Stuffed Pork Fillet

 Often I will buy a range of meats to have on our weekends at Uki. But then I am faced with the challenge of turning them into something delicious for dinner.  Last Saturday I had one good sized pork fillet, but was not inspired to have our usual that is, pan frying the medallions and adding a cream and mustard sauce.  So a quick hunt of the internet and I came up with a combination of ingredients to stuff my pork fillet.  All remained was to wrestle the stuffing to stay inside while I wrapped and tied it.

Note: It may be worthwhile checking out a You Tube video on how to slice a pork fillet into a flat piece of meat.

Ingredients

1 x medium to large pork fillet

3 x Tablespoons softened cream cheese

1 x Tablespoon of either pesto or capsicum dip

2 x bacon rashers, diced and cooked

1 cup baby spinach leaves

1 x red onion, sliced

Salt and Pepper

1 x Dessertspoon butter

Dash of Olive Oil

1 x Dessertspoon Balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup tasty cheese, grated

Paprika or spice rub of choice

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Make balsamic onions - Place butter and olive oil in a frypan, once melted add onions and a little salt and pepper and stir until softened. (approx 10 minutes) Then add vinegar, stir to combine and then set aside to cool.

Take your pork fillet, trim of fat and any silver skin.  With a very sharp knife, starting from near the bottom of the pork fillet, run the knife along the length to open up, continue to cut down the centre each time flattening a little more pork meat against the board until it is opened up like a book. Refer note above.

You can then use a meat hammer and gently pound the meat rectangle.

Start by gently spreading the cream cheese over the meat leaving a small space around all edges.

Next spread over the capsicum spread or pesto, then add the grated tasty cheese.

Next layer is the onion mixture, then a layer of spinach topped with the cooked bacon.

Cut 6 pieces of kitchen string and slide under the fillet, spaced evenly apart.

You may need another pair of hands to assist in rolling and tying the fillet.

Starting from the edge most away from you, roll the meat, whilst squeezing the stuffing into the roll as you go. 

Once rolled to the other side, have someone tie off each string.

Dust the outside with your favourite spice rub or paprika.

Place in an oven dish and cook for 30-40 minutes or until pork is just cooked, you don't want to dry it out.

Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes, slice into medallions and then remove string.

Serve with salad.

Mamma Marmalade

Sweet Potato and Coconut Curried Red Lentil Salad - for Dinner

One of my favourite and most versatile salad recipes is the sublime Belinda Jeffery's   clever Fragrant Spiced Red Lentil and currant salad that I have shared on this blog previously.  It is an absolute winner for flavour and is a firm favourite in my home. 

On the weekend I was a bit overenthusiastic and made an rather large quantity.  My usual options for changing or reinvigorating the salad are to add some fish or protein along with additional vegetables.  This time however, I wanted a quick dinner, so I warmed some already roasted chunks of sweet potato, added spoonfuls of the red lentil salad and stirred through some coconut milk.  The tang from the salad vinegar is quite zingy alongside the coconut.  Garnished with a little fresh mint or coriander - a quick to prepare warm variation using a favourite recipe.  

Belinda Jeffery lives in the beautiful Northern New South Wales region which grows an abundance of enticing fruit and vegetables. Pop into the village of Uki when you visit this picturesque region.             Enjoy!  Colleen 

Preparation    5 minutes -  Fragrant Spiced Red Lentil and currant salad already made

Cooking          5 - 10 minutes  - if your salad and sweet potato are already prepared.

Serves            depends on quantity used.  Mine serves 4

Ingredients

Fragrant Spiced Red Lentil and currant salad  click on this link for blog recipe

1 large sweet potato - peeled, cut into chunks and roasted

a little oil

couple of handfuls of baby spinach leaves

approx 125 ml (1/2 cup) coconut milk  - add gradually, might not need all of this

freshly chopped mint or coriander to garnish

Method 

Warm the roasted sweet potato chunks in a splash of oil.

Stir in baby spinach until just wilted.

Add several large spoonfuls of the prepared Red lentil salad and gently combine.

Pour in a little coconut milk and gently stir through. You want it to be creamy but not sloppy so add gradually. Taste and adjust if needed with touch salt, pepper or herbs.

Serve garnished with fresh mint or coriander

Enjoy!  Colleen

Pumpkin, feta and caramelised onion roll

Vegetarian meals are on my table most nights and this pumpkin roll is easy to mostly prep ahead of time and can be varied with the addition of different herbs and options such of semidried tomatoes or black olives . The recipe is from "Delicious : Faking It" and can be served with steamed green veggies or a green salad or tomato salad if you prefer. I often make it with just one pastry sheet and reduce the filling accordingly - which is enough for dinner for 2 people and lunches the next day.  

