Pork Fillet with Warm Fennel and Apple Salad

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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I’ve got three restaurant reviews in the backlog but over the weekend I actually managed to fit in quite a bit of cooking. On Friday I made a banana cake. I had an idea that I’d attempt something along the lines of ‘food styling’ and re-photograph it but the cake is about 50% eaten and that hasn’t happened, so I might need to give that one up as a bad job.

Instead, we return to below average food photography but, with this recipe (from UK Delicious, where you can see a more styled photo!), very much above average bang for buck. The amount of time you need to invest is minimal (although this isn’t really a store cupboard staple recipe, so you will need to go shopping) but the end result is deceptively stylish. The other bonus is that any one of the three parts of the recipe – the pork, the creamed feta dressing or the warm salad, can be extracted and used elsewhere. The creamed feta dressing in particular is absolutely wonderful on potatoes!

If you have time to marinade the pork fillet, I recommend it – and it won’t do any harm to make a bit more marinade than you think you need! If you are lucky enough to have a pan which can go from stove to oven, use this for cooking the pork but be aware that you may need to adjust the cooking time – and be vigilant that the pork doesn’t get too brown or crispy. If it looks like it is, turn it over and cover with tin foil.

All up this took less than 45 minutes to put together – and everything was done by the time the pork came out of the oven so we even had 10 minutes of resting time spare.

Definitely a quick mid week meal option, but also smart enough to serve to others.

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Pork Fillet with Warm Fennel and Apple Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 pork fillet (around 350g)
  • 2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 red apple
  • 1 small bulb of fennel
  • generous handful of hazelnuts, toasted (& skins removed, if you can be bothered)
  • 3 large radishes
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 100g feta (Australian of course!)
  • 2-3 tbsp cream

Instructions

  1. For the pork, crush the fennel seeds and garlic and mix with a generous amount of olive oil and seasoning. Cover the pork fillet and, if you have time, leave to marinate.
  2. When you're ready to cook, preheat your oven to 200°C fan (220°C convention). Brown the pork in a pan and then roast for 25 minutes. If you're using the same pan, adjust cooking time down.
  3. Rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
  4. While the pork is cooking, prepare the salad. Roast the hazelnuts. If you can be bothered, rub them in a tea towel to remove the skins, and then chop roughly.
  5. Slice the fennel, apple and radishes using a mandoline (we used setting 3 for the apple and 2 for the fennel and radish - you don't want them sliced so finely you lose crunch).
  6. Put the fennel, apple, radish and hazelnuts in a pan, dress with olive oil and lemon juice and warm slowly on a very low heat.
  7. To make the creamed feta, chop the feta and put in a small blender and beat with the cream until smooth. You may need to add a little more cream. Heat slowly in a small pan or in short (10s) bursts in the microwave (pay attention as you don't want it to curdle!).
  8. Serve the pork fillet sliced on the warm salad. Add some boiled potatoes and dress with the creamed feta, serving the remainder on the side.
https://eatingadelaide.com/pork-fillet-warm-fennel-apple-salad/

Salt and Pepper Squid Recipe

- Alex Prichard 2 Comments

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I was particularly excited when, a few weeks ago, a new fishmonger opened at Brighton (Brighton Fresh Seafoods, in the Brighton Central shopping centre, on the corner of Brighton Road and Edwards Street). The selection of fish you can buy in the supermarket is dire (tough luck if you want anything local and fresh other than salmon) and our nearest fishmonger is in Westfield Marion which is not always a … um … pleasant shopping experience!

So I was keen to try out the new shop and Andy decided he was keen for making some salt and pepper squid. It’s taken us so long to purchase some Szechuan peppercorns that we’re now trying to use them in pretty much anything. And we had fresh oil in the fryer that had been used for chips a couple of times so we figured one more batch of chips and some S&P squid would be a fitting end to it.

I ended up picking up some thawed Australian squid rings and set about researching how best to do salt and pepper squid. Providing you have a deep fat fryer, it’s actually very easy and while I will provide you with a ‘recipe’ (of sorts) the important things are the RICE FLOUR (note – flour, not ground rice!) and the egg whites. Dabbing the squid dry (especially if it is thawed) is quite important – if only to solve the problem of the fryer spitting. And don’t be tempted to make a batter – a two step process is how you want to proceed.

In terms of flavouring – work with what you like and fry up a couple of rings first to check that you have the balance to your taste. Our first effort was overpowered with Chinese five spice (I would say that – I don’t particularly like it!) so we adjusted this by adding more Szechuan pepper. If you don’t have Szechuan pepper, you could try using chilli flakes, pepper and salt. And, of course, a really good way of adding extra heat is to make up a batch of a spice mix to serve on the side.

