expecting to love. Sit-com so that the length of the program would not be too much greater than the time it would take to eat. We weren't expecting to love because I prefer to give my complete attention to anything I really care about. (I would rather not eat dinner while watching Gilmore Girls.) The show we chose, Out of Practice, is from the Frasier shop and has an excellent cast. Henry Winkler and Stockard Channing play ex-spouses and parents of three adult children. The pilot had misunderstandings, insults, sexual innuendo, smart Frasieresque dialogue, and Jennifer Tilly wearing a towel. I'm sold.

Above you see our hoisin pork with eggplant, one of my standard stir-fry dinners. It's made with pork loin cut into strips and mixed ahead of time with salt, pepper, sugar, and mirin. The veggies are scrumptious red bell pepper and eggplant from the farmer's market and yellow onions from the supermarket. Also in the mix: garlic, ginger, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, more salt and sugar, chicken stock, corn starch, and a bit of water to thin out the sauce. We ate it over Thai jasmine rice and I squirted on some sriracha, aka rooster hot sauce. You simply cannot get really good Chinese take-out within taking-out distance of us, so I have had to learn a thing or two about Chinese cooking since moving to Milwaukee. This is about as good as I get at it.