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Pork shoulder tacos with apple and fennel slaw and chipotle mayo

As long as you have some corn tortillas at home, you can almost always guarantee you have dinner (or lunch!) sorted. Tacos are a nice healthy option and you can feed a couple of people, or feed a crowd…

We often cook them with crumbed flathead fillets or sliced eye fillet or porterhouse. But if you have time to do some slow roasting, pork shoulder is worth the wait. If you have any left over, you can freeze it for sandwiches or salads throughout the week.

Taco fillings in my opinion should be quick, fresh and simple – cabbage, fennel and apple for example make the perfect slaw, with a few additions, and they also last for a long time in the fridge which means you should never get caught out if you decide to whip up some tacos.

Buen provecho!

Pork shoulder tacos with apple and fennel slaw and chipotle mayo

1.5 kg pork shoulder, skin removed (mine had no bone but with bone is also fine)

1 tbs of salt

1 tbs of sugar

12 small tortilla wraps

For the slaw

1 pink lady or fuji apple, cut into thin matchsticks

1/2 small fennel, thinly shaved

1 cup of red cabbage, shredded

1/2 cup of herbs – parsley, coriander and mint, finely chopped

1 long red chilli, finely sliced (or you could use jalapeños)

Juice of one lime

Olive oil

Freshly cracked pepper

Marinated onions

This marinated onion recipe is adapted from the cumulus cookbook. 

1 red onion, finely sliced lengthways

1 pinch of salt flakes

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 pinch of paprika

1 tablespoon of chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

For the chipotle mayo

1/2 cup kewpie mayonnaise

2 heaped teaspoons of chipotle sauce (I use a brand called ‘La Morena’. You can also use sriracha if you don’t have chipotle sauce. It’s a little hotter and doesn’t have the smokey flavour, you’ll need less so adjust to your taste)

Juice of half a lime

 

Pre-heat your oven or BBQ to it’s highest temperature. Rub sugar and salt onto the pork and then place in a roasting dish on a wire rack. Add a cup of water to the tray and cover tightly with foil.  Add pork to your oven or BBQ and immediately turn the heat down to 130 degrees celsius. Leave pork to cook for 4 hours, checking every so often to make sure there is still water in the bottom of the roasting dish. It is cooked when it pulls apart from the inside out with 2 forks.

Place pork in a bowl and lightly cover with foil to rest for about 10 minutes, then pull apart with a couple of forks. Pour remaining liquid into a jug and put in the fridge to cool. Once the fat has solidified, discard it and keep the lovely pan juices, they will have gone a bit jelly like. When you’re ready to eat, heat up a couple of tablespoons of the jelly and pour back over the pork. The pork should be nice and tender so this step is not necessary but it does add more flavour.

Place sliced onions in a bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Leave for one hour. Squeeze liquid from the onions and place in a clean bowl. Add remaining ingredients, mix and set aside.

For the slaw, place the apple, fennel, cabbage, herbs and chilli in a bowl. Squeeze over the lime juice, a drizzle of olive oil and a bit of cracked pepper. Set aside.

Mix mayo ingredients together.

Heat each tortilla for a few seconds on each side and then place in some foil while you cook the rest. Keeping the tortillas in the foil keeps them warm but the steam also also makes them nice and soft.

To eat, top your tortilla wrap with a little pork, some slaw, the marinated onions and a drizzle of chipotle mayo. So good.

A nice cold beer is the perfect accompaniment on a hot summer’s day…

Serves 4

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Soba noodles in broth with chicken and vegetables

Now that the days are getting longer, dinner time creeps up much faster than it used to. The other day I was out enjoying a warm spring afternoon without a worry in the world. I had the sun on my back, my kids were running around loving life and the time was of no importance. Until I got home that is… and everyone was hungry because it was well after dinner time. You see, in these blissful moments it’s quite easy to block out the fact that you have nothing prepared for dinner.

After a quick rummage through the cupboard, I came across a packet of dashi that I had been meaning to use. If you have never tried dashi before, please do yourself a favour. It takes no time to prepare, is super versatile and is wonderfully flavoursome – it can be used as a base for noodle dishes, curries or simple miso soup. I had some random vegetables in the fridge, chicken thigh fillets and soba noodles and I threw this dish together.

It took 20 minutes to make from start to finish and everyone in the family loved it, including my 8 month old. For my (almost) 3 and (almost) 5 year old I served the noodles with less broth and I cut the vegetables up nice and finely. Life’s good when the whole family eats the same meal!

Soba noodles in broth with chicken and vegetables

Olive oil

1 leek, white part only, thinly sliced

1/4 of a small fennel, thinly shaved

2 chicken thigh fillets, cut into 3 cm pieces (I always choose thigh fillet over breast fillet. It’s so much juicier and much more flavoursome… but of course you could use breast here if that’s your preference)

1 x 3g packet of dashi

2 tbs of soy

2 tbs of mirin

4 stalks of broccoli or broccolini, sliced

6 asparagus spears, sliced (tips left in tact)

A handful of fresh or frozen peas

A handful of baby spinach

(I have also made this with thinly sliced pumpkin, mushrooms etc. You can really add any quick cooking vegetables you have on hand)

3 x 90g bundles of soba noodles

4 eggs, or one per person, hard boiled

Sesame seeds, extra soy sauce and sriracha to serve

Place a medium saucepan of water on to boil for your soba noodles.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek and fennel and saute until soft and golden. Add the chicken and brown quickly. Add the dashi and 600ml of boiling water (or as per the instructions on the dashi you have), soy sauce and mirin. Bring to a simmer.  Add your vegetables and continue to simmer for approximately 3 minutes or until soft.

