Category: Pork

Bean and pork stew

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

Initially, I wasn’t sure if I’d type up this recipe.

But it seriously grows on you and the next day, Nat and I simultaneously messaged each other in disbelief at how good the stew was for lunch.

There is no question that as far as recipes I’d cook for a work lunch, this is one I would do again and again. And if you have followed this blog for a while, you’ll know that I try to put a bit of effort into workday lunches and often cook dishes especially for the weekday lunch run.

It is super healthy, it’s full of those beans we don’t get enough of and it would easily double and freeze.

It started life like a calf finding its feet for the first time, though once we had our head around this stew, it was all on!

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
125gm mild salami, chopped
2 x 350gm pork fillets, trimmed, cut into 3cm pieces
1 carrot, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
6 thyme sprigs, leaves chopped
2 sage leaves, finely chopped
1 ½ cups (375ml) chicken stock
250gm baby roma tomatoes, halved
2 x 400g cans butter beans
400g can red kidney beans
100g baby spinach leaves
Ciabatta to serve

Method

  1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a casserole dish over a high heat. Cook salami, stirring for 2 – 3 minutes until crisp, then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Do not drain oil from pan.
  2. Season pork. In two batches, cook, turning for 2 – 3 minutes until golden.
  3. Reduce heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tbsp oil. Add the carrot, onion and celery and cook for 3 – 4 minutes until softened. Add garlic, thyme and sage and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until fragrant. Add the stock, tomatoes and beans, bring to the simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until flavours have infused. Return the pork to the pan and cook for a few more minutes, until the pork is cooked and the stew thickened. Stir through the spinach and remove from the heat.
  4. Scatter with the crisp salami and serve with toasted ciabatta.

Pork Skewers with Cabbage Slaw and Peanut Sauce

.Reading time 3 minutes.
IMG_7516.JPG
Marinated (though uncooked) pork is (still) a win!

Serves: 4

This is a really tight, really nice execution of this style of dish.

The pork is aromatic, full of flavour, sweet, sour and of course, chargrilled with a wonderful crust.

The peanut sauce is sophisticated; sweet and sour again, dry and with a slightly earthy undertone. Nothing like the crap you’d find in a bottle.

And a fresh slaw to round it off.

Everything compliments the other. A real balance of flavour.

I found this in a magazine and as long as you can start it the night before, you have the week’s winner on your hands.

No washing up for you.

Cook it and seriously enjoy.

Ingredients

Pork

½ bunch coriander, leaves chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
100gm ginger, finely grated (a good 6 or 7cm piece at least)
3 small red chillies, finely chopped
¼ cup honey
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1kg pork neck fillet, sliced into 1cm strips (we used pork loin though only to feel healthy)

Peanut sauce

1 1/3 cups (200gm) roasted unsalted peanuts
1 tbs sesame oil
2 tsp grated palm sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
Juice of 1 lime, plus wedges to serve

Cabbage slaw

¼ sliced red cabbage very thinly sliced
1 red onion, very thinly sliced
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp caster sugar
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 bunch coriander, leaves picked

Method

You will need 12 metal skewers or soaked skewers; start the pork the night before.

  1. To make the marinade, combine coriander, garlic, ginger, chilli, honey and oil in a large bowl; add pork, turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
  2. For the peanut sauce, process the peanuts and sesame oil in a food processor to a rough paste. Add remaining ingredients with 2tbsp of water and process until smooth and combined. Set aside.
  3. For the slaw, place all the ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine.
  4. Remove the pork at least 1 hour prior to grilling; preheat the grill to a high heat.
  5. Thread the pork onto skewers and cook for a few minutes each side until charred and cooked through.
  6. Serve all together with a squeeze of lime.

Braised Peas and Bacon

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

I served this simple Jill Dupleix braise last night with an even simpler Veal Pillard: preheat your grill to hot, brush veal schnitzels in olive oil and season, grill for 1 minute and serve with a dollop of horseradish and juice from a chargrilled lemon half.

What a success!

The flavours married wonderfully, especially for a cold cold night.

Cook this once and this will become a side you do over and over again.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
3 rashers streaky bacon, diced
2 leeks, trimmed and finely sliced
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
100ml white wine
150ml chicken stock
200gm frozen baby peas
1 tbsp mint leaves
1 tbsp butter
Sea salt and pepper

Method

  1. In a pan, cook the bacon over a medium heat until crisp. Set aside.
  2. Heat the oil over a low heat and add the leeks, spring onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
  3. Add the wine and bring to the boil. Add the stock and peas and simmer for 3 minutes.
  4. Return the bacon to the pan with the mint, butter, sea salt and pepper, heat through and serve.

