Pork Archives - Page 5 of 5

Ham and Turkey Pizza

Still getting through the leftover ham and turkey and other bits and pieces in the house…so decided to go Italian with homemade garlic bread, a nectarine and baby spinach salad and a homemade, from scratch, ham and turkey pizza using ingredients from the fridge.

Prep time: 1 hour Cooking time: 20 minutes

Pizza base

Ingredients:

4 cups plain flour
7g yeast (1 sachet)
Pinch of caster sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
400ml warm water
60ml olive oil
Flour for dusting Board

Method:

Place yeast and pinch of caster sugar with half a cup of warm water in bowl and allow to develop until froth forms about 10 minutes

Place flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre of the flour.

Add water to centre of well and then mix gently with your hands until well combined, then add olive oil and knead carefully to make a soft, elastic dough, making sure not to overwork.

Set aside covered with a cloth in a warm spot to allow to rise to almost double its size.

Knead dough back into a smooth round ball and divide in half. This quantity makes 2 good size bases but half the dough can be frozen for later use. (Just thaw for 24 hours in fridge before using)

Gently stretch and pat dough into pizza pan, working and spinning the dough carefully to stretch.

Your pizza base is ready for sauce and toppings.

Pizza sauce:

Ingredients
2 ripe tomatoes
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tsps mixed Italian herbs such thyme, oregano and rosemary – I used a combination of fresh and dried herbs
2 red chillies finely chopped (optional)
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tspoon salt
1 tspoon black pepper
1 cup white wine
1 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
Bowl of boiling water

Method:

Place tomatoes in boiling water and leave for 10 minutes, then remove skin which will peel off easily.

Cut tomatoes into quarters removing seeds.

Chop tomatoes into a fine dice and set aside

Finely dice onion

Crush garlic in a mortar and pestle or using a garlic press

Heat oil in non-stick pan and then add onions.

Sauté onions until transparent, then add garlic and heat through until fragrant.

Add tomatoes, salt, sugar and herbs and then white wine and water and simmer for 20 minutes or until all the liquid has evaporated and tomatoes have softened into a thick sauce. You can also add 1-2 teaspoons of tomato paste or tomato sauce to the mix if you prefer a thicker sauce. Stir occasionally to ensure sauce is not sticking.

Set aside to cool before using on base.

Pizza topping: (use your favourite topping ingredients)

Ingredients

1 cup chopped ham
1/2 cup chopped turkey
3-4 hot pickled peppers chopped finely
2-3 artichokes in brine chopped into bite size pieces
6 anchovies (optional)
4 bocconcini balls or mozzarella
Parmesan cheese for shaving over
Basil leaves for garnish

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 230 degrees celcius

Spread pizza sauce evenly over base

Place toppings on base starting with ham and turkey, then other topping ingredients.

Tear bocconcini and/or sprinkle over mozzarella over the top. Sprinkle salt in bocconcini.

Place in oven for 15-20minutes until base is crispy and cooked through and cheese is melted.

Shave over Parmesan and sprinkle with basil leaves and serve.

December 28, 2017December 28, 2017

Shanthini6 Comments

Pork Vindaloo with dried and fresh chillies

This pork vindaloo is hot, tangy and tasty with the hotness of dried and fresh chillies balanced by the warm spice mix, tanginess of tamarind paste and sweetness of added sugar.
The recipe is an amalgam of a number of Goan and Keralan versions and as with all of them is best the next day after the meat marinates in the gravy overnight. Many of the recipes advise marinating the pork for at least 4 hours or overnight before cooking, but I find the results are just as good with an hour or so of marination.
You do need to have you Indian spice cupboard up to date for this recipe but don’t be intimidated by the range of ingredients as the method is very simple.
Using pork scotch fillet or pork shoulder which has some fatty tissue produces the best result.
Preparation time: 1.5 hours Cooking time: 1 hour – 1.5 hours
Ingredients

1 kg pork scotch fillet or pork shoulder diced into medium size cubes
1 cup white vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tspn black mustard seeds
1 tspn cummin seeds
1 tspn fennel seeds
1 tspn fenugreek seeds
1 tspn black peppercorns
5 cloves
6 cardamom pods, split and seeds removed
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
1 tspn turmeric powder
5 dried red chillies
3-5 fresh red chillies
6 cloves of garlic and equal amount of fresh peeled ginger
2 medium onions finely diced
Handful of curry leaves
2 sticks of cinnamon bark
3 black cardamom pods
4 tablespoons oil
2-3 cups chicken stock or water
Chopped coriander to garnish

Method
Place diced pork in large bowl and pour over vinegar and salt. Leave to marinade while you prepare spices.

