Sarah's Girls - Private cookery lessons - Sticky Asian Pork

Sarah and her gang of girls from 'Hysteria Lane', Glen Vine invited me to teach them a set of 6 night classes. We've just done Week 2, so I thought you'd like to see some of the recipes.

The girls are all busy with families so we're focusing on easy family meals to begin with. So we had to have 'Sticky Asian Pork', this recipe is soooo quick to prepare and really really delicious. Please make it :o)

The sauce sounds weird but it works, trust me!

Sticky Asian Pork
Serves 4
Prep: 5 mins (plus marinating time)
Cook: 30 minutes

Ingredients
• 500g pork fillet
• 1 tbsp clear honey
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp vinegar (rice or white wine)
• large knob of ginger, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 tbsp peanut butter

Marinate the pork in the honey, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and ginger for anything from 0mins to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, put the pork into an oven proof dish, cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes.
Mix the peanut butter thoroughly with warm water until it forms a paste. Alternatively you could use a satay sauce mix.

Big Porkin' baby

Last night in France meant it was time for us to get creative, think up (squabble over!) our own 2 course menu then cook it over the day for service in the evening.

On the menu tonight madame et monsieurs....

Main: Braised pork belly with crunchy crackling with mushroom and walnut duxelle, on potato rosti....and ON THE SIDE roasted carrots and green beans with garlic butter

Dessert: Chocolate souffle, salted caramel icecream with walnut shortbread

I think we did pretty well, worked in perfect synchrony as a team..hahaha not too much squabbling anyway. The pork was absolutely gorgeous, melt-in-the-mouth, we did it in the sous-vide at 80degrees for 18hrs.

I've since done it for a cookery school using the following method. I overheard 1 woman say it was the best pork she has ever tasted..wahooo!

Method: Pork belly in roasting tin on top of 3 stalks of celery, water up to just below fat/skin line. Cover with greaseproof, then tin foil. Into oven at 170 for 1 hour, then 140 for 1 hr, then 120 for 3 hours, then I had to go to bed so I jut switched the oven off and left it in.In the morning I just took it out, removed the skin and did the crackling thing with it, then removed the bones from the belly before reheating it. It was super-tender and v delicious....oh and I did loads of SALT and fennel seeds on the skin.yum!

Sorry the France posting is 1. late 2. all out of sync......I'll get more pics up over the next couple of weeks........i promise miss!

Show recipes - Southern and Royal - Part 1

Kipper and mustard pate - Serves 4

Ingredients
o 1 pair of filleted and deboned kippers
o 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
o 2 tbsp Manx butter, melted

Method
Place all of your ingredients in a medium size bowl.
Simply mash together with a fork. Taste and add more mustard if necessary. Delicious served with crusty bread and green salad

Crab pate - Serves 4

Ingredients
o 100g mixed brown and white cooked crabmeat
o 75g melted butter
o 1 garlic clove, crushed
o Black pepper
o Lemon juice

Method
Place all of your ingredients in a medium size bowl.
Simply mash together with a fork. Taste and add more pepper or lemon juice if necessary. Delicious served with crusty bread and green salad

Mexi-Manx Beef Tacos - Serves 4

Ingredients
o 300g minced beef
o 2 tbsp oil
o 1 large onion, finely chopped
o 2 cloves garlic, crushed
o 1tsp ground cumin
o 1 fresh chilli, finely chopped
o Dash of soy sauce
o Salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar

Method
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the chopped onion and garlic and cook until soft and golden. Increase the heat and add the minced beef, frying until brown. Add the cumin, soy sauce and chilli. Taste and add salt, pepper and sugar as required.Serve with salsa, grated cheddar and tortillas

Mayonnaise - Makes 250ml

Ingredients
o 2 Manx egg yolks
o ½ tsp Dijon mustard
o 1 dessertspoon white wine vinegar
o Good pinch salt
o 200ml Ellerslie Farm rapeseed oil

Method
Put the egg yolks into a bowl. Add the salt, vinegar and mustard, and mix. Gradually add the oil, drop by drop, whisking all the time. You should start to see the mixture thickening. Keep adding the oil as you whisk until there is none left. Season to taste.
It should be smooth and creamy in texture, looking absolutely nothing like the mayo you buy in the shops :o)
NOTE: If you add the oil too quickly the mixture will split i.e. it will look thin and the oil will just float on top. If this happens, break another egg yolk into a clean bowl and pour the split mixture into it, drop by drop, whisking all the time until it emulsifies

Quesadillas - Makes 1 quesadilla

Ingredients
o 2 tortillas
o 1 large handful of grated Manx cheddar
o Salad – tomatoes and lettuce make a good combo

Method
Place your frying pan over a medium heat and wait for it to heat through. Add one tortilla, then your fillings, the other tortilla on top. Wait for the bottom tortilla to brown, flip it over, brown the other side. Voila! Remove from the pan, cut into triangles and eat.
TIP: Try the different flavoured cheddars i.e. black peppercorn or sweet chilli

Super Berry Smoothie - Serves 1

Ingredients
o 300ml Manx milk
o Large handful of Manx berries – Strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blackcurrant all work well
o 1 Banana
o Frozen Ushtey

Method
Put all ingredients into a blender. Hit the button! Drink!

