Oriental Wild Boar

Obviously pork has a limited place in asian cuisine (given the religious preferences of not an insignificant proportion of SE Asia). Wild Boar, however, is probably more akin to the type of pork meat encountered in Asia - the standard European pig (as popular in Britain and Denmark) is a different proposition so when I had a look in the freezer and saw we still had some wild boar steaks this easy throw together was an easy decision.

Ingredients

Marinade
1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 teaspoon Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 wild boar steaks

Quick cook noodles, mange tout and baby corn to serve.

Method

Add the marinade ingredients to a dish, mix and add the Wild Boar (coat on both sides and set aside for an hour to marinade).

Grill for 5 or so minutes on each side. The other ingredients take about 4 onutes to boil in a pan.

Pork Balls

Nothing to do with pig's testicles - but a cunning twist on the Chinese takeaway favourite (and not very Chinese at all really).

Having 2 kilos of pork between two of us was clearly going to be a multiple meal situation - or at least the same sandwiches for a week.

Ingredients

Pork Balls
chunks of cold roast pork
3 slices of bread (cheap white sliced is best)
chilli chutney
one egg

Sweet and Sour Sauce
2 tbs tomato ketchup
4 tomatoes (diced)
one onion
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar

Method

Start with the sauce - add the onion (finely sliced) to a sauce pan and start to heat gently in some sunflower oil. After the onions have softened add the diced tomatoes - keeping the heat at medium. Add the ketchup, sugar and red wine vinegar and continue to heat gently - stirring frequently. This will take about 15 minutes in total to cook down. Whilst you wait crack on with the pork balls.

Cut the crusts off the slices of bread. Then slice into thirds and coat them on the inside with chili chutney. Seal the bread around the meat, pressing to seal. Beat the egg and season. Dip the bread balls into the egg and then add to a hot pan with sunflower oil. Turn frequently until evenly crispy.

Roast Loin of Pork Stuffed with Peaches and Garlic

We went to the wholesalers today and got a cracking load of garlic and a big 2 kg loin of pork.

I have done a variation of this many times over the years. Using fruit with meat is not widely enough used as the natural sugars combine well with the meat and any herbs - when roasting like this cutting a cavity to allow the fruit to get into the meat does a wonder.

Ingredients

a 2kg loin of pork
one tin of peaches in syrup
2 cloves of garlic
one teaspoon of oregano
olive oil

Method

Slice a slit into the loin (make sure you don't go all the way throughand ensure not to go to the ends.

Add the peaches, some salt and pepper, the garlic (crushed) and the oregano. I re-used the elasticated string that the meat came in but if you don't have this tie with butcher's string.

I roasted, wrapped in foil, for about an hour and a quarter and served with roast butternut squash and courgettes.

Gammon Ham with Spiced Black Pudding Crust

Gammon Ham with Spiced Black Pudding Crust

This is a bit of a labour of love. The flavouring starts right from the off with the boiling liquor.

Ingredients

One Gammon Ham (sized for the number of people to feed)

For the pot

12 peppercorns
6 juniper berries
2 bay leaves

For the Glaze

2 tablespoons of thick cut marmalade
2 tablespoons of cinnamon cranberry sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
12 cloves
50 grammes black pudding


Take the Gammon Ham and place in a pot filled with water until it is covered. Add the peppercorns, juniper berries and bay leaves.

Boil the gammon as the size requires. Mine was for an hour and a half. My cook book suggests for hams up to 2.25kg/5lb boil for 30 minutes per 480g/1lb; for hams weighing 2.5 to 5kg/5.5 to 11lb boil for 15 minutes per 480g/1lb and those over this weight boil for 10 minutes per 480g/1lb.

When the boiling is complete remove the ham from the pan - retain the stock for a risotto.

Remove the skin with a sharp knife - make sure to retain the fat layer though.

Cross cut the fat and stud with the cloves.

Mix the glaze ingredients together and cover the meat before roasting in a hot oven for 15-25 minutes. The black pudding adds texture and the cranberry/orange mix is luscious.

I served this with:
- a baked sweet potato (cross cut a sweet potato and rub with olive oil and sea salt, wrap in foil and bake for 45 minutes).
- boiled carrots and roast Jerusalem artichokes method as per the sweet potato above).

The next day's ham sandwiches were exquisite - the flavour penetrates the meat marvelously.

Pork Schnitzel with Apple Bubble & Squeak

I travel to Germany a fair bit so normally I get my pig ration out there. These schnitzels though are a homemade special and I think are excellent as a quick and easy dinner.

Ingredients

Pork leg steak
chopped rosemary
dried breadcrumbs
one egg

one cooking apple
one small savoy cabbage
6 small potatoes

Method

For the schnitzel beat the pork with a rolling pin to flatten/tenderise the meat.

Dip in egg and then into the breadcrumbs and chopped rosemary that should be mixed together.

Shallow fry on a medium heat on both sides until the meat is coked through.

For the Apple Bubble & Squeak first put the potatoes on to boil. With 5 minutes to go add the cabbage (sliced into inch long strips) then the cored and chopped apple with 2 mins left. Drain and mash with a little salt and butter.

Spicy Sicillian Sauasages

This is a good quick throw together dinner

Sausages have traveled a journey over the last few years with wider varieties being available in the supermarkets.

These sicillian sausages were made with lots of garlic and crushed chillies.

Cut the sausages into big bite size pieces and cook in a frying pan in olive oil and part way through cooking add a half dozen ripe baby tomatoes cut in half. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar and half a dozen pickled green chillies roughly chopped into 1 cm long bits.

Either serve with cous cous, bulgar wheat or wholemeal pasta (as we did)