I'm having way too much fun playing with heart shapes this week.I'm sort of in shock that, in all these years, I never tried to make any heart-shaped food. It's no secret that I love "playing" with food, creating fun shapes, designs, and characters. A simple search for Totoro on the blog will give you a taste of the crazy creations I've made in the past. Despite all that, it never occurred to me to make heart-shaped food for Valentine's Day.I think my inspiration that started with the heart-bellied Totoros got my creative juices churning. Tonight for dinner - just for the fun of it - I decided to try making these cute little heart-shaped bacon wrapped pork loins.
They fry up beautifully on the pan and aren't too hard to make. I basically roughly cut a triangle of pork loin and then cut out a corner from one side in order to make a heart-like shape.
Add salt and pepper to season the pork, and then wrap the whole thing in bacon.
I fried it on a pan over medium heat, cooking on each side until it crisped up nicely (several minutes). It was a bit tricky to keep the bacon tight against the indented part; it kept wanting to flatten out. I tried sticking a chopstick (a metal one!) in the groove while frying to keep the bacon snug against the pork. It helped, but next time I might try to find something a bit heavier or bigger to weight it down more.
The finished product can easily be sliced for all sorts of fun presentations.
I served it with cold hand-pulled noodles (no, I did not pull them myself this time). Instead I bought some refrigerated fresh ones at C-Mart. The noodles were tossed with yuzu kosho (one of my favorite condiments in the world), bonito, and dashi powder. On top I added a velvety 65 °C (149 °F) sous vide egg.
Simple, elegant, and delicious: the perfect quick yet thoughtful weeknight meal. Serve with a side of vegetables (we had some classic Chinese chives with 5-spice bean curd), and you're all set for dinner.
Enjoy!
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