Thai Pork Noodle Salad - Serves 2-3

Ingredients
o 350g minced Manx pork - fried until crispy
o 20 pods of Manx peas
o 1 handful of Manx green beans, boiled for 4 minutes (blanched being the fancy chef term)
o 1 bunch Manx spring onions - finely sliced
o a big handful of peanuts
o 2 tbsp fresh Manx coriander, roughly chopped
o 2 portions of egg noodles - cooked according to packet instructions

Dressing
o 2 tbsp Manx rapeseed oil
o 1" ginger grated
o 1 clove garlic grated
o 1/2 red chilli
o juice of 1 lime

Method
Combine main salad ingredients in a big bowl. Combine dressing ingredients in a jam jar and shake well. Add the dressing to the main salad, give it a good stir and leave for 5-10 minutes so that the flavours from the dressing can be absorbed by the rest of the salad.
Tip: For extra flavour pour over the pan juices from cooking the pork over the noodles.

Royal Show 2009

The biggest show of the summer is the Royal Agricultural Show in Sulby so we hit the show with loads of demos, again trying to raise awareness of the quality and variety of local produce on offer.

Particular thanks go to:
Butlers Choice for providing the equipment for the kitchen. Go down to their shop on Castle Street in Douglas if you're after some kitchen kit
Isle of Man Meats for providing the delicious beef, lamb and pork
Staarvery Farn for proving the herbs for the competition ingredients test
All the demo-ers.......some who looked very scared!

Dishes included:

Mexi-Manx beef tacos (Ray Craine - beef farmer)
Queenie stir-fry (Bry Radcliffe - the veg man),
Kipper and crab pates (Paul Desmond - fishmonger and kipper smokehouse)
Choc chunk cookies (Steve Martin - cereal grower)
Mayonnaise (Pentti Christian - rapeseed oil producer)
Berry smoothie and quesadillas (Dougie Coole - dairy farmer)
Queenie Pie with Samphire (Joan from Tanroagan Seafood Restaurant)
The perfect steak (Phil Teare from Isle of Man Meats)
Mushroom and Ale soup (Kathy from Greeba Mushrooms)
Secret ingredients queenies (Richard from The Shore Hotel, Gansey)

I'll put all of the recipes in a separate post here and here

It was great to get the farmers involved, talking about how they rear the animals and grow the produce for our tables. Bry Radcliffe made an entertaining appearance, although I'm not sure where his line of questioning on my fitness regime was going!

We also had the northern heats of the I Love ManxChef contest.......Claire (below with her stir-fried lambs liver, Jessica (above with her blackcurrent sorbet), Lizia and Chris (queenie stir fry) battled it out. Lizia was crowned the winner making Brazilian croquetas, a little taste of home for her, using Manx ingredients. She sells them at the Ramsey Farmers Market on Saturday mornings so you can go down and sample them. Full write-up at ilovemanx

Weather was perfect, attendance was high, all in all a good day out :o)

Southern Show 2009

Well it's been a very busy few weeks. Starting with the Southern Show at the end of July. I got to host the demo kitchen for DAFF and the I Love Manx people. This involved getting loads of different food-related people, some more willing than others, up to bring local food to the attention of the masses. We also ran the first year of the I Love ManxChef contest.

Dishes included: Ground lamb with hoummous (with Graham Crowe), Sticky beef and cashew stir-fry (Ray Craine), Thai pork noodle salad (Sean Dean in the piccie above) plus loads more. All the recipes can be found here and here

The lovely Samantha Honey-Pollock won the southern heats of the competition so she goes through to the final at the Food & Drink Festival in September at the Villa Marina. For all of the recipes and a full write-up of the competition go to the ilovemanx website

Thai Pork Noodle Salad

After a celebratory evening out for Stokesy's b-day we needed a day of rest and hangover food. Some more than others, mentioning no names, but I managed to watch Basil at his track day whilst Stokesy 'rested' on the sofa.

To make this deee-licious salad you will need:

2 portions of egg noodles - cooked according to packet instructions

350g minced pork - fried until crispy

20 pods of peas, podded by your hungover boyfriend

1 handful of green beans, boiled for 4 minutes (blanched being the fancy-pants chef term)

1 red onion - finely sliced

a big handful of peanuts

2 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Dressing -

1" ginger grated

1 clove garlic grated

1/2 red chilli
juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp peanut or sunflower oil

Combine main salad ingredients in a big bowl. Combine dressing ingredients in a jam jar and shake well. Add the dressing to the main salad, give it a good stir and leave for 5-10 minutes so that the flavours from the dressing can be absorbed by the rest of the salad. I also pour over the pan juices from cooking the pork.....mmmm yummy pig fat. *Note* if you are one of my nutrition clients then I'd prefer that you ignore that last line

Here you can see Stokesy mentally portioning out the salad.....hmmmm 2 spoonfuls for Kathryn, the rest for me.