Drop your noodles in the boiling water. They should take 3 minutes to cook (I cook for one minute less than the packet says as they cook a little more in the hot broth). Drain and divide up into your bowls. Spoon over the chicken, vegetables and broth. Top with an egg, sesame seeds, more soy to your taste and some chilli sauce if you like a bit of heat.

Dinner sorted!

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Macadamia and seed crusted flat head with homemade tartare

Every couple of weeks I stock up on fresh fish and freeze it for meals during the week. I buy salmon, sea perch, rockling, red snapper, sometimes prawns… and always flathead.  It’s such a beautiful fish – bright white when cooked, subtle in flavour and it holds it’s shape nicely if cooked well.

We eat crumbed flathead fillets at least once a week and while panko coated fish is always a winner, it’s also nice to mix it up every now and then. I got the idea for this recipe from a dish in the What Katie Ate cook book.  She coats chicken fillets in puffed quinoa and quinoa flakes to give it a nice crunchy coating. I’ve used puffed millet, sesame seeds, chia seeds and macadamia nuts as well as some panko breadcrumbs. The taste doesn’t change dramatically but the macadamia nuts give the fish a nice toasty flavour. There’s also a lot of goodness in the seeds.

I’ve made my own mayo but of course you could always use bought mayo and add the extra ingredients to make tartare sauce.

And chips…there is always chips! I parboil mine and then oven bake them, they come out nice and crispy.

Macadamia and seed crusted flat head with homemade tartare

12 – 14 flathead fillets

1 cup of panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup of puffed millet

1/2 cup of macadamia nuts, crushed

2 tbs of sesame seeds

2 tbs of chia seeds

Plain flour, an egg and milk to coat the fish

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the tartare sauce

1 egg

A good pinch of salt

1/2 clove of garlic

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 tsp of dijon mustard

Approximately 1 cup of sunflower oil

1 tbs of capers, chopped

1 tbs of cornichons, chopped

1 tbs of parsley, finely chopped

1/2 tbs of dill, finely chopped

Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on a plate. In a bowl, lightly whisk an egg and add a tablespoon of milk. For the crumb mixture, mix together the panko breadcrumbs, chia seeds, sesame seeds, crushed macadamia nuts and a good pinch of salt and freshly cracked pepper. Tip half of this mixture out onto a plate. Pat your flathead fillets with paper towel to remove any moisture and then coat with the flour. Dip in the egg mix, and lastly in the crumb mixture. Repeat until all fillets are coated.

For the mayonnaise, crack the egg into a jar and add the garlic, salt, lemon juice and dijon mustard. Blend for a couple of seconds with a hand held blender. Add the oil in a steady stream (keep blending) until you get the desired consistency. The more oil you add, the thicker your mayonnaise will become. Add the parsley, caper, cornichons and dill. Mix well.

Heat olive oil in a large fry pan over medium high heat. Add the fish and fry gently until brown. Turn over and reduce the heat slightly to allow the other side to brown and the fillets to cook through. Remove and place on a plate with paper towel until all fillets are cooked. You could place them in a pre-heated oven to keep them warm if you wanted to.

Serve fish with tartare sauce, chips and greens.

Serves 4

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Ensaladilla rusa

Ensaladilla rusa or Russian Salad is a humble little salad from Spain. Well, to be precise, it originated in Russia as it’s name suggests but their version of the salad was much more opulent (think caviar, crayfish tails and smoked duck…) than one I grew to love.

This salad appeared on the table at most family events as the primer plato, generally followed by some type of meat such as eye fillet or lamb cutlets. It is always eaten cold and served with olive oil, salt and homemade mayonnaise.  

In the Spanish version of this recipe, you only need to cook the potato and the carrot. The peas and corn are tinned and the white asparagus and roasted capsicum come from a jar. No wonder it’s a favourite, it’s super easy to prepare.

In my version, I went to the effort of roasting the capsicum and I blanched the corn, peas and green asparagus (the white asparagus was $8 a bunch! That’s about 4 spears..). I think the texture you get from freshly cooking all the vegetables is far better. The salad has nice definition to it instead of being too mushy.

Any tuna will be fine in this salad but I went searching for the preserved tuna that we used to buy in Spain that is not so common here. It has a much nicer flavour and texture. I found a little jar from the Basque country called Yurrita Gastronomika.

As with many of the great Spanish dishes, the ingredients are basic but the result is impressive. 