Having a stash of pre-roasted pumpkin in your freezer will be it even faster to prepare. 

            Enjoy!  Colleen

Preparation    20 minutes including prepping the pumpkin

                        you could just use one piece of pastry and half the filling mix

                        Filling can be prepared ahead of time ready for assembly later on
Baking            30 minutes for pumpkin.  Allow to cool. Then  30 minutes for pastry roll

Ingredients     

Essentially:  use the pumpkln and cheese basics and add/vary what you want to add - 

500 gram pumpkin - after been peeled, cubed and roasted (approx 30 minutes)  Allow to cool

TIP:  I peel, cube and roast a large pumpkin then freeze any pumpkin I don't use for another time.   Roasted pumpkin cubes are so handy for quick dinners 

Olive Oil

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped rosemary leaves  (option: sage leaves or thyme leaves)

2 slices frozen puff pastry - almost thawed, don't let it get too soft or it's too hard to handle PS you could just use one piece of pastry and half the filling mix

few tablespoons of Caramelised Onion jam (jar is fine) More or less depending on your preference, just not excessive or will be soggy

shake of dried chilli flakes (optional)

1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic (optional)

a couple of semi sundried tomatoes or black olives finely sliced would be nice option too

50 - 100 gram feta cheese crumbled (Option: goat's cheese) 

1 egg, beaten - for egg wash

Optional: poppy seeds or sesame seeds for sprinkling over top

Some additional caramelised onion jam for serving option

Method

Peel, cube and roast pumpkin (approx 30 min) with a little olive oil, rosemary, a little salt and pepper to your taste. I like a bit of pepper for flavour.  Allow to cool at least 15 - 20 min

Place the cooked cubes in a bowl and sprinkle over the optional chilli flakes, garlic, sundried tomato pieces . Stir just enough to combine.

Have oven preheated to 190℃ and line a baking (with lip) tray with baking paper

You have the option of making 2 thinner rolls or 1 wider roll:

for 2: Place one of the almost thawed pieces on the baking tray close to one of the long sides so that half pastry hangs off the tray - only keep the freezer plastic on the hanging pastry for now - you are going to fill the base then flip the hanging pastry on to top of roll mixture.  You will then repeat on the other baking tray edge with the 2nd piece of pastry   

OR

for 1 : use one piece of pastry on base, fill then cover with 2nd piece of pastry for a wider roll 

this is easier and less fiddly - just means roll will be wider 

OR 

just use one piece of pastry and half the filling mix

Use a fork and prick the base pastry in several places leaving a 2cm border

Spread a couple of tablespoons of caramelised onion jam over pastry base leaving 2cm border

Spoon the pumpkin mixture over so it resembles a long sausage roll filling and heaped up only enough for pastry to enclose.  Leave the 2 cm border 

 (If making 2 separate rolls - use half the mix on each pastry)

Sprinkle over with some crumbled feta

Brush the pastry borders with egg wash

Roll over the remaining pastry to enclose the filling . Be sure to remove any of the freezer plastic from the pastry

Press the edges to enclose the filling and seal the roll

Cut several slits across the top of the pastry with a sharp knife. Make them a wider than my pic

Brush all over with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds if desired

Bake for 20 - 30 minutes until puffed and golden.

Serve with a green salad.

Enjoy!  Colleen

Pork Chops in BBQ sauce

Midweek meals are sometimes difficult to make interesting.  But as you may have come to realise, the two contributors to this blog rarely prepare standard meat and 3 veg fare like they had in their childhood.  So with the dilemma  of 2 plain pork chops looking at me I was on the hunt for some spices to make them pop.  The following is a marinade that you don't need to make ahead of time as the chops actually cook in the sauce. So it's super quick for a midweek dinner with the added benefit that all the ingredients are already in the pantry.

   

Ingredients

Marinade

3 Tablespoons quality BBQ sauce

1 Tablespoon Soy sauce

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon brown sugar

2 Teaspoons Balsamic vinegar

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 Teaspoon garlic, minced

1/4 Teaspoon salt

1/4 Teaspoon cayenne pepper (use less if not keen on heat)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Prepare the pork chops by combining 1/2 Teaspoon each of garlic powder, onion powder (i didn't have any) and paprika. Rub this over the pork chops and then season with salt and pepper.

Combine all the marinade ingredients into an oven dish. Add the pork chops and baste.

Place in the oven on the top shelf because at the end of the cooking we will be grilling to make golden and crunchy.

Cook chops for 20 minutes, turning and basting every 10 minutes.

Turn oven to grill and then allow a further 5-7 minutes each side until edges are caramelised.

Top with fresh herbs and serve.  

Our accompaniments were mashed pumpkin and sautéed cabbage, bacon and fennel seeds. 

Mamma Marmalade