Sunday 31 July 2011

roast pork

Crackling crackling and I am the only one except Nico the dog who will eat it!  Luck!

We received a share in a pig on Friday and I have been looking forward roasting my part of the leg since it arrived!  We ordered the pork from www.longbushpork.co.nz which is local and rather well looked after.  I also asked the butcher for the fat to render (glorious lard coming up!), the snout for Nico the dog and all the other parts I could imagine!  Hams, sausages and gammon are arriving next week . . . I can't wait for the black bean soup made from the gammon-cooked-in-coca-cola-stock!

My piece of leg to roast weighed in at 2.1kg so I used the H-F-W formula of 20 minutes sizzle, plus 25 minutes per 500g and a half hour rest to calculate this schedule for our Sunday Roast :
The day before make rub by mashing together olive oil, bay leaves, garlic and salt and pepper and apply to pork and leave uncovered in fridge to ensure nice dry skin, leading to crackly crackling.
8am take pork out of fridge to come to room temperature
8.30am turn oven on to preheat to 220°C
9.25am put pork in oven
9.45am turn oven down to 160°C and cook pork for 1 3/4 hours. Peel and cut potatoes into egg size chunks, par boil for 8 minutes in salted water, drain and shake in pan to fluff then put on a plate to cool.  Peel parsnips  and cut into large chunks, toss in an oven dish with olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper then dot with butter.  Peel Brussels sprouts and put in steamer pan with some water. Peel and slice apples and put in a pan with a splash of water on a medium heat to turn into sauce.
10.45am Put a pan with some of the pork fat from the joint into heat for the potatoes.
11am put potatoes and parsnips in oven, stir and fluff apples.
11.30am take pork out to rest on a plate, remove crackling to a baking sheet and cover meat with a metal bowl.  Turn oven up to 200°C.  Turn over potatoes and stir parsnips.  Drain fat from roasting pan and make gravy by deglazing with some kind of alcohol and adding water and seasoning to suit.
11.45am Turn water on under Brussels sprouts, and put crackling in oven to reheat.
12noon have lunch!

Wednesday 27 July 2011

ku·ma·ra and chick·pea frit·ters

Mmmm, crispy, cheesey vegetable goodness!

Last night we had baked kumara with steak and an awesome brussel sprout and cavalo nero dish as recommended specified by our friend Rachel.  However since I had decided to bake all the kumara in our possession so we could have them later there were three left.  I knew this wouldn't be a problem!  So tonight, with nothing much else left in the fridge we conjured up some fritters!  Hooray!  Past pie, nothing is better than a fritter.

Kumara and chickpea frittersserves 3
Left over baked kumara, perhaps 3
1/4 cup grated parmesan, plus the same agin for coating
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1 400g can drained chickpeas
sal and pepper
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180°c.
Squish all the ingredients together, bar the olive oil.  Form into patty shapes and roll in the coating parmesan.  Bake for 30 minutes sprinkled with olive oil.  Serve with your favourite sauce!

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Oven Roasted Vegetable Curry

Who needs crushed beetils when you have beetroot?
 Happy New Year!  

For an auspicious start to 2011 try a vegetable curry : easy, healthy, fast and delicious.  All good resolutions.  I saw a recipe ages ago for a roasted vegetable curry (Sorry, I know not where) and made it with the idea in mind but not the recipe in sight.  Isn't that the best way?  I remembered the recipe because I thought it such a good idea to roast the vegetables to concentrate the flavours then add the sauce, so I took it further and continued to cook the sauce and finish the dish in the oven.  So easy, so good.

Oven Roasted Vegetable Curry
Serves at least 4 - depending on the vegetable volume

A selection of vegetables, cleaned, trimmed and cut into generous bite size pieces, approximately 1 cup per person, including :
Beetroot - very important for the colour!
Potato
Kumara
Courgettes
Carrots
Pumpkin
Aubergine
Capsicum
Onions
Cauliflower
Broccoli

Oil
Ground cumin, 1 Teaspoon
Ground coriander, 1 Teaspoon
Ground turmeric, 1/2 Teaspoon
Ground fenugreek, 1/2 Teaspoon
1 fresh hot red chilli, chopped
Garlic, 4 crushed cloves
Fresh Ginger, grated to give a tablespoon of pulp
A Cassia stick

400g jar tomato passata

165mL can coconut milk
Coriander leaves for serving
Plain boiled rice for serving


Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Toss the harder vegetables (beetroot, potato, kumara, onions, carrots, pumpkin etc) in the oil and spices in a large roasting dish and roast for 20 minutes.
Add any softer vegetables (courgette, aubergine, cauliflower, broccoli etc), mixing well, and roast for another 20 minutes.
Toss all the vegetables again and cook for longer if they are not soft and caramelising at the edges. If the vegetables are soft and caramelising at the edges then stir in the tomato passata and coconut milk and cook until the sauce is simmering, slightly reduced and gorgeous - not long! Season to taste and serve on the rice with the coriander leaves on top.