We had Summer last week and this is what we cooked... - Thai Style Marinated Pork with Chilli Dressing

 

 

Ah Summer. That one day of the year in England when the sun comes out, and the results are profound. Flesh that has been hidden for the 364 days previously is revealed and consequently burned, Argos sells out of inflatable swimming pools, and any shops that sell either bread, burgers, beer and charcoal have their shelves decimated of these items as soon as the doors open and if you leave it too late on in the day to decide you are getting the barbecue out, then you will be left with some squashed sliced white and the odd vegetarian sausage to try and get the best out of. Which I suppose is okay if you are a vegetarian...

 

I have to say though that I am a bit of a miserable bitch and the thoughts of getting the barbeqce out does not fill me with brimming joy. It is mainly to do with the feeling of having to create stuff to go with it, like salad, or else scrabbling through the cupboard for the burger relish that you remember using the previous summer and there is no way you are going out and getting another one (if you are me, that is...) And then there are the accompaniments to the burger, and slicing the bread, and keeping the flies off the food, and keeping the kids away from the barbecue and because of my disorganised nature I always seem to be traipsing back to the kitchen for something. And another thing, whilst I am not averse to a tasty burger, I am sick of having them off barbecues. It is like that is all there ever seems to be...

 

So I got out some pork fillet. I buy so many pork fillets for great prices because I don't think anybody who shops where I shop actually knows what to do with them. I decided to adapt Bill Granger's recipe for Thai Marinated Pork and Chilli Dressing from his book Easy Food, where he marinated pork chops for this, and it worked a treat. Cooking the pork fillet over the coals created meat that was succulent and tasty and it was just so nice to taste something different. This is different, and next year when Summer comes again, you should try it.

 

Thai Style Marinated Pork with Chilli Dressing, adapted from 'Easy Food' by Bill Granger

 

My adaptations in red

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad.

 

Ingredients:

 

4 brown shallots, sliced (I used a medium sized onion)

1 tbsp grated ginger

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Handful coriander, including stems, coarsely chopped

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp caster sugar

4 pork cutlets (I used 420g pork fillet)

Olive oil

 

For the sauce

 

2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. caster sugar
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp. thinly sliced spring onion
1/4 cucumber, seeds  removed, finely chopped

 

Method:

 

Tastes better than it looks!!!

 

Place shallots, ginger, garlic, coriander, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, sea salt and pepper in a food processor and whiz to a paste.

 

Still tastes better than it looks...

 

Transfer to a shallow, non-metallic dish and add the pork.

 

Mix well, then cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. (I left mine for an hour and a half)

 

Preheat a barbecue or chargrill pan to medium-high heat and brush lightly with oil.

 

 

 

Grill the pork for about 4 -5 minutes on four 'sides' (you might have to squash it a bit to do this) or until cooked to your liking.

 

For the chilli dressing, place vinegar, sugar and fish sauce in a bowl and stir until sugar has dissolved.

 

 

 

Stir in chilli, spring onion and cucumber.

 

 

 

Serve pork with cucumber, chilli dressing. In a completely authentic Thai way, I got some tortilla wraps and just put the meat and the dressing on that. Messy but really tasty!

The need for speed: Curry in a hurry, or Nigella's Thai Green Curry

 

 

Yes, I could make my own curry paste. I have made my own curry paste in the past and it was pretty good, but, fundamentally I am a) lazy and b) busy, and if you are either or both of those and you like Thai curry then here is the answer to what you can cook of an evening when you crash through the door with a selection of children/marking/ a loathing of the fact it's raining again, yadda yadda yadda.

 

One of the things I really like about this curry is its greenness. Despite dumping a tin of coconut milk into the mix you can't help but think that with such verdancy will be doing you the absolute power of good. The original recipe calls for soya beans which when I first started making this curry years ago, my supermarket didn't stock, so I subbed broad beans for the only reason that they look a bit like soya beans and because I absolutely adore them. I don't really care if soya beans are the greatest things in the world, I will not be changing.

 

So this is from Nigella Lawson's 'Nigella Express'. Not my first foray into this particular book it has to be said, for I am definitely not averse to employing the odd short cut to create something that tastes really quite good. And this tastes really quite good.

 

Not unsurprisingly Lola and Finn are really not keen. When I make this, it is because Lola and Finn have already eaten, or I will have given in to a clamouring for pasta. I aim to please.