Stuffed Turkey Breast (and Turkey Subs)

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Serves: 4 -8 per breast, depending on breast size

Christmas was always a pretty big deal in my family, something consistent with most families I guess.

My mother being an excellent – and calm – cook, would prepare the same amazing turkey lunch each year, remit with the world’s best stuffing, smooth, buttery mash, peas, gravy, ham and plenty of cranberry sauce. You left the table stuffed and poorly on your feet.

But the best part of this lunch wasn’t the lunch.

It was dinner.

Because after a few hours of playing with your toys and snoozing, it was time for turkey subs, an American invention my father would take control off.

Whoever invented turkey subs was a genius, because it is Christmas lunch all over again, except this time, served in a pile on a piece of bread. Think of it like Christmas Lunch Express™ but at dinner time.

And so with all this background, we arrive at this recipe.

For the past 10 years, I have done this Martha Stewart stuffed turkey breast rather than a whole turkey. A variety of reasons for this including that the breast is easier to cook and the breast really is what everyone wants right?

It also travels better than a whole cooked bird, is easier to slice the next day into sandwiches or a salad and well… it’s just easier and nobody complains or that I am aware of.

You could well add some chilli flakes to this dish, maybe some fennel seeds. The flavour by no means overwhelms and is just a subtle background flavour.

Turkey subs

Turkey subs simply make Christmas for me. They are your pat on the back that all your preparation and cooking and effort has been worth it and you can sit back with a vino and toast the end of the year.

To make the sub, start with a slice of bread for each person and then layer:

Ingredients

1kg turkey breast
Coarse Salt and Pepper
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

Sausage and Sour Cherry Stuffing

2 cups bread cubes from load of rustic
2 tbs olive oil
1 small red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced (about ¾ cup)
2 small garlic cloves, finely chopped
Coarse salt and pepper
200g sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1/3 cup coarsely chopped dried sour cherries
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup chicken stock
3 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

For the Sausage and Sour Cherry Stuffing

  1. Toast the bread in a toaster or grill until golden. Allow to cool.
  2. Make the stuffing: Set a large frypan over medium-high heat until hot, then heat the oil.
  3. Add onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add sausage and cook, breaking it up with the back of a spoon, until cooked through, about 3 minutes. Stir in cherries and rosemary, and cook 1 minute more.
  4. Pour in stock and stir to combine, then stir in bread, making sure all parts are moistened with liquid. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Adjust seasoning as desired.

For the stuffed turkey breast

  1. Heat oven to 200c.
  2. To butterfly the turkey, use a slicing knife and your fingers to remove skin from breast, reserving skin. Turn the breast over (so the side that had the skin is facing down), and lay it flat on the cutting board. Holding the blade of the knife parallel to the board, about halfway down, slice into the thickest portion of the breast. Cut along the length of the breast, but not all the way through. Unfold so the turkey opens like a book. Remove the tough piece of cartilage. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet until the turkey is of uniform thickness (about 1/2 inch). Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Spread stuffing evenly (about 2cm thick) over turkey, leaving a 3cm border. Starting with one short end, roll into a log, completely enclosing the stuffing, and wrap the reserved skin around the breast, over the seam. Season all over with salt and pepper. Roll in a piece of cheesecloth, and secure both ends with kitchen twine; if you don’t have a cheesecloth, use twine all over as I do. Rub butter evenly all over cloth.
  4. Roast on a rimmed baking sheet until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the middle registers 70 degrees, 40 to 50 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes (the internal temperature should rise to 75 degrees).
  5. Remove cheesecloth and twine, then place turkey on a cutting board and slice crosswise about 2cm thick.

Muffuletta

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves 6 – 8

I saw this incredible Italian sandwich being made by the always talented Giada De Laurentiis on her TV show a few years ago.

I prepared it for a date night with Nat – moonlight cinema – and prior, there was quite a bit of running around; for focaccia, once the hero bread of every café and sandwich, has largely disappeared from pretty much everywhere in Sydney.

I must have gone to half a dozen stores in Leichardt, all of whom said that they sold out early, every morning, mainly to nonnas who came in at dawn.

Given that each bite of this sandwich is like eating an antipasti platter, perhaps the elimination of the oily focaccia was a good thing, though I reckon it would have rounded out what is otherwise an extraordinary sandwich, if not one that is slightly daunting.

The traditional round bread I used was great however, though pull back a bit on the oil. After a night in the fridge compacting, you want to ensure that the bread doesn’t disintegrate as you try to work out how on earth you are going to get on a bite on your muffuletta.

This is your next adult picnic sorted.

