Epicurious.com is a great foodie site. It includes recipes from Bon Appetit and the late, great Gourmet that are searchable by keyword. It also includes a handy shopping list feature, photos and reader reviews. Last week I felt like trying a new recipe for pork stir-fry and Epicurious.com yielded this great recipe from Gourmet’s February 2001 issue. The sauce uses ingredients you are likely to have on hand and you can use a variety of vegetables. In addition to the red pepper and snow peas called for in the recipe, I used some leftover asparagus.

Assemble all your stir-fry ingredients before cooking

Stir fry the vegetables and cashews first

Then sear the pork; don't crowd the pan or the pork will steam instead of sear

Recombine the ingredients, add the sauce and heat through

Serve with rice

To avoid additives and preservatives in this recipe, use tamari instead of soy sauce. Tamari is preserved with alcohol, instead of a preservative such as sodium benzoate.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon medium-dry Sherry
2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
3/4 lb boneless pork loin, thinly sliced, then cut into 2- by 1/4-inch strips
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons peanut oil
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips
1/2 lb snow peas, trimmed
1 cup salted roasted cashews

Preparation:

Stir together Sherry, cornstarch, and 1 tablespoon soy sauce, then stir in sesame oil. Add pork, stirring to coat well, and let stand 10 minutes.

Stir together sugar and remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce.

Heat a wok or large nonstick skillet over high heat until a bead of water dropped on cooking surface evaporates immediately. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil, swirling wok to coat evenly, then stir-fry 1 teaspoon ginger, 1 teaspoon garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper flakes until fragrant, about 5 seconds. Add bell pepper and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add snow peas and cashews and stir-fry until snow peas are crisp-tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer vegetables to a bowl.

Heat remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil in wok until just smoking, then stir-fry remaining ginger, garlic, and pepper flakes until fragrant, about 5 seconds. Add pork and stir-fry, separating strips, until browned and barely cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Add vegetables and sweetened soy sauce, then stir-fry until vegetables are just heated through, about 1 minute more. Serve with rice. Serves four.

From the February 2001 issue of Gourmet, found on Epicurious.com