spork me

Every now and then I see an idea and think, “why didn’t I think of that?”. Such is the case with Sydney start-up Hungry Mondays, who slow-cooks food all weekend for Monday delivery, in vacuum sealed bags that stay fresh for 10 days. Now, while I think my barbeque pulled pork is better as I prefer a different style of barbeque (I am not-so-subtly petitioning to guest chef), I had some leftovers from the massive portion I attempted to eat for a late night snack the night before that I used to make breakfast the next morning. Chop some herbs and scramble the eggs, and you can use my standard arepa recipe to fill with leftover pork and the eggs. This one’s a hangover cure.

Pulled Pork with Cannellini Beans, Butternut Squash and Tomato

I miss proper barbeque. More so, I miss Dinosaur BBQ. There’s nothing that comes close in Australia, and there are certainly no sauces you can get that compare.

Note: If anyone from Dinosaur is reading this, for the love of God, open up a restaurant in Sydney.

In the meantime, I found a recipe for their sauce online, and made so many substitutions that it was hardly the same recipe. And you know what? It was pretty damn good. The below is enough for two big batches of pulled pork, so stock up and freeze it if you have 20 minutes to put this together. Hell, even double it.

Ingredients (BBQ sauce):

1.5 cups of diced onion
1 apple, cored and diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
2 bullseye red chilis, diced
4 garlic cloves, diced
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup worcheshire sauce
1/4 cup wholegrain spicy mustard
1/4 cup ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup rice malt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup water
3 400g cans of diced tomato
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper
Olive oil
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Juice of half a lemon

Saute the onions, chili and garlic in a splash of oil. Add the apple and cook for a couple minutes before adding in the powdered spices, and seasoning with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Add everything else. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it has a nice thickness. Process with a hand blender or food processor, check the spices, and go nuts.

Ingredients (pulled pork):

1-2 kg pork butt or shoulder. I used a bone-in pork leg with the fat still on top because I couldn’t find a shoulder, and it was alright, but it definitely needs the fat on it.
Half the above BBQ sauce recipe (about 4 cups)
Salt and pepper

I’ll give you a few options for cooking this;

1) Season the pork with salt and pepper, and put it in a slow cooker with the sauce for 8 hours. Stick a fork in and pull it apart.

2) Season the pork with salt and pepper, sear it on a grill or in a pan, and put it in a slow cooker with the sauce for 8 hours. Stick a fork in and pull it apart.

3) Season the pork with salt and pepper, roast in the oven for about 20 minutes on high heat, until browned. Add the sauce, cover, and cook at 170C for about 3-4 hours. Stick a fork in and pull it apart.

Ingredients (cannellini beans):

1 can of cannellini beans, drained
2 cups of diced butternut squash, in 1cm cubes
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup verjuice or white wine
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Saute and serve.

Pork Ribs with Grilled Fennel and Lemon Green Beans

I’m not sure when Sweet Baby Ray’s got fancy. Last I remembered, I used to get this stuff for $3 a bottle down at Key Foods in Brooklyn, but they’re selling it for a small fortune at the gourmet grocery store in Sydney. They were giving out samples when they first got it, to which the man said “It’s American, so it’s really sweet.” Despite how it makes my skin crawl a bit the way they’re trying to market it, it still showed up at my house, and I’m not complaining.

Ingredients (green beans):

Handful of green beans
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper

Saute on high for 5-7 minutes.

Ingredients (ribs and fennel):

Rack of pork ribs, in a dry rub overnight of paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper (rinse a bit with cold water before using)
1/2 bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s
1 fennel bulb, cut in half
Olive oil, salt and pepper

Put the Sweet Baby Ray’s on the ribs and let sit for about an hour. Drizzle the oil on the fennel and cover in salt and pepper, and put on the grill (turning occasionally) for about 10 minutes before the ribs.

Let me just say that ribs here are thin, lean, and not the same as what I’m used to cooking, so please keep that in mind if you’re cooking a big, fat, meaty rack, that the cooking times are off.

Grill the ribs for about 15 minutes, turning every 3-4 to brush the BBQ sauce from the plate/bowl you used to marinade onto the ribs. Serve with a bit more Sweet Baby Ray’s.

Roasted Red Pepper and Parsley Barbequed Chicken

I actually made this up as a sauce to go on after, but once I had pureed it I thought it was going to taste a bit better all cooked up on the grill. Something a bit different to try on the grill, using up some things you may have laying around the house.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup roasted red peppers
1/2 bunch of parsley (take out some of the bigger stems)
1-2 anchovies
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil

Puree and brush onto chicken on the barbeque.

Barbequed Sticky Chicken with Lemon and Garlic

I got a whole chicken and didn’t want to roast it as usual, so I broke it down into pieces and made Jamie Oliver’s recipe instead. I probably should have doubled the sauce for this, but it was a really nice flavor and easy to make. It’s one of those things you could start earlier for a BBQ and then finish off on the grill once guests arrive, definitely one I’d make again!

Barbeque Orange Salmon with Fennel Salad, Polenta Stuffed Peppers, and Sopressa Wrapped Asparagus

I had some leftover polenta so I literally just shoved it in a hollowed out pepper and baked it for about 20-30 minutes. The fennel salad I make all the time, and since we got a BBQ it’s been taking over dinner most nights. This was a pretty easy marinade for the salmon, that was turned into a bit of a sauce for after.

ingredients:

2 salmon fillets
1 mandarin orange, smashed up a bit
1 garlic clove, diced or mashed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
Salt and pepper
8-10 asparagus spears
8-10 thin slices of sopressa salami

Stir up the orange, garlic, olive oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper and marinade the salmon. Pull the salmon out and BBQ for 3 minutes on each side, which you reduce the marinade on the stove into a sauce. For the asparagus, wrap each spear with the sopressa (or other salami, or bacon, or anything meaty really), drizzle with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and grill for 3 minutes on each side.