Friday 28 February 2014

Korean BBQ Pork Sauce

I only have one Asian expert in my house and Future Mister Busy Bee was very impressed and nostalgic for his time in Korea after eating these Ribs.

Korean BBQ Pork Sauce
Korean rice bowls for the whole family! 


Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup Hoisin Sauce
  • 1/4-1/2 cup Chilli-Garlic Sauce*
  • 2 1/2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons Honey
  • 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons Mirin or brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoons Sesame Seed Oil
  • 4 Cloves mined Garlic
  • 1 Tablespoon minced Ginger
  • Chinese Five Spice
Sauce Instructions:

  1. In a medium sized bowl combine all the listed ingredients. 
  2. Mix well and allow to sit for about 20 minutes for the flavors to blend.

To Bake Ribs:

  1. Line a deep baking pan with tin foil.
  2. Preheat oven to 300°F.
  3. Using a sharp knife and a butter knife carefully remove the membrane from the back side of the ribs, unless your butcher was kind enough to already removed it for you.
  4. Season the ribs with salt pepper, and if desired Chinese Five Spice. Don't be afraid to go a little heavy handed on the Chinese Five Spice.
  5. Baste the ribs with the prepared BBQ sauce. Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour.
  6. Remove from oven and baste again with BBQ sauce. Return to oven and continue to bake for 30-50 minutes.
  7. Remove the ribs from the deep pan, and line another baking sheet with foil. Place the ribs on the new pan and broil for about 10 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
  8. You can also finish the ribs on a grill.

Enjoy!

* If you are a baby like I am when it comes to spicy food, use even less of the chili garlic sauce. I did just shy of 1/4 cup in my last batch and was still a bit overcome. Husband to be thought it rocked though.

Notes:

Future Husband also preferred these to my Snowed in all day Ribs. Pretty pleased with myself, can't lie. Plus since my slow cooker died this week, in a tragic accident no less, we needed a new rib recipe STAT!

Sundried Tomato Sausages

Sundried Tomato Sausages

Ingredients:
  • About 2 Kilograms Ground meat, I used a combination of sirloin tip, pork chops and pork belly.
  • 3+ Tablespoons Salt
  • 2 Tablespoons Pepper
  • About 3-4 Tablespoons Tomato paste
  • About 1/2 Cup chopped Basil
  • About 1/2 Cup chopped Oregano
  • About 1/2 Cup chopped Parsley
  • 2 Tablespoons dried flaked onion
  • 100-150 Grams sundried tomatoes in oil
  • 3-4 Cloves Garlic
Instructions:
  1. In a small food processor bowl fitted with the blade attachment, add the salt, pepper, basil leaves, oregano leaves, parsley leaves, flaked onion, garlic cloves and sundried tomatoes. 
  2. Pulse until well chopped and is an even paste like texture.
  3. Cube and then Grind the meat as needed according to your sausage maker's instructions.
  4.  Prepare the sausage casings according to their instructions as well.
  5. Add the tomato paste and the herb mixture to the ground meat and evenly mix with your hands.
  6. Run the meat mixture through the sausage maker, trying to stuff evenly. I found it helped to knot the end and fill slowly.
  7. Twist into sausage shapes as long as desired and let chill in fridge over night to help set the sausage shape. Then freeze or cook.

Enjoy!

Thursday 27 February 2014

Chinese BBQ Pork

Yet another future-husband approved at home Chinese recipe!

Chinese BBQ Pork

Ingredients:

  • 1 Pork loin
  • 2-3 Cloves Garlic
  • 2-3 Tablespoons Rice vinegar, or white wine
  • 2-3 Tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
  • 2-3 Tablespoons Ketchup
  • 2-3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
  • 1-2 Tablespoons Honey
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar or Mirin
  • 2-3 Tablespoons Chinese Five Spice

Instructions:

  1. Peal and finely mince the cloves of garlic and smash them slightly with a spoon in a medium sized stainless steel or glass bowl.
  2. To make the marinade, measure out the rice vinegar/wine, Hosin sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, honey, and sugar/mirin, add them to the bowl with the garlic and mix well. 
  3. Stir in about 1-2 Teaspoons of the Chinese Five Spice blend.
  4. Season the pork tenderloin with salt, pepper and the remaining Chinese Five spice blend all over. 
  5. Add the pork loin to the marinade and turn to coat.
  6.  Cover and let the pork marinade for about 3 hours, turning occasionally to ensure the flavors penetrate evenly.
  7. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
  8. Remove the Pork loin from the marinade and place in a shallow baking dish. 
  9. Hold on to the marinade for the moment. 
  10. Place another shallow pan filled with about an inch of water on the lower rack in the oven. 
  11. Roast the pork loin above the water bath. The water bath in the oven helps keep it humid in the oven so the delicate pork loin wont dry out. 
  12. Roast the pork for about 15 minutes, glaze the pork loin with a bit more of the reserved marinade and return to oven and continue to roast until the pork is cooked through, about another 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the pork loin. Use a meat thermometer my friends, food poisoning isn't pretty.
  13. Let the pork rest for about 15 minutes after it has cooked under a tin foil tent. 
  14. To serve slice thinly against the grain of the meat, and serve with rice and maybe some dumplings if you have them!

Enjoy!

Notes:

The original recipe I used for this suggested adding some red food coloring if you want the pork to look more like the take out variety. But I don't like to add colors if I don't really have to, this recipe has great flavor and almost looks just like the take out version from our local Chinese take out place.

Monday 24 February 2014

Brunch Skillet

Brunch Skillet

Ingredients:

  • 2 Russet potatoes, or about 1/2 pound starchy potatoes
  • 3 Stalks Green Onion, Chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon Parsley, chopped
  • 2-3 Tablespoons Butter
  • 2-4 Eggs
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1/2-1 Cup shredded Cheese (I am a fan of white cheddar)
  • About 1/2 Cup chopped Pancetta or 3 strips cooked bacon crumbled*
  • 1-2 Tablespoons veg oil
  • 1 Diced Red Pepper*
*Pancetta or bacon are only optional. I prefer my brunch with some form of bacon but the choice is yours.
*If you are using a stainless steel or non-stick skillet don't bother with the extra oil in the recipe. Cast iron is a different cooking medium and needs the extra oil for seasoning purposes. Check out my guide to Cast Iron to learn more.
*Red pepper, also optional, sometimes I just want some extra vegetables in my life.

Instructions:
  1. Heat and season with oil your cast iron skillet to medium heat or just heat up your other skillet.
  2. Dice the potatoes into nice hashbrown bite sized cubes. 
  3. Melt the butter in the heated pan and add the potatoes quickly after chopping to prevent oxidization.
  4. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and add the parsley. 
  5. Gently stir and cook the potatoes until just tender. This can take between 20-35 minutes depending on how thick you cut the potatoes. 
  6. If possible cover the pan to speed up the cooking process.
  7. While potatoes are cooking preheat oven to 400°F. Unless you have a non-stick pan or one with a plastic/rubber handle. Then ignore the oven instructions. You can finish cooking your eggs on the stove top, just use a large lid or flat baking pan(Like a pizza pan for example) to cover the pan while the eggs cook.
  8. Once the potatoes have cooked and are fork tender, add the green onion, and any of the optional ingredients. Stir to evenly distribute.
  9. Crack the desired number of eggs over the top. Try and aim for the "corners" of the pan so the eggs are spread out. 
  10. Season the eggs with salt and pepper and toss the shredded cheese over the top.
  11. Place the skillet in the oven for about 8-15 minutes depending on how well you like your eggs cooked. 
  12. If doing it on the stove top, keep the pan covered and check about every 5-4 minutes until eggs are done.
  13. Serve each egg and the hashbrowns it covers as a serving in a nice bowl.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Similar to my recipe for Christmas Morning Egg Nests, but simpler. Because not every morning can be Christmas. Plus a girl needs to get her potato fix on those "difficult" Sunday mornings; after perhaps one glass too many of red wine. . .



Wednesday 19 February 2014

Butter Roasted Asparagus

Butter Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients:
  • Asparagus
  • About 1-2 Tablespoons Butter
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  3. Rinse and prepare the asparagus. 
  4. To make sure that you don't serve gross woody bits of asparagus there is a simple trick, hold the top part near the buds in one hand and gently bend the bottom end backwards until it snaps somewhere. 
  5. Discard the lower portion that is the gross woody bit and enjoy the top portion that is perfectly ripe and tender when cooked.
  6. Rinse and dry the asparagus. 
  7. Melt the butter and lightly coat the asparagus in the butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Bake in preheated oven for between 10-12 minutes. 
  9. When fresh out of the oven sprinkle the lemon juice over the asparagus. 
  10. Serve hot.

Enjoy