spork me

Chili Orange Sage Pork Belly with Braised Peaches and White Beans

Not to brag (only a little), this was the best pork belly I’ve made so far, and the beans went with it incredibly. Not a ton of ingredients but they work really well together, and it only takes a few minutes to throw together.

Ingredients (pork belly):

1 pork belly
1 red chili, sliced
1 orange, juice and zest
10 sage leaves
3-4 star anise
Salt and pepper

Arrange the ingredients (except the pork) on the bottom of a glass pan that will fit the pork belly nicely, including the orange juice. Score the skin of the belly about 1cm apart, not cutting the meat. Place it meat side down in the pan, rub the skin liberally with salt, and chuck it in the fridge overnight.

When it’s time to cook, bring to room temperature (about 30 minutes) and pre-heat the oven to full heat. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 150C / 300F. Cook for about an hour, then blast the heat again until the skin bubbles but not burns. Let rest for 10 minutes in its own juices before serving.

Ingredients (white beans):

1 can of white beans, drained
1 cup of chicken stock (homemade, if you have it)
2 peaches, pitted and sliced thin
2 tbsp harissa or chili paste (or just mash some chili and garlic with cumin and coriander seeds)
1 red onion, sliced
1 punnet of grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half
10 sage leaves, chopped
1 cup chopped flat parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil, salt and pepper

In a pan with a touch of oil, slowly caramelize the onions, about 10 minutes, until very soft. Add the harissa paste and peaches, cooking for 5 minutes more. Stir in the white beans, sage, and stock. Reduce slightly before adding the tomatoes, then cook to a thicker sauce. Add the parsley and lemon juice, cook 2 minutes more, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

2012 Recipe Roundup

That’s it for me this year. Here are my favorites from 2012:

Best way to spend a RAINY DAY:
Pulled Pork with Cannellini Beans, Butternut Squash and Tomato

Best HANGOVER cure: Arepas with Black Beans, Haloumi and Avocado

Best way to make your COWORKERS jealous: Curried Chicken Salad with Grapes, Almonds, Cilantro and Red Pepper

Best INVENTION: Grape, Prosciutto, Parmesan and Egg Pizza

Best CELEBRITY CHEF recipe: Neil Perry’s Chicken Stuffed with Garlic and Coriander

Best dinner for ONE: Pan Roasted Chicken with Pesto

Best LEFTOVERS: Balsamic and Pomegranate Short Ribs with Bacon, Mushroom and Sun-Dried Tomato Trofil

Best way to make your friends HATE you: Smoked Salmon Dip in Cucumber Cups

Best BRUNCH at home: Sage Toad in the Hole with Tomato and Avocado

Best dish made with a WEIRD cut of meat: Master Stock Beef Cheeks with Spicy Rhubarb Sauce, Orange Salt, and Braised Fennel

Best SIDE dish: Saffron Sweet Potato Fries with Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce

What have I missed?

Pulled Pork and Scrambled Egg Arepas

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.

Tonkatsu Ramen

Take two of the ramen went better than the first time around, this time I made the black sesame oil, and tried a char sui pork style marinade for the pork chops. Not a bad attempt.

Crispy Coconut Pork Belly

I’ve been trying to find ways to improve my pork belly recipe, and after a bit of research (thanks, internet!), I found that a lot of people swear by boiling it first. I don’t really get it. I figured, if I’m going to boil it, it needs to at least add something to the pork. This was really moist and delicious, and added sweetness into the pork belly without coating it with sugar and scorching it in the oven.

Ingredients:

1 pork belly
1 liter of coconut water (like C Coconut Water)
1 tablespoon Chinese 5 spice
2 star anise
5 cardamom pods
Salt and pepper

Boil the pork belly in the coconut water for about 15-20 minutes.

Remove, dry thoroughly, and rub the flesh with 5 spice, and the skin with salt. Bake, skin side up, on the star anise and cardamom, at 220C / 425F for 20 minutes, and then lower the heat to 150C / 300F for 1 hour. Let rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Slavic Cabbage Rolls

With a bit of extra spice, this is a beautiful recipe. I suspected it would be dull and flavorless but it was delicious and easy to make ahead. You could do it with all sorts of fillings as well once you get the hang of wrapping it.

Pork Belly Sliders with Chipotle Mayo and Cabbage Slaw

If I’m up on a Saturday morning before noon there are a few places I may end up, one of my favorites being the Vic’s Meat Market Day. A misinterpretation of what I thought was a signal for a pork belly portion for 2, and my inability to say no, left me with 2.5kg of meat and a plan to have some friends over to indulge in its porky goodness. I started prepping Saturday afternoon, which is minimal work but worth letting it hang out for a while and marinate.