Cookery School - Jenny + friends

Jenny and her intrepid followers (Trudi, Simon and Clint) had a day at my cookery school on Sunday. Lucky them! They'd thought long and hard about what they wanted to learn and decided to go for broke with some technical dishes. The day started with slow braising the pork for the main course, making pasta dough for the starter, filleting the fish (with the aid of my special examination gloves) and then a quick break with some Thai noodle soup (it's important to keep your strength up).

Here Jenny and Simon team up to roll out some perfect sheets of ravioli......there was very little marital squabbling which is very different from my house!

The first dish we worked towards was 'Open ravioli with poached trout, creamed peas + lettuce, topped with a dill foam'.......so nice and simple ;o) Everyone worked together to get the dish out. Trudi + Clint on pasta, trout and foam duties. Jenny + Simon doing the honours with the creamed peas and lettuce. As you can see from the picture it was a success. Layers of light pasta with delicate trout and vegetables in between. A lovely summer dish. Nice work team!

Next up.......Slow braised pork with pan-fried gurnard, plus a nice beany tomato-ey stew with a grain mustard sauce and lovely crispy crackling. Did the team keep it together and get another perfect dish out??? Course they did! This time Jenny + Simon were on fish duty whilst Trudi + Clint put the sauce together.

I think Clint was just checking that he had the biggest portion..........very sensible.

A good day for all involved :o)

Post-Ashburton.....what happened next

I've been back from cookery training for 10 days now and have tried to cook plenty of things from the course to refresh my memory. So far:

• Slow cooked pork belly (as above.......check out the crackling)
• Feathered steak with black pudding topping
• Potato rosti
• Egg custard tart
• Blue cheese and sesame biscuits
• Apple mash
• Fat chips

After eating rich restaurant-y food for two weeks I have to admit I had a real craving for other flavours when I got home. I had to eat my favourite Thai curry Khao Soy, get some Indian flavours in with a Tamarind, Peanut and Potato curry and generally eat loads of fruit and veggies to try to de-butter my arteries.

Braised pork belly

This was one of my favourite dishes of the course and will definitely be appearing on my menus in the future. The pork belly was meltingly soft, the crackling was salty and crunchy (mmmm salt), whilst the flavours of the mushroom/chorizo accompaniment mingled together with a little paprika kick. Oh and it looks wicked too. I love the way the colours all seem to have come from the same paint chart.

Final dishes - Surf n Turf and Lemon tart

Ponce about for long enough with your presentation and this is what you get (oh and slightly cold food in my case). Beany tomatoey stew into little piles, topped with crispy fried mackerel, slices of pork belly and all finished with a meaux mustard sauce.........oh and don't forget to crush the crackling and add that as sprinkles (ooh I like my sprinkles). Ta daaa! Perhaps Gordon Ramsey should change his catchphrase from 'Done!' to 'Ta daaaaa!'

Nestling in that group as we all looked on in amazement........Penny was putting the perfect brulee crunchy top onto our lemon tart.

The finished lemon tart

Ooh what a motley crew. Here you can see our group in their full.........errmm.......glory

Day 4 @Ashburton - Ham hock tartlet with salad

Lurking under the garnish is a beatifully crumbly tart with a very rich filling of ham hock, spring onion, cheese and plenty of cream. There is no chance of Devonshire dairy farmers going out of business whilst this cookery school is in operation.

The tart was garnished with salad leaves and a simple vinaigrette

Pork tenderloin with Apple Mash

This is absolutely perfect chilly day food.

After a long discussion about salting/not salting the potato water (no laughing, it's an important topic!) 'we' created creamy, fluffly, apple-y, mustard-y mash to go with the pork.


First bash the life out of a tenderloin sprinkle with pepper, salt, sage and lemon zest. Then roll into the frighteningly anatomical preparation shown below.

Cook your tenderloin en papilotte with apple, fennel, cider and thyme. Delicious!

Sticky Ribs

First up, this is our most popular quick n’ easy dish at the moment. Ribs!!! I just love the way the meat falls off the bone when you get these cooked just right. Pork is getting a bit trendy now isn’t it. These are also great for that caveman/woman style of bone gnawing, just make sure you have plenty of napkins ready.

Method: So easy, put 10 ribs in a big baking tray and cover with foil. Put in a 180 degree oven for about 2 hours. Cover with your saucy/marinade-y stuff for the last 15 minutes, keeping the foil on.
Approximate quantities for the sauce are: 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tbsp soy sauce, ½ tsp chilli powder and a big squeeze of honey.

I get the ribs from Mark at Teare’s butchers in Ramsey