 

Curry in a Hurry (Thai Green Curry), adapted from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson

 

My adaptions in red

 

Ingredients:

 

                       2 tablespoons wok oil (I use sesame oil)                      

3 tablespoons spring onions (finely chopped)

3 - 4 tablespoons green Thai curry paste

1 kilogramme chicken thigh fillets (cut into strips about 4 x 2cm)

1 x 400 ml can coconut milk

250 ml boiling boiling water

chicken stock concentrate or cube

1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce (nam pla)

185 g Frozen peas

200 g Frozen soya beans (I use broad beans)

150 g Frozen fine beans

3 tablespoons fresh coriander (chopped)

 

Method:

 

 

 

Heat the wok oil in a large saucepan that owns a lid, drop in the spring onions and cook, stirring for a minute or two, then add the curry paste.

 

 

 

 

 

Add the chicken pieces and keep turning over heat for 2 minutes, before adding the coconut milk, stock (i.e. the water plus stock concentrate or cube) and fish sauce, then the frozen peas and soya beans.

 

Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the frozen fine beans to the mix and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

 

 

Serve with rice or noodles, sprinkling the coriander over as you do so. Put out a plate of lime wedges for people to squeeze over as they eat.

Thai - rrific: Nigel Slater's Coconut chilli (or chili) chicken

I know the premise of this blog is that I am a mum and that I try to create dishes to broaden the food horizons of my bubs, who, given the choice would happily live on chips, pasta, frubes and jaffa cakes. But sometimes, just sometimes, I crave something that is Lola and Finn 'unfriendly', and when that is the case, out comes the pasta, a tomato sauce is whipped up, some garlic bread may be added, and they are good to go. Meantime I set to work.

I do like a curry and so does Phill. And whilst I adore Indian food, lately I have enjoyed food with more of a Thai influence, which led me to cooking up this wonderful recipe from Nigel Slater, which is really so easy. You can take on the takeaway with this one; simple and quick to make (as long as you have a whizzy chopper) and smells divine. The smell when the spice mix hits the hot frying pan is heady and exotic. The other joy is that once the chicken is in, you let it blip away for 20 minutes or so whilst you open the Riesling and stack the dishwasher (if you're me, that is).

A note on my tweaking of the recipe. We like sauce and so I decided to use five chicken thighs instead of the recommended eight. There was a lot of sauce but that was fine by us. Obviously if you are sauce averse, alter the sauce ingredients dependant on how much chicken you are using.

I served this with simple boiled rice; an excellent foil for the punchy, spicy sauce. And it is a little punchy, in a nice way. It kind of starts off with a coconutty, creamy caress before the spicy slap of chilli. Not a bad thing.

Coconut chilli chicken, adapted from Nigel Slater's Simple Cooking

Ingredients:

3 plump stalks lemongrass

50g/2oz fresh ginger

2 hot red chillies

2 cloves garlic

a bunch coriander

2 limes

2 tbsp groundnut oil

200g/7oz tomatoes (I used tinned)

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

8 chicken thighs (I used 5 boneless, skinless ones)

400ml/14oz can coconut milk

8 apricots, halved (but I left them out)

Method:

Peel and discard the outer leaves of the lemongrass as they can

sometimes be tough. Cut the inner leaves into short lengths and put

in the food processor.

Peel the ginger, then slice into thin pieces and add to the lemongrass. Chop the chillies, discarding their stems and add to the ginger with the peeled garlic. To reduce the heat a little you could totally deseed the chillies and take out all of the white membrane.

Roughly chop the stems and half of the leaves of the coriander to add to the food processor,

reserving the rest for later.

Grate the lime zest into the food processor, reserving the limes for later, then turn the machine on and let it chop everything to a coarse paste. Add a little groundnut oil and scrape the sides down with a spatula if it sticks. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce and the tomatoes

and process for a few seconds longer until all the ingredients appear amalgamated.

Warm a further tablespoon of groundnut oil in a deep pan over a moderate to high heat and use it to brown the chicken pieces, turning them so they colour nicely on both sides. Lift the chicken pieces out and pour away anything more than a tablespoon of oil and juices.

Add the spice paste and let it fry over a moderate heat for two minutes till fragrant, stirring almost constantly, then return the chicken to the pan. Pour over the coconut milk, stir, cover and leave to simmer over a low heat for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile halve and stone the apricots (if using) and leave them to one side.

Test the chicken for doneness making certain it’s cooked right the way through, then add the apricots, if using. Leave to simmer for a few minutes, then add the juice of the limes and the reserved coriander leaves.