Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Pork Belly with Thai Dressing

Finally we have been able to order half a cow for the freezer - we're looking forward to having beef on the menu again.  We ordered plenty of mince, it's super versitile and Mr 2 finds it easier to eat than chewing on a roast or a steak.

To make sure we have room I cleared a box of pork chops and belly strips from the chest freezer to the smaller freezer in the kitchen.  I decided to leave the belly strips out to defrost and make another Asian inspired meal with them, since we have Tat-Soi growing in the garden in almost weed proportions.  It self seeded in the summer and is popping up everywhere.

We only needed one strip per person - a little goes a long way with belly.



Pork Belly with Thai Dressing Recipe
Serves 4

4 Pork Belly Strips
1t Salt

Dressing
1T Sesame Oil
1T Fish Sauce
1T Rice Wine Vinegar
1T White Sugar
3T Water
1 Birds Eye Chilli, Diced (Optional)

Steamed Rice and Tat-Soi to serve
Fried Shallots (optional)

 Steam belly strips over gently simmering water for 1.5 to 2 hours till tender, I find this process removes a lot of fat and makes the pork super tender.

Heat oven to 250°C Fanbake.  Sprinkle salt over the pork and place on rack (I use a cake cooling rack).  Put rack over tray with a little water (the water stops the fat smoking as it drips off the belly).  Bake for 30 or so minutes till golden.

While the belly is roasting cook rice and make dressing.  To make dressing combine all of the ingredients and stir till sugar dissolves.  When pork is nearly done steam the tat-soi.

Chop the pork into bite sized pieces and pile on top of steamed rice with vege.  Pour over generous amount of dressing and sprinkle over fried shallots.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Post 100 : Growing my Green Thumb

I've been trying to figure out what to write for my 100th post.  Nothing too inspiring came to mind till I was going through some old photos yesterday evening.  I was able to see all of the changes in my vegetable garden since I started planting just a couple of weeks after we moved in March 2013.

Sometimes I feel like I've done nothing at all in the garden between changing nappies, house work and other commitments, but these photos tell me otherwise.  Anyway, enough from me for now, I'll let my pictures do the talking.

Moving Day : March 2013

August 2013

September 2013

December 2013

January 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

July 2014

Friday, July 11, 2014

Winter Warmer : Beef and Corn Casserole with Herbed Corn Dumplings

Beef meals are few a far between at the moment. Our last home kill ran out in March and once you've paid home kill prices it's hard to part with hard earned money on supermarket prices.

I did part with $11 last time I went shopping, I brought a kilo pack of gravy beef, which was turned into a big stew, with dumplings of course.  I cooked a double recipe for $17 - bargin!

With birthday party preparations to do it was good to know dinner was taken care of while I got on with the day.

If you don't have ground corn (maize flour) just use plain flour, or some wholemeal.


Beef and Corn Casserole with Herbed Corn Dumplings Recipe
Serves 4

Casserole
2T Oil or Dripping (I used bacon dripping)
500g Gravy Beef, Trimmed and Cubed

2 Onions, Sliced
1T Flour
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
400ml Stock
Bouquet Garni (or 1T mixed herbs)
1 Large Carrot, Diced
2 Medium Potatoes, Peeled and Diced
Salt and Pepper
1 Tin of Corn Kernels, Drained

Dumplings
100g Plain Flour
80g Ground Corn
2t Baking Powder
¼t Salt
½t Mixed Herbs
100g Butter
½C Milk

Casserole
In a heavy, oven proof pan heat dripping over medium high heat.  Brown the gravy beef and set aside.  Turn down heat a little and brown the onions.  Stir in flour and cook for another minute or so.  Add juice from tinned tomatoes, stock, bouquet garni, carrot, potatoes and season.  Bring to the boil and then add in the beef.  Cover and  either turn down to lowest setting, put in the oven at 130ÂșC or transfer to a slow-cooker - make sure you preheat the bowl and cook on low.  If you cook on the stove top you will need to stir every now and then to make sure it doesn't stick.  Cook for 6-8 hours.  45 minutes before you're ready to serve return to stove top on medium heat or turn slow-cooker onto high.  Add in drained tomatoes and corn.  Assemble dumplings and cook for another 20 minutes till dumplings are cooked through (dumplings may take up to 40 minutes to cook in slow-cooker).

Dumplings
Mix together dry ingredients.  Rub in butter till mixture resembles bread crumbs.  Stir in milk to form a soft dough.  Drop large spoonfuls into bubbling casserole.


Happy boys : Warm stew, bath, then bed


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Loving my new life

I love our little community, our house in the country and being at home with my boys.

In just over a year I've gotten to know some wonderful people in our area and even those I don't know always smile and say hello as you pass.  So different to the stone faced city folk I used walk by in malls and lunch bars when I was in an office job.

After moving I got out and involved in a local playgroup for the benefit both myself and the kids.  I even took on the job as Treasurer in the new year which keeps me very busy sometimes, which is something I thrive on.  Especially over winter when the garden is slow, no chicks are hatching and the fruit trees are sleeping.

I am very excited about the growing season ahead.  Since rearranging my vege garden it is now about 32 square meters, a lot bigger than the old 13.  My broad beans are nearly a meter tall and flowering which should give me a good crop in spring and Papa Bear brought me some potato and garlic to plant this week.  I hope to have some new potatoes for Christmas.

The vege garden chicken tractor is working really well, the hens do a very thorough job and leave a very clean and fertilised soil to plant in.  My compost bin system has been started, made out of upright pallets.  The first is a little over half full and when I turned it this afternoon it was lovely and hot with good fungi and microbe activity.  I should have loads of compost to plant pumkins, lettuce, corn and beans in in the spring.

I planted some beetroot, carrots, parsley, chives, coriander, kale, broccoli and cauliflower a couple of months ago which have slowly established through the cold weather and all look very healthy.  I planted some rhubard too and I'm sure some have sprouted, though I'm not completly sure.  I've never grown it from seed before I don't know what it looks like as a baby.

The blog has been quiet over the last few weeks due to my boys having chicken pox, colds and ear infections.  I was lucky enough to have both my boys get a quite mild cases of chicken pox.  We got through relatively drama free by giving regular warm baths with baking soda or oats wrapped in a cloth to sooth their itchy sores.  Even taking 20 minutes to do it at midnight helped us all through the night in the long run.  Mr 4 didn't eat much for a few days until Mumma realized he had pox in his mouth so food was very soft for a few days which got him eating well again.  I'm glad we don't have to do it again though.

Today has been cold and blustery so I'm off to put on a pot of hearty pumpkin and barley soup for dinner.