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Archive for May, 2013|Monthly archive page


Too many cooks?

In Recipes on May 26, 2013 at 4:47 am

I have spoken before about the great quality of the pork that is sold by Vietnamese butchers.  Recently I had a visit from some family members who live outside Melbourne and my own kids who live on the other side of town.  Since we are all quite passionately interested in food I thought they would enjoy a trip to Little Saigon in Nicholson Street here in Footscray.  This Vietnamese market is a great place to source a huge range of Asian ingredients.  After a bit of browsing and some debate about what to buy we headed for my house nearby armed with some lovely pork fillet, a couple of different Asian greens and one or two Asian condiments that I had run out of.

Back at my place we had three generations of cooks all vying to get near the stove.  This may seem like chaos to some people but it’s the sort of chaos I absolutely love.  I always feel closest to my family when I’m cooking with them and I’m very proud of how both my adult kids have developed into really good cooks.  Here’s what we made.

Stir Fried Pork with Asian Greens

pork and greeens

Yummy pork and greens

Ingredients

750 g pork fillet ( finely sliced against the grain)

For the marinade:

1 tbs light soy sauce

1 tbs dark soy sauce

1 tbs Hoi Sin sauce

1 tbs Shao Hsing wine

1 tbs oyster sauce

1 thumb sized piece of ginger (peeled and finely sliced)

1 tbs fresh coriander (finely chopped)

2 cloves garlic minced

few drops sesame oil

For the greens:

2-3 bunches pak choy, choy sum or any other Asian greens

1 tbs light soy sauce

2-3 tbs oyster sauce

2-3 cloves garlic

1 thumb sized piece of ginger (peeled and finely chopped)

1 long red chilli ( de-seeded and finely chopped)

a dash of water

Method

In a very hot wok heat a little peanut oil.  Add the pork and stir fry for 3-4 mins until cooked.  In another pan with a little more peanut oil add the garlic, chilli and ginger.  Fry for 30 seconds and then add the roughly chopped Asian greens, stir fry for 2-3 mins, add a dash of water and cover to let the greens steam for 2-3 mins.  Serve immediately with steamed rice.

Hint

Add a handful of unsalted, roasted cashews to the pork at the end, toss through.

Something borrowed …

In Recipes on May 1, 2013 at 1:50 am

I’ve had no time for anything at the moment so I’m doing a special blog today with the cooking and recipe done by my daughter.  She is an excellent cook and these little tarts were apparently devoured at the tea party to which she took them.  Enjoy!

Mini English Curd Tarts

Mini English Curd Tarts

Ingredients

Pastry: 1 quantity sweet shortcrust pastry – see ‘You put the lime in the coconut …’ in the vault April 2011 for the recipe

Filling:

200g ricotta

250g mascarpone

2 eggs

1/2 – 3/4 cup castor sugar

zest of half an orange (finely grated)

1/2 cup currants

1/2 a nutmeg (grated)

1/2 – 1 tsp vanilla extract (to taste)

Method

Preheat oven to 200° C,  roll out pastry and press into a greased muffin tin.  Blind bake until lightly golden, remove from oven to cool and reduce oven temperature to 180°C.  Mix all filling ingredients together until well incorporated.  Spoon into cooled pastry shells then cook for 20 – 40 mins or until the filling springs back when you lightly press it.  Garnish with icing sugar and lavender.