Ingredients

¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup olive oil
10 large pitted green olives, chopped
1/3 cup pitted, chopped kalamata olives
¼ cup chopped roasted red bell peppers
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (500gm) round bread loaf (about 18cm in diameter and 8cm high)
125gm thinly sliced ham
125gm thinly sliced mortadella
125gm thinly sliced salami
125gm sliced provolone
½ red onion, thinly sliced
Handful of rocket leaves

Method

  1. Whisk together the red wine vinegar, garlic and oregano together and then gradually blend in the oil. Stir in the olives and roasted peppers. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with salt and pepper.
  2. Cut the top 2.5cm of the bread loaf. Set the top aside. Hollow out the bottom and top halves of the bread. Spread some of the olive and roasted pepper mix over the bread bottom and cut side of the bread top. Layer the meats and cheeses in the bread bottom. Top with the onions, then the rocket. Spread the remaining olive and roasted pepper mix on top of the sandwich and carefully cover with the bread top.
  3. You can serve the sandwich immediately or you can wrap the entire sandwich tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator a day before serving; if you can, place something on top of the muffuletta to weigh it down and further compact the ingredients.
  4. Cut the sandwich into wedges and serve.
  5. Go for a long run.

Not as good as Ellen’s Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves 4

Nothing beats my mother’s Caesar Salad recipe though pretending you had eaten it for 10-days straight – which I believe you could – then this is not a bad alternative for a day.

I adapted it by adding the poached egg and seriously, why shouldn’t you?!

Stop worrying about Caesar Salad being so bad for you and focus on the positives: life is short and so eat well.

Ingredients

650gm chicken breast (skinless)
8 slices prosciutto
Quarter to a third of a baguette, cut into largish croutons
4 eggs
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp anchovy paste (chopped anchovies)
2 baby cos lettuce (the recipe asked for Romaine which would be better)
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (or Parmesan)
Pepper and Salt

Method

  1. Blend garlic, lemon juice, mustard, anchovy paste, pepper and salt in a blender until combined. With motor running, add 7 tbsp of olive oil in a slow stream, blending until emulsified.
  2. Heat a large pan with oil over a medium-low heat, add enough olive oil to barely cover the pan and cook the croutons until lightly golden: the croutons should have absorbed the oil, and oil should be added if too dry.
  3. Poach the eggs, drain and reserve.
  4. Heat a large pan over a medium-low heat, and cook the prosciutto until slightly crispy. Tear.
  5. Pat the chicken dry and coat with 1 tbsp oil, and season. Heat lightly oiled grill pan (or BBQ grill) medium high and grill the chicken. Cut into ½ inch slices and let cool slightly.
  6. Toss the chicken with two tbps of the dressing in a large bowl.
  7. Add the lettuce, cheese, remaining dressing, croutons, prosciutto and toss. Serve in bowls, placing an egg over the top of each.

Ross O’Meara’s Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 8+

My mother cooked this last night and what a great dish!

Of course, half the genius is the 6 hour cooking time of the wonderful pork shoulder though the other half is the simple, set-and-forget nature of the dish.

It takes only a little prep time and the afternoon is yours again.

We had this with sautéed Brussel sprouts, poached baby turnips and roasted baby carrots and apple sauce… and the incredible potatoes that have been cooking alongside the moorish pork. (After cooking, I removed the skin/crackling and gave it a good whack under the grill to really finish it off!)

Winter is almost here. Get yourself some pork shoulder and get into this!

3kg pork shoulder, bone out, skin on
Olive oil and salt for cooking
1kg waxy potatoes
3 French shallots, peeled and sliced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
3 anchovy fillets
1 handful chives, chopped
1 handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
100ml chicken stock

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 150c (or 130c if it is fan-forced).
  2. Take the pork shoulder, dry it with paper towel and then rub with the olive oil and salt.
  3. Wash the potatoes and then slice into pieces around ¾ cm thick.
  4. Get a large, deep roasting dish and add the sliced potatoes, shallots, garlic, anchovies and herbs. Mix each of the ingredients up, ensuring they are evenly spread.
  5. Add the stock and place the pork, skin side up on-top. Cook in the oven for 6 hours.
  6. Periodically check the pork to ensure it isn’t cooking too quickly and if it is, cover with foil.

Easy ricotta lasagne

.Reading time 2 minutes.
IMG_6884.JPG
Thanks ladies and hen!

Serves: 8

The Internet probably doesn’t need another lasagne recipe though I cooked this up for Lauren’s (Nat’s sister) Hens weekend and it was really successful.

The recipe is an adaptation of a few recipes with the view of making this an easy dish to prep and cook.

