PORK BELLY!!!

There are two things which I know for certain are wonderful: 1) my girlfriend and 2) pork belly in all it's forms. Though it seems to be something of a fad in the world of haute cuisine for the working man, I simply love trying something new. While at the market with my girlfriend I saw some unsmoked, uncured pork belly in my favourite meat purveyor's fridge. I said, with a giddy smile on my face, "Is that pork belly?" He said yes. I said "I'll take it!"

Pork belly, for the uninitiated, is the cut of pork with which one makes bacon. I first tasted it at Lot 30 (see previous post) and loved it. It's full of fat and oh-my-god deliciousness. In the hands of my girlfriend, it was marinated in soya sauce, rice wine vinegar, lots of brown sugar and garlic. Popped into the a low oven for a few hours, the whole thing became a chewy and sweet treat that's not as fatty as you'd think. In particular, something in the simple marinade and this particular cut of pork tasted authentically Asian. I can't describe it. You'll have to try.

We served it simply with white basmati rice and steamed veggies tossed in a quick soya sauce, a dap of sesame oil and a bit of oyster sauce. If it weren't for the risk of my arteries clogging up, I would eat this every day for the rest of my life and be a very happy man.

LONG LIVE PORK BELLY!!!

Marinated Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Purée and Warm Chipotle Salsa

If this recipe sounds fancy that's because it's from the 5th edition of Le Cordon Bleu's Professional Cooking which is basically a textbook for culinary schools. You've got everything in here from the use and care of a chinacap to the basics of broiling and the chemistry of gelatine. It's awesome because you could basically work through this whole book and you'd be a "professionally" trained chef. Now the only problem is is that doing so would cost a fortune because lots of this food doesn't come cheap and all the recipes are written for restaurant portions. Best to pay your tuition and go to a culinary school if that's your bag. But if you're like me, you just want to learn how to cook better so buying a book like this does the trick.

What I was originally looking for was a recipe for Eastern European pork roast with sauerkraut. I don't even know if that's the dish but I'll post it as soon as I've found out. For now we have this South American inspired dish that has the delicious flavour of marinated pork loin, coupled with the sweetness of the sweet potatoes, and all offset with a nice smoky and spicy chipotle salsa. It's obvious that a recipe from Le Cordon Bleu will match flavours properly. Salty. Sweet. Spicy. There's no tart or bitter here but you catch my drift.

The marinade consists of chopped onion, mashed garlic, salt, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, lime juice, olive oil and powdered red New Mexico chiles (I used dried chiles from Mexico but that's what I had on hand...the recipe says that you can also substitute for good old chili powder). As you can see there's nothing magic about this marinade. Just let sit over night, barbecue or roast, and enjoy.

As for the salsa, it's also pretty basic. Roast one garlic clove and 1 lb of plum tomatoes for about 10 minutes, peel, throw into a blender with 2 whole chipotle chiles in adobo (seeded or unseeded depending on how much heat you want), a bit of salt, a bit of adobo sauce, purée and voilà. You could probably add cilantro, onions or other such traditional salsa ingredient but I found this sauce was basic and tasted really nice.

All you have to do once everything is cooked is to cut the tenderloin into medallions, place on top of the roasted and puréeed sweet potatoes, drizzle with salsa and that's it. Delicious. Lean. And lets not forget spicy.

But if you're not a health nut, you can use the leftover tenderloin and salsa with some smoky cheddar all baked on top of some nachos and you've got another delicious meal that's great with a nice cerveza, a hockey game and some wings.

Crab, Pizza Pockets, Summer Rolls & Steak...All in Two Day's Work

My girlfriend works at the grocery store which means that we know about all the great bargains. And seeing as we live in the Maritimes, the great bargains often include fresh seafood. On the menu tonight, crab!

We bought the crab pre-cooked and frozen. All we had to do was throw it in some boiling, well-salted water for a few minutes and soon we were eating our way through the sweet tender flesh. In my opinion, crab is oftentimes better than lobster. It is often cheaper too because lobster is so popular these days whereas people just 60 years or so were frowned upon for eating the ugly things. People would actually hide it in their garbage so that their neighbours didn't know that had to eat lobster! And when you consider that lobster and pretty much all seafood spend their lives sifting the crap out of the sea water, you get to understand why this would have been a proper preoccupation. I wish we were back in those days. I could eat all the lobster I want on my shoestring budget.

In the background of the photo above you can see our pizza pockets. We used the leftover wonton wrappers from the day before (those we used to make briks) and stuffed them with thick slices of pepperoni, spaghetti sauce, and grated mozzarella. We then dropped them in a pan of oil till they were nice and golden. The result? A gushing little accompanying dish. Though you can't eat more than a few of these little things without getting overwhelmed by the greasyness of it all, they were delicious.

Yesterday, for supper, we had some friends over. I prepared the smoked salmon appetizers similar to the gravlax. We then prepared some summer rolls which my girlfriend is crazy about, a recipe I got off Tyler Florence's Food 911. These little rolls are really fresh and light. They go well with pretty much anything. But we didn't just pair it with anything. I marinaded some steaks in a Thai inspired marinade which I got from Christine Cushing on Food TV. The sweetness of the marinade (which we could only marinade for a few hours but should be left for something like two days) worked well with the light summer rolls. It was a refreshing twist on the old meat and potatoes.

Finally, we ended with a huge cake our friend make for my birthday. When I get the recipe I'll post it. But for now I can only tell you that it was a mound of light cake, whipped cream, and toffee pieces. Served with a cup of licorice tea, it was a great end to a great meal.

Summer Rolls with Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce

1 oz Vietnamese cellophane noodles

1/2 cup bean sprouts

1/2 carrot, julienned

1 beet, julienned

1/4 fresh red chilli, cut into circles

1/2 handful fresh cilantro, hand-torn

1/4 cup chopped unsalted peanuts

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/4 lime, juiced

Mint leaves

Sea salt

1. Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Remember that the ingredients are approximative. Add or reduce any amount to personal taste or to give the rolls some extra umph.

2. Prepare rice paper according to instrustion.

3. Place about 1/4 cup of the filling near side of rice paper. Place one mint leaf on rice paper opposite to the filling. Flip sides of rice paper towards middle and then roll paper over filling and mint leaf to make a tight roll.

Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

2 tbsp fish sauce (or clam juice)

1/4 cup hot water

2 tbsp sugar

1 lime, juiced

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp red chilli paste

1. Mix ingredients together and serve in individual bowls since double dipping will be inevitable.

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Honey Thai Marinated Steak

2 oz sesame oil

8 oz honey

2 tbsp Thai spice paste

2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

2 oz orange juice concentrate

Sea salt

Pepper

Cracked coriander seeds

Light soy sauce, for dipping

1. Mix sesame oil, honey, paste, ginger, and orange juice concentrate in a large ziplock bag. Slip steaks into bag and marinate for 48 hours, flipping every 8 or 12 hours.

2. When ready to eat, preheat bbq grill.

3. Pat steaks dry, sprinkle with sea salt, pepper, and coriander seeds

4. Cook steaks to desired doneness, basting with remaining marinade.

5. Serve steak whole or sliced with soy sauce on side for dipping.