Stir Fried Pork with Garlic Scapes

A few weeks ago, my husband and I visited my in-laws.  They took us to the West Side Market and I bought some garlic scapes on a whim.  I'd never cooked them before, but my mother in law said they were pretty awesome.  She suggested that they would taste good with pork.  I looked all over the internet for a tasty sounding pork and garlic scape recipe and stumbled across this one from Tigers and Strawberries, one of my favorite cooking blogs.  I'm sad that it hasn't been updated in a while, I've tried so many of her recipes!  I modified this one a little because I didn't have time to go to the grocery store and made it with what I had already.  So, no pressed tofu or dried mushrooms.  But it still worked out really well, and the garlic scapes really are quite tasty.  They have the consistency of Chinese long beans unless they're blanched.  I wanted a bit of a crunch, so I didn't bother.  They taste like garlic, but lighter and crunchy.

This dish is pretty quick to make if you marinate the pork and then chop everything while it's sitting in the fridge.

My frog chopstick rest is fabulous. 

Pork and Garlic Scape Stir Fry
adapted from Tigers and Strawberries
Serves 2

Ingredients
1/2 lb boneless pork chops, sliced thinly
2 Tbsp soy sauce, divided
4 tsp corn starch
4 Tbsp peanut (recommended) or canola oil
3 or 4 scallions, white and light green parts thinly sliced on the bias
3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 inch cube ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 serrano or Thai chile, thinly sliced on the bias
1 tsp sugar
3-4 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 1/2 cups garlic scapes, cut into 2 inch long pieces cut on the bias
1/4 tsp sesame oil

Method
1) Mix the pork, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, and the corn starch together.  Marinate for at least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour.  (Mine marinated for an hour but it wasn't intentional, that was how long it took me to watch an episode of The West Wing.  But, I think it was the right amount of time for my taste).
2) Heat the wok until it is very hot.  Then add the peanut oil and heat it until it shimmers.
3) Add the ginger, garlic, scallions, and chile and stir fry until fragrant, about one minute.
4) Add the pork in a layer along the bottom of the wok and let it sit for one minute so it can brown on the bottom.  While it's cooking, sprinkle the top of the meat evenly with sugar.
5) When it looks and/or smells like the pork is browned, stir fry everything that's in the wok until it looks like the pork is about 3/4 of the way fully cooked.
6) Deglaze the wok with the wine and remaining 1 Tbsp of soy sauce. Scrape up all the brown bits.  Then add the garlic scapes. Stir fry until the scapes are bright green and the sauce is thickened and glossy.
7) Remove the wok from heat and drizzle the mixture with the sesame oil. Serve with rice