Using a spice grinder, put in 3 of the dried chillies stalk removed, black mustard seeds, cummin seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, black peppercorns, cloves and cardamom seeds removed from pod. Grind to a fine powder.
In a mortar and pestle, grind the garlic, fresh chillies and ginger to a paste. Add tamarind and turmeric and mix through.
Add dried spice powder and garlic, ginger and tamarind paste into bowl with pork and mix well through. Allow to marinate for at least an hour and overnight if you can.

In a large casserole pot, add oil and heat before adding cinnamon bark, 2 dried chillies, curry leaves and black cardamom pods. Heat gently until fragrant.
Add onions and cook on medium heat until slightly caramelised.
Add pork mixture and cook, stirring to avoid it sticking, until spice mixture turns colour and pork pieces are “sealed”
Add enough water to cover pork mixture, simmer on medium heat for 1 hour – 1.5hours until pork is tender.

Garnish with coriander and serve with plain or turmeric rice and salads.

June 11, 2017June 11, 2017

Shanthini5 Comments

Noodle Soup with Thai Red Roast Pork

The weather in Sydney this weekend has been awful with very high winds and torrential rain. It feels like winter has really arrived. Of course this is perfect weather for heart warming soups, roast and casseroles. What a great excuse for comfort food!

This soup is a perfect antidote to winter blues and just as good in summer as it has a light chicken stock base. You can really season this to your taste and leave out the fresh chillies if you prefer a less spicy option.

You will need Thai Red Roast Pork for this recipe which will extend your preparation time if you are making yourself and not “cheating” and buying it at your closest Chinese BBQ store. Same goes for the chicken stock – of course homemade is always nicer but if you don’t have time or any frozen in the fridge then store bought is fine. It is good to fry the finely chopped garlic to a crisp; and also roast and crush the peanuts, so that is out of the way before you assemble the soup itself. Once you have these key ingredients in hand, everything else is a breeze.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
2.5 litres chicken stock
300g of roast red pork thinly sliced
50 g bean sprouts
4-5 iceberg lettuce leaves very finely sliced
200g dried egg or rice noodles (I use fine egg noodles)
2-3 tablespoons fish sauce, depending how salty your stock is
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped and fried to a crisp
1-2 fresh red chillies chopped (optional)

Garnish:
choppped coriander leaves
2 sping onions finely sliced
dried chilli flakes
roughly chopped roasted peanuts

Method
Heat one tablespoon vegetable oil in a small non-stick frying pan and fry garlic until golden and crisp, take care not to burn. Remove with slotted spoon and place on paper towel to drain. (I make extra fried garlic to use as a garnish as well.)
Dry roast peanuts in a frying pan, then crush roughly in a mortar and pestle or roughly chop
Slice lettuce leaves, coriander and spring onions finely. Keep seperately.

Bring stock to a boil, then bring to a simmer. Add pork, sugar and 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, then add noodles and simmer for about 5-8 minutes until tender. Add fresh chopped chillies at this point if using.

Taste to see if additional fish sauce needed
Add fried garlic, bean sprouts and lettuce.
Immediately turn off the heat and serve in deep soup bowls and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with other garnishes to the side.

June 4, 2016June 20, 2022

Shanthini3 Comments

Crispy Asian Roast Pork Belly Salad

This is a delicious way to eat pork belly with crunchy crackling and moist roast pork tinged with the flavours of Asia – soy sauce, coriander, chilli, and hints of black vinegar. All it really needs is some steamed greens and jasmine rice on the side for a complete meal. It would also be a very good pre-prepared dish made for sharing or as part of a buffet.

i have read many very different techniques for getting crunchy crackling but I just stick to the simple method of keeping the pork uncovered in the fridge for an hour or two and then drying with a cloth and rubbing the scored skin with generous amounts of salt before putting into oven. (Seems to work every time for me.)

