Oriental pork steaks with spring onions

I initially planned to cook salmon fillets but the fish was still partially frozen so I cooked the pork steaks instead. This recipe will only take between 30-45mins to prepare and cook unless of course you decide to marinate the meat a bit longer.

Ingredients:

2 pork shoulder steaks

1 tbsp soy sauce

2cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 tsp olive oil

1 bunch spring onions

Procedure:

• Mix the soy sauce, grated ginger and olive oil and marinate the meat for at least 10 minutes. For better flavour, marinate for 3 hours.
• Heat the griddle pan until smoking, DO NOT brush oil.  Add the meat and cook for 3-4 minutes each side. Longer if necessary.  Remove from the pan and keep warm.
• Add the spring onions to the pan and brush with any remaining marinade. Cook for 1 minute on each side. Arrange on serving plates and sit the meat on top.  Pour over any juices from the pan and serve with roasted vegetables or crushed new potatoes.

Note:  You may change the meat and use Salmon Fillets instead. Cooking time for the fish is 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Cook skin down first.

Glazed Chicken Wings

I used the marinade I usually make for baby back ribs. For the chicken, I did not use Dry Sherry but Mead. It tasted even better and as my 6 year old keep saying, ” It is finger licking good!”

This recipe is very easy to prepare and cook.  I sometimes use the marinade for a whole chiken during Christmas or other special occasion.

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1tbsp mead (you can also use lemon or dry sherry or cider)
• 3 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
• 1/2 tsp finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 kilo chicken wings (I used the one you get from Sainsburys for £1.80)
• dash of salt (optional)

Preparation

• Place wings in non-reactive container with lid.
• In bowl, combine marinade ingredients; sugar, mead, hoisin sauce, garlic, ketchup and salt (if desired).
• Mix well and spoon over wings.
• Cover the container and shake to coat the wings thoroughly with marinade. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (Overnight for best results). Shake once or twice to coat chicken again.
• To avoid mess, cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
• Take wings from refrigerator and shake to coat again. Place the wings on the cookie sheet.
• Do not crowd or they won’t be perfectly glazed or crispy.
• Bake at 200 degrees C with fan for 20 minutes on the front side and 10 minutes on the other side.
• Check carefully if it is cooked enough or to prevent burning.
• Take from oven and serve immediately.

The marinade is also great with pork back finger ribs (1 inch wide and 3 inches long). You only need to cook it  for 30 minutes on both sides.

Longganisa (Filipino-style sausages)

Mixture of 30% ground beef and 70% ground port.

For every kilo of mixture, add:

2 1/2 tbsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp vinegar

1/8 level tsp saltpeter

1 tsp ground pepper

2 tsp chopped garlic

sausage casings

Procedure:

Mix all ingredients togethr and cure mixture for 5-6 days in the refrigerator and stuff  into casings. This kind of sausage should be stored in a cooler, ready for use.

Place small amount of water in the skillet. Place sausages and let boil in water for about 10 minutes. With a fork, pierce casings. The longganisa will be ready when juices flow out clear. Cook until it turn into dark caramel in colour.

Serve hot or cold.

Christmas menus

Last minute shopping is a very horrible experience unless you walk towards the store. There were long lines of cars on the parking area of shops like Waitrose and Sainsburys, all waiting for a place to park. Anyway, I was initially looking for a nice small turkey but with the current prices and the fact that there will be only my son, daughter and myself who will eat it since hubby is a vegetarian, I decided to get a reasonably sized chicken.

Below are planned menus for Christmas Eve (dinner) and Christmas day lunch and dinner.

Christmas Eve dinner:

Garlic mushroom on toast
Fresh baby leaf salad
Roast pork with fruit sauce
Lemon cake

Christmas day lunch:

Fine egg noodles with veggie mince
Fajitas trio (chicken, pork and shrimps)
Pineapple flan

Christmas dinner:

Chicken with honey-lemon glaze
Roasted vegetables
Christmas pudding

Boxing day dinner:

Roast pork with fruit sauce
White rice
Vegetarian quarter pounder
Pudding topped with vanilla ice cream

Happy Christmas!
(planned menu still subject to change)

Dinner: 11/11/2007

Stir-Fried Quorn Pieces with Peas, Carrots and Runner Beans with Honey teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic
1 med red onion
4 pieces carrots cut diagonally
1 pack of ready to cook runner beans and peas
1 pack quorn pieces
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce (more depending on taste)
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat wok on medium-high stove. Heat olive oil.
2. Add onion until transparent but not burnt, add garlic and carrots
3. Stir and cook until carrots are half done, add 3 tbsp water if necessary (to help cook the carrots)
4. Add peas and runner beans cook until tender.
5. Add 1tbsp teriyaki sauce and honey stir and leave for 2-3 mins
6. Add the Quorn Pieces, cook for 3.5 minutes check instructions on the packaging) and add the remaining teriyaki sauce.
7. Serve hot on top of boiled Egg Noodles (see packaging for cooking instructions).
8. Add salt and pepper to taste or on individual servings.

Serves 2-3