This doesn’t look like much, it was the last measly slider left on the plate and you can’t even see the delicious crackling. I made the buns as well, but wasn’t blown away by them, so just buy some little rolls, but the rest is worth the effort.

Ingredients (chipotle mayo):

3/4 cup mayo
Juice of half a lime
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
Salt

Blend and adjust to taste.

Ingredients (cabbage slaw):

From Zen Can Cook, modified only slightly.

1 Chinese cabbage, sliced, boiled, drained and cooled
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon of salt

Mix well and let sit for at least an hour. Remove liquid and seeds to serve.

Ingredients (pork belly):

2.5kg pork belly (adjust times accordingly if yours is smaller, but the amount of spice can probably stay the same)
Salt and sugar
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup soy sauce
7 cardamom pods
2-3 star anise, broken up slightly
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander

The day before, rub the pork belly skin with salt and sugar, coating liberally. I didn’t score the skin, but I would have with a belly this size if I did it again. Mix the mirin and soy sauce, and rest the meat in it, making sure the liquid doesn’t touch the skin. Cover and refrigerate.

The morning of, remove the liquid and pat dry the top of the roast. Rub the meat with the remaining ingredients, and re-salt and sugar the top. Refrigerate uncovered.

An hour before, let come to room temperature. Turn the oven on high, and for 20-30 minutes roast the pork belly until the crackling is golden and darkly colored. Lower the heat to 150C / 300F, and roast for 2 hours. Baste the skin with the juices, and return to the oven for another hour. Let rest for 20 minutes before serving, and assemble the sliders with a slice of meat and crackling, cabbage slaw and the chipotle mayo.

Balsamic Grilled Pork Chop with Carmelized Fennel, Date, Almond and Borlotti Bean Warm Salad

Serves 2, but I made a stuffed mushroom as well so there was enough salad for 4 serves.

Ingredients:

2 pork chops, bone in
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Olive oil, salt and pepper
1 can of borlotti beans, rinsed and drained
1 fennel bulb, shaved
2 tbsp fennel seeds
1/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped oregano
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup almonds

Marinate the pork in the balsamic, seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper, for anywhere from an hour to overnight. To cook, grill (indoor grill pan is fine) for 3 minutes on each side, adding the remaining balsamic over the pork as you go. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Saute the fennel and fennel seeds in olive oil, salt and pepper for about 5 minutes. Add everything but the wine and beans, and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the wine and beans and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Serve warm with the pork (I also roasted a mushroom with rosemary and topped with cheese).

Oorroomas (Pork) Curry

Well, not really, because I made this with chicken. I’m still a bit weird about curry, I don’t usually love it, but after having a Sri Lankan curry a couple weeks ago that blew me away, I found this recipe from the Spicie Foodie and gave it a try, replacing the pork with chicken. I googled some recipes on how to make your own Sri Lankan curry powder, and while I have very little idea of what I did, it was worth roasting and smashing up some seeds in order to get a really nice flavor. I’m going to make more of this mystery powder to have on standby so I can try this with pork next time. 10 points.

Sage Rubbed Pork Belly with Roasted Chokos, Carrots, and Parsnips

I can’t really stress how easy pork belly is. Put it together the night before when you’re making dinner and all you do is throw it in the oven the next night. So tasty.

I grabbed a random vegetable at the store called a choko, I had no idea what it was or what to do with it. They’re pretty weird looking, kind of avocado shaped, but lighter, and tougher. I would say they taste kind of like a sweeter potato. Really nice with the roasted vegetables, tossed in olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper.

Also served this with some sauteed broccolini, and leftover red cabbage and raisins, reheated.

Ingredients (pork belly):

Pork belly (mine was enough for 3 small servings)
1/2 bunch of sage leaves
Salt, pepper
4-5 garlic cloves, crushed and lightly chopped
1/2 tsp nutmeg

The night before, rub the meat of the pork belly with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. In a pan, lay the garlic and sage leaves, putting the pork belly on top. Pat the skin dry and salt it liberally. Previously I have scored it, but saw somewhere not to so it keeps the juice in. It worked pretty well, but it’s much harder to cut into portions. Put it in the fridge uncovered until the next night when you’re ready to cook.

Pull the pork out while you preheat the oven to 220C / 425F. Pat the skin dry again, removing some salt. Do not add liquid. You don’t need to. Bake for about 20 minutes until the skin is very, very brown. Lower the heat to 170C / 325F for an hour. Let rest for a few minutes before cutting and serving.