Tag: pork

Carnitas in the slow cooker

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Juicy, intensely flavourful pork, just begging to be wrapped in a torilla and put into your mouth. Incredibly easy to make, amazing for a party. This will fill your house with mouthwatering smells all day – then it’s just a quick 15 mins to pull it all together when you’re actually ready to eat. Feeds 6 generously

  • 1.4kg boneless pork shoulder, cut into large cubes
  • 180 ml orange juice
  • Juice from ½ lime
  • 7 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 small onion, grated
  • ½ tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • ½ tbsp dried oregano
  • Small bunch coriander, chopped (incl the stems!)
  • 60ml chicken stock
  • Ground black pepper
  • Veg oil
  1. Place all the ingredients except the oil in the slow cooker and stir to combine
  2. Set slow cooker to high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours
  3. Once the pork is done, it should be tender enough that you can shred it with a spoon.if its not quite there, give it a little longer
  4. Heat a large, ideally non-stick, frying pan with 2 tbsp oil over a high heat
  5. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat from the slow cooker to the pan and fry it until the edges go brown and crispy, breaking it up as you fry it. For best results, cook it in batches so you don’t crowd the pan

Serve with flour tortillas and any combination you desire of salsa, chopped tomato, jalapenos, diced avocado, finely chopped onion, sour cream, slaw, fresh coriander, black beans and lime wedges to squeeze over.

(If you don’t want to waste the cooking juices, deglaze the frying pan with stock or a slosh of Corona and combine with the pork cooking juices for an excellent tortilla soup base)

Sticky spare ribs

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Sticky, saucy, seriously gorgeous. Beloved by everyone who tastes them. And cheap too!

  • 15-20 pork spare ribs
  • 125ml sweet chilli sauce
  • 2 tbsp redcurrant jelly
  • 60ml soy sauce
  • 1 orange, juice and zest
  • 3 star anise
  • 4 cm fresh ginger, sliced into chunky rounds (don’t bother peeling it)
  • 8 cloves garlic, squashed and left whole
  1. Mix together all the ingredients except the meat
  2. Put the ribs into a large ziplock bag, pour over the marinade, seal the bag (excluding as much air as poss) and squish it all about to coat the ribs. Pop in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least a couple of hours, if not a full 24
  3. Pre-heat the oven to 140C fan (160C)
  4. Line a deep roasting tin with foil (you’ll thank me at washing-up time!) and tip the whole contents of bag into the tin. Cover with foil and cook for 2 hours, turning the ribs a couple of times in the sauce and checking it’s not drying out
  5. Then turn the oven up to 180C fan (200C) and remove the foil cover
  6. Cook for further 30 mins to caramelise the ribs and reduce the sauce to a sticky glaze, turning them over in it to coat

Pork chops with apples

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Comforting, appley, mustardy yumminess. Quick and straightforward as a weeknight supper. Feeds 2.

  • 2-4 pork steaks
  • 1 onion, sliced finely into half moons
  • 1 eating apple, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced
  • 1 tbsp garlic oil
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 200ml single cream
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Heat the oil in a deep pan over a high heat
  2. Brown the pork steaks quickly and remove from the pan
  3. Turn the heat down, add the onion and apple to the pan and cook gently until softened
  4. Add mustard and cream and stir together. Season well
  5. Nestle the pork in the appley oniony creamy sauce and pop the lid on
  6. Simmer for 15-20 mins until the pork is cooked through

Serve with rice and green beans

Nasi goreng

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Spicy, savoury, yummy. No claims to authenticity, but such a comforting and quick weeknight dinner. Feeds 2 with seconds

  • 2 tbsp oil 
  • 2 eggs, beaten 
  • 200g pork fillet, cut into strips 
  • 4 spring onions, finely chopped 
  • 1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed and grated/minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, grated 
  • 1 large red chilli, finely chopped 
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced into small cubes
  • 8 baby corn, cut into ½ cm rounds
  • 1 pre-cooked basmati rice packet 
  • Handful of frozen peas 
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce 
  • 1 tbsp gochujang 
  • 2 tbsp ketjap manis (sweet soy sauce – could substitute with 2 tbsp soy sauce + 2 tsp maple syrup)
  • Chopped coriander 
  • Handful of dry roasted peanuts 
  1. Heat oil in wok 
  2. Cook egg in flat pancake by swirling around bottom of wok until set. Remove from pan and slice into strips 
  3. Heat wok again and add pork. Stir fry until lightly browned on outside and just cooked through, then remove from the pan 
  4. Add a touch more oil if needed then add spring onion, lemon grass, garlic and chilli to the wok and stir fry briefly (don’t allow to brown) 
  5. Add carrots and baby corn, stir fry for a couple of mins
  6. Add fish sauce and chilli paste and mix to distribute through the vegetables
  7. Add rice (cold) and stir to coat in the paste 
  8. Add ketjap manis, pork, egg and peanuts, continue to cook and stir together until everything is hot
  9. Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander 

Spicy braised pork and carrots

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

I love pork belly – it’s cheap, succulent and incredibly delicious if you cook it low and slow. This is a Chinese-style (nowhere near authentic!) dish of warming spice and sweet, soft meat. Spicy, but not enough to make you sweat. This will comfortably feed 4.

  • 400g pork belly without skin, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 tbsp veg oil
  • 3cm ginger, minced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 5 spring onions, sliced
  • 3 tbsp shaoxing wine (could substitute dry sherry)
  • 2 tbsp gochujang chilli paste (could substitute sriracha)
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari if you want to make it gluten free)
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 5 carrots, cut into chunky pieces
  1. Boil a large pan of water
  2. Drop pork into the boiling water and cook for 5 mins, then drain and leave to dry
  3. Heat oil in a deep frying pan or casserole dish with a lid
  4. Over a medium heat, fry pork pieces until golden and then remove and put to one side
  5. Turn heat down and add garlic, ginger and spring onions
  6. Fry until aromatic and then add shaoxing, gochujang, chicken stock, pepper, star anise, cinnamon, soy sauce and sugar
  7. Bring to the boil and mix well
  8. Add pork back in, stir and put the lid on. Simmer on a low heat for an hour
  9. Add carrots and continue to cook uncovered for a further 30 mins, stirring occasionally

Serve with jasmine or basmati rice and stir-fried greens