The key point is the cheese sauce or lack thereof.

Not only is the ricotta-version here much easier to prepare when you have literally run out of stove space, it tastes amazing.

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, shredded
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
500gm pork mince
500gm veal mince
10 tbsp tomato paste
4 can of tomatoes
4 c chicken stock
2 tsp dried oregano
Bunch of basil, torn
500gm mozzarella, shredded + a handful to sprinkle at the end
1 kg ricotta
250gm parmesan, shredded
2 eggs, beaten
Pinch of nutmeg
(Instant) lasagne sheets
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter for greasing the cooking dish

Method

Meat Sauce

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and slow cook the onions, garlic and carrots until soft.
  2. Add the mince and cook until browned and the water has evaporated.
  3. Stir in the tomato paste, canned tomatoes, chicken stock and oregano.
  4. Season and simmer for 40 minutes until the liquid has reduced.
  5. Take off the heat and stir through the basil.

Cheese sauce

  1. Combine the cheeses, eggs and nutmeg and season.

Assembly

  1. Heat the oven to 180c.
  2. In a greased cooking dish, layer a small amount of meat, then a layer of lasagna sheets, then more meet, cheese mixture and repeat.
  3. Finish off with a layer of mozzarella.
  4. Cover with foil, cook for 40 minutes and then remove the foil and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Egg and bacon breakfast muffins

.Reading time 1 minute.
FullSizeRender (12).jpg
HP sauce optional unless your name is Natalie Ashes.

Serves: 2 per person

I think Nat made fun of me when I mentioned I was cooking these.

Though you’ll be the one having the last laugh when you realise you can have bacon and eggs literally every day of the week. Mind blown right!

I used to cook a dish my mother taught me where in a ramekin, you put a pile of cooked bacon lardons, crack two eggs, fill almost to the top with pouring cream, season and bake. And wow this was good, but not every day.

Whereas with these muffins, you’re in luck.

Add spinach, chilli, corn, mushrooms, whatever you want. Or keep them simple like I have and demand apologies the next morning when you are being selective in who receives these breakfast gold nuggets.

Ingredients

6 eggs
6 rashers of shortcut bacon (c’mon, it’s the week; be healthy!)
Salt and freshly cracked pepper

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180c.
  2. Grease 6 muffin tins.
  3. Somehow, shoehorn the back in there as a cup or whatever.
  4. Crack the egg inside, ensuring that egg white fills the tin and the yolk remains in-tact.
  5. Season and bake in the oven for 15 or so minutes until the egg has set.
  6. Fridge or freezer; eat with a ‘told you so’ smirk as your partner grovels over her Monday morning BACON & EGGS!

My Arrabiata

.Reading time 3 minutes.
FullSizeRender (11).jpg
So hot. So good.

Serves: 4 – 6

This dish has real significance for me.

It was the first meal I cooked when I moved out of home, a recipe I adapted from Neil Perry and adapt every time depending on what is in the pantry and the fridge. Try it with torn basil, a pinch of sugar, freshly chopped chilli, whatever you want.

The key is in the length of cooking. The longer you can sweat the onions and the more slowly you can reduce the sauce, the better and better it will be. Forget that stuff from the local pizza shop, add lots of chilli and two hours over the stove and this takes on a new dimension.

Add this recipe to your repertoire and know it like the back of your hand. It will make clear to your lady friend that you can turn a pack of bacon and a few things from the cupboard into an amazing, hot and smoky pasta: it worked for me!

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil
2 red onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 good pinches chilli flakes
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
8 cherry tomatoes, halved (half a punnet)
1 can tomatoes
1 tbsp capers, drained
2 tbsp black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
Good handful of ham, roughly chopped
10 rashers of bacon cut into lardons
Salt and pepper
Penne, spaghetti, whatever
Ground parmesan
Chopped Italian parsley

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a pan over a low heat and add the onions, garlic, chilli flakes and good pinch of salt and sweat as slowly as you can without letting stick to the bottom of the pan; around 20 – 30 minutes.
  2. Separately, cook the bacon in a pan until golden. Drain and set aside.
  3. Add the tomatoes, ham, capers and olives, combine with the onion mixture and cook for a minute. Add the bacon and can of tomatoes as well as a can of water.
  4. Bring to the boil and then drop to a low simmer.
  5. Cook for an hour to an hour and a half and longer if you can. The key is to removing as much liquid from the sauce as slowly as you can.
  6. Check the seasoning and chilli and adjust as necessary.
  7. Cook the pasta, drain and combine with the sauce.
  8. Serve with plenty of grated parmesan and parsley.
  9. Enjoy your reward.