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.

Red Wine Lamb, White Bean and Fennel Pie

Don’t judge, I actually find making pie an incredibly enjoyable way to spend a Sunday. I made two kinds, this one was really nice and for my first attempt at a rough puff pastry, it wasn’t too bad. Really though, just use store bought. It’s way easier.

Ingredients:

500g diced lamb
Juice of 2 lemons
1 red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, diced
1 cup plus a good splash of red wine
1/4 cup chopped rosemary and thyme
1 tsp cumin
1 fennel bulb, small, diced
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1 can of white beans, drained
Salt, pepper and olive oil
Frozen puff pastry, thawed

If you want to speed this up, use a pressure cooker. If not, I’ll give you the slow cooking instructions.

Brown the lamb for 5 minutes in a splash of olive oil, then add the garlic, onion, fennel, and cumin, and saute for 5-10 minutes more, until the vegetables are soft. Mash together the butter and flour with a fork, and mix into the pan. Toss everything into the slow cooker with 1 cup of wine, juice of 1 lemon, fresh herbs, salt and pepper. Cook for about 6 hours, until the lamb is soft.

Next, add in the white beans, remaining lemon juice, and another hit of wine. Cook on a medium heat for about 20-30 minutes, until the sauce is thick. You may need to put it back into a pan for this (my slow cooker/pressure cooker has a saute setting, so it all just hangs out in there).

Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper accordingly. Cool completely in the fridge. Once cool, fill into individual pie pans with pastry on the top and bottom, and freeze. To reheat, cook on 200C / 375F for about 45 minutes to an hour. Once the inside is bubbling out a bit and the pastry is brown, it’s done.

Lamb and White Bean Pie

This is a pretty trusty recipe, but it has never looked this good. I have 2 4 inch ramekins that I used to try and create individual pies, and it was pretty simple. I changed a couple things (really just the order I cooked things in), so I’ll repost the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
Leftover lamb roast, diced, with juice
1 can white beans, drained
1 onion, diced
2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp butter
1 cup red wine
Salt, pepper and thyme

In a hot pan, melt the butter and saute the onion. Once soft, mix in the flour until it’s a past. Add the lamb, beans and spices. Add the red wine, you may need more or less depending on how much leftover juice you have left (you’ll want about a cup of liquid, total, in the pan). Cook for about 10 minutes until the liquid is thickened.

Grease ramekins with olive oil, and line with puff pastry. Add meat, piling high, and make a lid for it. Bake at 200C / 375F for 20 minutes until the top is golden. Let cool for 10 minutes, until you can run a knife around the outside to loosen, and then using oven mitts you can shake and maneuver it out of the ramekin.

White Bean, Artichoke and Parmesan Bruschetta

Ingredients:

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 can marinated artichokes, chopped slightly
1/4 cup chopped parsley or basil
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Sliced bread
Olive oil

Mix beans, artichoke, herbs, salt and pepper. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the bread and pop it under the grill for 5 minutes. Top with the bean mix, sprinkle on some parmesan, and grill for another 5-7 minutes until golden brown.

Lamb and White Bean Pie

I took last night’s leftovers and made a really simple, yummy pie. This works with just about any leftover roast, it’s all about picking the right vegetable and adding more of the liquid you used to marinade it.

Ingredients:

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
Leftover lamb roast, diced, with juice
1 can white beans
1 onion, diced
2 tbsp flour
Red wine
Salt, pepper and thyme

In a hot pan, add the lamb, beans and spices. Add about a half cup of red wine. You’ll have to eyeball this depending on how much leftover juice you have left (you’ll want about a cup of liquid, total, in the pan). Cook for about 5 minutes before adding flour. Stir in, and add more if the liquid is still liquidy.

Line a baking dish with puff pastry, add meat, and then line the top. Bake at 200C / 375F for 20 minutes until the top is golden. Served with tzatziki and roasted parsnips.

Tarragon Chicken Pie

This is a really great way to use up the leftovers, you can modify and line a pie plate with puff pastry on the top and bottom if you have enough for a bigger pie, but there wasn’t much left so I made 2 individual ramekins.

Ingredients:

Last night’s dinner with the remaining sauce, chop meat and veggies
1 can of white beans, strained
Half sheet of puff pastry

Cook the above (not the pastry) in a saucepan to heat and combine. Divide between 2 ramekins, top with pastry and bake for about 20 minutes at 200C / 375F until pastry is golden.

Fougasse with White Bean Salad

My oh my, what an easy bread to make on a cold afternoon. I did a couple things with the dough, this is the first. The fougasse was based off this recipe, I made some slight modifications so I’ll show you how I did it.

Ingredients (dough):

1 1/4 cups warm water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
2 3/4 cups bread or type 00 flour
2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt

Put warm water in a small bowl with yeast until it starts to bubble. Add honey, salt and olive oil and mix right before adding to a bowl with the flour. Knead dough until smooth, and then pop into a greased bowl with a damp cloth on top for about an hour until it doubles in size.

Heat pizza stone in an oven at 220C / 400F for 20 minutes before you’re ready to cook. Cut the dough in parts (however big you want the bread, I did mine in thirds), and spread out with your hands. Make several cuts into the dough and spread again before placing onto the pizza stone and brushing with the topping (below). Cook for about 10 minutes or until golden.

Ingredients (topping):

3 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp flax-seeds

Mix together and brush onto the bread before baking.

Ingredients (White bean salad):

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup parsley, diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice and zest of 1/4 lemon

Mix ingredients and serve.

Lamb and White Bean Soup

What to do with leftovers…

There was so much leftover stock from the lamb roast that I figured it’d be a waste not to make soup. I sauteed a punnet of cherry tomatoes with garlic and onion, added green beans (mostly because I had them.. I’m not sure I would again), chopped up lamb, stock, a can of white beans, and spinach. I topped it off with some water and thyme and boiled it for about 10 minutes. There’s potential here for a better recipe, but the lamb and white beans is a good combo.