And, as most of the prep and cooking time is just drying out the pork in the fridge and then roasting in the oven, you can get on and do other things without too much fuss.

Prep time: 2.5 hours Cooking time:2 hours
Ingredients:

750g boneless pork belly, with skin scored both ways into cross-hatch
2 tablespoons soy sauce for marinade
2 tablespoons salt

Salad
half a bunch coriander chopped
1 red chilli finely chopped
1 eschallot or half a red onion very finely sliced
2 tablespoons Chiangkiang black vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Method
Dry out pork belly uncovered in fridge for at least 1 hour or even overnight
Put soy sauce on a plate or in a flat dish and carefully place pork, flesh-side down on top of sauce, taking care not to get any soy sauce on the skin – leave to marinate for an hour

Heat oven to 200 degrees celcius

Remove from marinade and carefully place on baking paper lined baking dish/oven tray.

Wipe skin once more then rub salt thoroughly into skin and in between scoring

Place pork in oven, and cook at 200 degrees celcius for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 170 degrees and cook for a further 1 hour 15 minutes. Turn heat to maximum using the top grilling element to grill the pork until crackling starts to crisp up, about 10-15 minutes. Keep a close eye on the pork at this point as the skin can burn easily.

Meanwhile, chop coriander and chillies and slice onion finely,and set aside.

Remove from oven and rest about 25 minutes until medium warm, then cut into cubes, trying to keep crackling and meat connected where possible.

Mix herbs, onions and chillies with black vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Cut pork into cubes along the scored “lines”

Layer the pork with the herbs mixture, drizzling the dressing over the pork.

Serve with steamed greens and jasmine rice. I also like steamed pumpkin with salted black bean sauce with it and I promise to post that recipe soon.

Serves 2-3 with other accompaniments.

Crispy Asian Pork Belly Salad with steamed greens and pumpkin[/caption

February 20, 2016

Shanthini7 Comments

Balinese Pork

This is one of my partner Adrian’s favourite dishes to cook. The original recipe is from a great little book, The Food of Bali – authentic recipes from the Island of the Gods written by Heinz van Holzen and Lother Arsana. We bought it in Ubud on one of our regular visits during the years that we rented a little villa in Jalan Bisma. This Balinese pork recipe transports us back to the smells of the kitchens of Ubud with its traditional ingredients of sweet soy, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and chilli all slow cooked to imbue the pork with a sweet, spicy flavour. We have adjusted the original recipe to adding lemongrass and using spring onions rather than the traditional shallots which are more difficult to find.

Authentic recipes from the Island of the Gods by Heinz Van Holzen and Lother Arsana

Prep time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients
1kg diced pork
1/2 bunch of spring onions
6 cloves of garlic
10 cm of ginger peeled and sliced thinly lengthwise
1 stalk lemongrass cut into 4 and sliced lengthwise
5 tablespoons sweet thick soy sauce(kecap manis)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1.5 teaspoons black peppercorns crushed
3 tablespoons vegetable or cocnut oil
2.5 cups chicken stock
5 small red chillies left whole with stem cut off
2 large green chillies cut into long strips, seeds removed

Method
Cut white fleshy part of sping onions from bunch and remove roots and slice in half, keep green leafy part for garnish
Bruise ginger, garlic, lemongrass and sping onion bottoms in a mortar and pestle
Heat oil in large heavy based casserole pot
Add ginger, garlic, lemongrass and sping onions to oil and stir fry for 3 minutes over medium heat until slightly coloured
Add pork and continue to stir fry over high heat until pork is browned and sealed
Add sweet soy sauce and normal soy sauce, black peppercorns and red chilles and stir fry for 1 minute
Add chicken stock and bring to boil, then lower heat to a low flame and simmer mixture for approximately an hour checking regularly to ensure it isn’t sticking at the bottom
You want the end product to have very little sauce left and the meat should be tender, dark brown and shiny.
Chop green leafy part of spring onions and use to garnish pork
Serve with jasmine rice
Serves 2-3