admin - Craig Cooks

Poached Pears in Red Wine

April 27, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Here’s a pear recipe that I invented. Serves 8 (halve the recipe for 4).

Simmer 1 bottle of red with 2 cups sugar until sugar dissolves.

Add 3 star anise, 2 cinnamon sticks, 6 pieces of orange peel, 1 split vanilla bean and 4 tbsp brandy for 10-15 minutes until the flavours combine.

Add 8 peeled halved beurre bosc pears. Cook on low heat for 30-40 minutes, turning the pears halfway through. Check with a skewer to see it they are cooked.

Optional: towards the end, add a few pieces of dark chocolate to the sauce.

Serve with marscapone cream.

Easy Cheesy Scones

April 7, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Tonight I made a very tasty broccoli, bacon and cheese soup. We didn’t have any bread to go with it, so my wife Yvonne whipped up this quick scone recipe handed down from her mother, Doris.

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups self-raising flour (approx)
1 egg
150 ml cream
150 ml milk
Salt

Preheat oven to 215 C.

Sift flour into bowl. Beat all of the other ingredients together.

Add to flour and mix with a knife. If mixture is too sticky add a little more flour.

Knead on a flat surface for 2 mins.

Cut scones with a round cutter and place together on a greased tray.

Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. (I’m sure you could try adding some cheese into the dough mix.)

Cook for 15 mins.

It’s that simple.

Pesto Sardine Pizza

April 6, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Pizza night here tonight. This was the standout.

There are two ways that you can do this.

1. Marinate the sardines in 2 tsp pesto and brush the pizza base with garlic oil.

2. Marinate the sardines in garlic oil and brush the pizza base with pesto.

On this occasion we did the first method.

Ingredients

Garlic oil
Pesto
Buffalo mozarella
5 fresh sardines or 10 fillets
about 20 cherry tomatoes
1/2 red capsicum, roasted and sliced
Grana padano cheese
Baby basil leaves
Squeeze of lemon juice

Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Leave for 20 mins. Splash with olive oil. Cook at 160C in an oven dish for 30-45 mins.

Brush the pizza base with garlic oil or pesto. Scatted with shredded mozzarella.

Place raw sardines evenly around pizza (they will cook on the pizza).

Place cherry tomatoes in the babes between the sardines. Grate some Grana padano cheese (or parmesan) on top.

Cook the pizza. We use a pizza stone and cook for about 10 mins at 220-230 C.

Squeeze lemon juice over the top and add baby basil leaves.

BBQ Rum & Coke Pork Belly

April 5, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

BBQ Rum & Coke Pork Belly

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Recipe type: Main

Ingredients

2-3 kg Pork Belly
2-2.5 liters Coca Cola
2 Star Anise
3 Cinnamon sticks
½ bunch Coriander leaves
2 Green Chillies (sliced)
500 g Sugar
500 ml Malt Vinegar
2 Red Chillies
200 ml Tomato Sauce
200 ml HP Sauce
100 g Horseradish (creamed)
100 ml Dark Rum

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 C. Place pork in a large flameproof roasting dish. Add Coca Cola to cover pork. Add star anise and 1 cinnamon stick. Heat dish on stove until liquid is simmering. Place in oven and cook for 2 to 2½ hours util pork is very tender. If necessary add a little boiling water to top up the liquid, otherwise the skin will burn. Remove pork from liquid. Discard liquid.
While pork is cooking, combine sugar with enough water to make a think paste. Cook in a saucepan on medium heat until golden. Remove from heat and add 2 cinnamon sticks, chillies and malt vinegar. Cook until mixture has reduced to the previous consistency, Stir in tomato and HP sauces and continue to cook and reduce again. Add horseradish and rum and allow to cool.
Slice pork into 3 cm wide 'rashers'. Place in a large dish, cover with marinade and cling film and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
Cook pork on covered charcoal barbecue for 10-15 minutes, basting occasionally, or in oven at 200 C, covered. Serve with sliced green chillies and coriander.

OK it’s not the best photo, but hey. The pork belly was served with the following:

Fennel sauted in butter and garlic oil, then simmered with crispy pieces of speck and verjuice
Sliced leeks sauted in butter, then simmer in a strained reduction of chicken stock, sliced red onion, black peppercorns, thyme and dried chanterelle mushrooms
Asparagus pan-seared in garlic oil
Sliced green chilli, coriander leaves and a piece of pistachio praline

I have to say that everything worked amazingly well. The pork was incredibly soft, vegetables full of flavour. The praline was probably unnecessary as the marinade was very sweet.

Served up with a lovely Eden Valley riesling by Robert Johnson. Some friends and I visited Robert’s cellar door in Lobethal last weekend. Robert makes stunning wine and is a gracious and interesting host. He’s a veteran winemaker. Both whites and reds are full of fruit, very drinkable now or later, and quite reasonably priced. Excellent.