Ensaladilla Rusa

2 large or 3 medium potatoes

1 carrot

1 red pepper

3/4 cup frozen peas

1 corn cob, kernels removed

1 bunch of green asparagus

1 jar of tuna in oil

3 eggs

Salt

For the mayonnaise

1 egg

A good pinch of salt

1/2 clove of garlic

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 tsp of dijon mustard

Approximately 1 cup of sunflower oil

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Rub a little olive oil on the red capsicum and place on a tray in the oven. Cook for about an hour or until it is nicely charred on the outside and tender inside. Turn occasionally during cooking. Put the cooked capsicum in a bowl and cover with cling film. This makes it sweat and the skin is easier to remove. When cool, remove the skin. Then open the capsicum and remove the stem and seeds.

Steam the potatoes and carrot in a double boiler until tender all the way through. About 15 minutes for the carrot and 30 minutes for the potatoes depending on their size. Set aside to cool.

Bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch the asparagus until tender, it should take a couple of minutes. Remove and refresh in cold water. Add the corn to the boiling water and 10 seconds later add the peas. Let cook for an additional 30 seconds or so, remove and refresh in cold water.

Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Place on the heat and bring to the boil. Once the water starts to boil, place the lid on the saucepan, remove from the heat and allow to cool.

For the mayonnaise, crack an egg into a jug and add half of the lemon juice, garlic, salt and mustard. Blitz quickly with a hand held blender and then add the oil in a steady stream (keep blending) until you achieve the thickness you are after. The more oil you add, the thicker your mayonnaise will become. You may not use the whole cup. Taste and add more lemon juice or salt if necessary.

To serve, I sliced the potatoes, diced the carrots and chopped the red capsicum and asparagus (leaving the spears intact). I added the peas and corn as they are, halved the eggs and then broke the tuna over the top. In the original version, everything is diced and more often than not, the mayonnaise is mixed through.

I think it’s nice to serve the mayonnaise alongside so everyone can put on as much or as little as they like. Don’t forget the bread!

Serves 8 as a starter or good to serve as part of a BBQ feast…

 

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Hanger steak sandwich with marinated onions

When I’m going to cook a nice piece of beef on the BBQ, I always go for eye fillet or porterhouse. It’s expensive but you know you’re going to end up with beautiful, tender meat.

However this week I thought i’d venture further into the belly of the beast and buy a cheaper cut that I could throw on the BBQ and then slice up. I had ‘skirt’ or ‘flank’ steak in mind but when I got to the butchers and saw the skirt steak, I knew it’d be like eating old boots. Very sinewy. A quick chat with the butcher confirmed this and he told me that what I was after was hanger steak.  Following a quick anatomy lesson, and the admission that on this particular day he had no hanger steak, he suggested I try ‘flatiron’ steak instead – which is a flat muscle off the shoulder blade.

So off I went, slightly disappointed with my second rate flatiron steak, and with the promise that next time I visited he’d give me the best piece of hanger steak he had.

I cooked up the flatiron, quickly on high heat, and while this cut was nice and tender and perfect for tacos and the like, it was lacking a little flavour. So back to the butcher I went.

He lived up to his promise and I waited as he threw half a beast on the chopping block and expertly sliced away until I had the hanger steak i’d be waiting for. At $14.99 a kilo I was keen to see if it would live up to my expectations.

Much like flatiron, hanger steak needs to be cooked over high heat to medium doneness. Any longer and it becomes a bit tough to eat apparently. So that’s what I did, I cooked it to medium on the Weber, let it rest for 5 – 10 minutes and then sliced it up (against the grain) and put it in this particularly tasty sandwich. What doesn’t taste good between 2 pieces of bread?

I’ll definitely be buying hanger steak more often. It’s inexpensive, loaded with flavour, quick to cook and very versatile. I’ve also served this steak with homemade potato chips and blue cheese sauce, it was delicious.

Hanger steak sandwich with marinated onions

Makes 2 sandwiches

For the sandwich

1/2 piece of hanger steak, trimmed (you’ll have meat left over, save it for another sandwich..)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

4 slices of sourdough bread

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 heaped tbs of mayonnaise (I use kewpie)

4 tomato slices

A handful of rocket

Goats cheese or any other cheese that takes your fancy

For the marinated onions

This marinated onion recipe comes from the cumulus cookbook. They serve it with slow roasted lamb shoulder, which if you haven’t tried you absolutely should. 

1 red onion, finely sliced lengthways

1 pinch of salt flakes

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoons olive oil

1 pinch of ground sumac

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

Place sliced onions in a bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Leave for one hour. Squeeze liquid from the onions and place in a clean bowl. Add remaining ingredients, mix and set aside.

Bring the steak to room temperature and coat with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Pre-heat BBQ to high heat and cook the steak for approximately 5 minutes on each side (depending on thickness).  Make sure the outside is nice and charred. Remove from the heat once cooked to your liking and leave to rest, covered in foil for about 10 minutes. Thinly slice ready to put in your sandwich.

Mix the mayo and dijon mustard together. Spread over two pieces of bread. Top each sandwich with the steak, tomatoes, salt and pepper, marinated onions and rocket. Spread goats cheese on the top piece of bread and close each sandwich.

A good steak sandwich always goes well with chips…

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