Meat – Craig Cooks

Grand Final Sausage Rolls

September 26, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

Today should be the Australian Rules Football Grand Final – it is always the last Saturday in September. Thanks to COVID-19 and a late start to a shortened competition, the Final is going to be a month late.

Nevertheless, why not still make Grand Final Sausage Rolls. Eat some today and freeze some for next month! It’s a Win-win (unlike the actual game)!

Here’s the recipe that I made up today. It’s pretty good.

750g pork mince
2 eshallots (or 1/2 onion) diced finely and sauteed
1 grated carrot
4 tsp garlic
1 tbsp + 1 tsp freshly, coarsely ground fennel seeds (measure after you grind them)
1 tbsp cracked black pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 – 1 cup fresh bread crumbled

4 sheets puff pastry
1 egg for brushing
Sesame seeds

Feta and Lamb Gozleme

July 18, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

Tonight I made gozleme for the first time, and it turned out really well. I hunted my cookbooks and online for recipes, and they were all varied. Some had yeast and some didn’t. Some were flour and oil. Some included yoghurt. In the end I based it on this recipe from Gourmet Traveller.

I made half the dough recipe for the two of us.

100g wholemeal flour
200g plain flour
130ml water
75ml plain yoghurt
1 tbsp vegetable oil

I mixed these in the bread machine for 10 minutes.

Read the recipe to see how to roll it out. I think I added too much oil in the rolling process, as it was a little greasy.

Once rolled and folded, the dough rested for about half an hour and that was fine, as it absorbed the oil more and softened.

For the filling I combined
shredded silverbeet leaves (raw)
spring onions
finely chopped roast lamb
minced garlic
home-made feta
mozarella
2 tsp Turkish spice mix from Herbie’s Spices
juice of 1/4 lemon
black pepper and sea salt

Assemble and cook as in the recipe.

It’s a bit of work to roll out the dough. I was really happy with the finished thickness and texture.

Sous Vide Moroccan Lamb

December 17, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

I cooked a half leg of lamb for 15 hours overnight in the souse vide water bath. I use an Anova Precision Cooker stick and a Trespade Vacuum Sealer.

The cooking time came from Dale Prentice’s excellent book “At Home with Souse Vide” (stunning photos by my friend Mike Emmett and his friend Bec at RedFishBlueFish Photo.

Dale is the talent behind Sous Vide Australia. I also bought my smoking gun from them.

The recipe was as follows:

3 tbsp Moroccan spice powder. (For once I used some from a jar.)
1 x 5 cm knob of fresh ginger sliced thinly
3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
1 long red mild chilli, sliced and de-seeded
1/3cup white wine
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp fig jam
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sea salt

In hindsight I wish I had added juice of 1/2 lemon. Next timeI would stud the meat with the garlic.

After cooking it overnight, I finished it off on the BabyQ gas Weber.

It tastes really good, although next time I’ll use a home-made spice mix to give it more kick.

I’m going to serve it cut up with warm pita bread and accompaniments.

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Smoked Tomato Achiote Pork

December 10, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Tonight I put a Mexican twist on a Spanish roast pork dish.

The pork leg was studded with slices of 3 cloves of garlic. The pork was put in the following marinade for only a couple of hours and should have been longer.

Marinade
50g tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 1/2 tbsp achiote paste
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice
A generous pinch of ground cloves (maybe 1/8 tsp?)

The measurements above are approximate.

Achiote paste is from the annatto plant – a peppery spice. I keep a block of it in the fridge. It has an intense red colour but is mild in terms of heat. Great with pork or fish (or chicken…)

The pork was barbecued with sprigs of fresh oregano from our garden and smoked with some hickory. The fresh herb adds a wonderful aroma to the meat.

I use a Thermoworks ChefAlarm probe to check the temperature. It is a fantastic tool. I use it every time I BBQ.

Served up with a warm salad of charred zucchini, baked cherry tomatoes, charred red onion, mango, baked carrot (really! It was OK), smoked corn and coriander. (I forgot the lettuce and other leaves that I had picked from our garden…) Plus a wedge of lime to give the salad some tang. And some home-made BBQ sauce on the side if people needed it.

I cooked the pork crackling separately in the oven. The roast leg had plenty of time to rest (which I usually fail to allow). The pork was crisp on the outside and moist in the middle. Perfect.

I must say this tasted fantastic. This is a winner recipe that I will tweak and repeat. I will probably add some chilli to the marinade…

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