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Salt and Pepper Squid

Ingredients

  • 500 g squid rings, thawed (if previously frozen) and dried with kitchen towel
  • 2 egg whites, very lightly beaten
  • ~ 4 tbsp rice flour
  • spices to your taste, for example
  • 2 tsp ground black pepper
  • generous pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp Szechuan pepper
  • pinch of Chinese five spice

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in your deep fat fryer to 190°C.
  2. Place the rice flour and spices in a large, shallow bowl and mix well.
  3. Dip the rings a couple at a time in the egg whites and then dip in the flour and spice mix.
  4. Fry the rings until golden and crispy, turning once. Don't overload the fryer - for most domestic fryers start with about 4 rings and see how you go.
  5. Remove from the fryer and drain on kitchen towel. Allow to cool slightly and taste to ensure the spice blend is right for you.
  6. Keep the cooked rings warm in the oven as you fry the remainder.
  7. Serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon.
https://eatingadelaide.com/salt-pepper-squid-recipe/

Warm Middle Eastern Salad with Wallaby

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

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Disclaimer: Lenah Game sent me a voucher for the wallaby.

A while back I won The Blue Ducks, a book unpromisingly subtitled “Delicious Food, the Importance of Community and the Joy of Surfing”. Well, delicious food and community I can get on board with … but surfing … meh, I wasn’t so sure.

I read through it with very low expectations but came away very impressed and keen to try out, at the very least, the fennel ice cream (that still hasn’t happened). And then, the book was buried under all manner of picture books and Octonauts paraphernalia.

But the planets aligned, as last week Lenah Game got in touch and asked if I wanted to try some Tasmanian wallaby, newly available in South Australia. It had never occurred to me that wallaby would be edible and that I might be able to buy it but, given the opportunity to put a new meat on my plate, I was all for it.

Lenah wallaby is wild and humanely and sustainably harvested. Unlike sheep and cows, it’s a lot kinder to the Australian environment and Lenah Game makes sure that as much of the animal as possible is used. Wallabies don’t produce methane and require a LOT less water than cows and sheep do. Not only is the wallaby a very environmentally friendly thing to eat it is also super healthy. Like many game and wild meats, it’s very low in fat so you can feel virtuous all round.

So we were sitting on the sofa, doing our meal planning, scratching our heads over one meal when I dug out The Three Ducks and spotted a middle eastern lamb salad. It used lamb fillet and I remembered that Lenah produced wallaby fillet and … the rest is history.

The bonus here is that wallaby fillet (at roughly $30 a kilo) is markedly cheaper than lamb fillet. We bought two packets of fillet (both around 350-400g) and this served us for dinner, Andy for lunch and the toddler for dinner the next day. For two people and one meal you could easily get away with one packet.

Don’t over cook the wallaby – medium rare is about as cooked as you want to go – and allow it to rest. Lenah also notes that you need to cut the fillets diagonally across the grain. As the meat is vacuum packed, it will repay you opening it and ‘decanting’ it into a bowl for a bit of a rest prior to cooking.

We both loved the meat – it’s not gamey at all and don’t imagine it’s like kangaroo – it’s a lot more subtle. We’ll definitely be buying more in future … I can’t wait for some cold weather to try out the shanks.

Lenah Game wallaby is available from Foodland IGA supermarkets at Golden Grove, Hallett Cove, Littlehampton and Seaford and should be available in even more stores soon.

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Warm Middle Eastern Salad with Wallaby

Ingredients

  • 350g approx wallaby fillet
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 zucchini
  • ½ red onion, finely sliced
  • ½ cup coriander, chopped
  • ½ cup mint, chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, halved.
  • 2 tsp sumac
  • plain yoghurt

Instructions

  1. Heat a griddle pan and put the oven on its warm setting.
  2. Slice the zucchini lengthwise. If you have a mandoline, use this on the second thickest setting.
  3. Grill the zucchini and place in a bowl in the oven.
  4. Season the wallaby fillet with the cumin, salt and pepper. Griddle in a very hot pan in small batches. You'll only need a couple of minutes each side. Place the wallaby on a plate and rest in the oven.
  5. Grill the tomato.
  6. Mix the onion, coriander, mint and zucchini. Top with the tomatoes and the wallaby, sliced diagonally.
  7. Finish with a spoonful or two of yoghurt and dust with sumac. You can either toss the salad in the bowl or spoon it into a flat bread to make a very Australian kebab.
https://eatingadelaide.com/warm-middle-eastern-salad-wallaby/