Pork Loin Confit Recipe

Pork Confit

The large amount of fat or oil required to make confit is unappealing to me so I found a method that uses much less fat or oil.  What I do is to use a small baking dish and tightly fit the pork, ensuring that there is little or no space between the pork and the edges of the dish. As a result a much smaller amount of fat or oil is needed to completely cover the pork.

Instead of animal fat I used canola oil. Result was delicious.

For the pork tenderloin I used Svensk Rapsgris Fläskkarré. It’s a relatively new ‘innovative’ product. Rapeseed oil is added to animal feed which is fed to pigs. As a result the meat is juicier, tastier and has a higher omega-3 content.

Adopted from: Epicurious

Pork Confit

Ingredients

½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt

½ teaspoon herbes de Provence

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

¼ teaspoon chopped fresh sage

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

2 pork tenderloins, cut into two or three pieces

6 cloves garlic, peeled

1 small onion, sliced

Pork, goose or duck fat, or regular oil

Directions

1.      Heat oven 275°F / 135°C.

2.      Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add pork, coat well, cover and chill overnight.

3.      Using paper towels pat dry the pork

4.      Place pork in an ovenproof dish, place garlic and onion on the sides or on top of the pork

5.      Pour enough fat to cover the pork 

6.      Cover and place in oven. Cook until pork is tender, turning occasionally, about 4-5 hours.

7.      Remove meat using clotted spoon and set aside

8.      Let the fat cool and strain it.

9.      If you want to refrigerate the pork, place it in a container and completely cover with the fat. Refrigerate for up to 2 months. I froze the pork, without fat/oil. 

Carrot Chocolate Sunflower Seed Cake Recipe

Carrot Chocolate Sunflower Seed Cake   

Carrots, chocolate and sunflower seeds are good for you. So are yogurt and eggs. And as a bonus, this cake is really delicious too. Rich and moist. 

The recipe is quite forgiving. If you use more or less oil or yogurt, the difference will hardly be noticeable.

Carrot Chocolate Sunflower Seed Cake

Ingredients

1 cup sugar (I used ¾ cup)

1/3 cup canola oil

¼ cup yogurt or sour cream

2 eggs

1 cup finely grated carrots

½ cup sunflower seeds (or other nuts, chopped)

1 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

¼ cup baking cocoa, sifted 

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Ingredients

1.      Line a 9-in. round baking pan with baking paper

2.      In a large bowl, beat sugar, oil, yogurt and eggs until well blended, then add carrots and mix well

3.      In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, sunflower seeds, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into carrot mixture until blended. 

4.      Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 175°C/350°F until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.

Bacon and Egg Stuffed Pepper Recipe

Bacon and Egg Stuffed Pepper

Inspiration for this comes from bacon and egg pie, my favourite pie. Bacon and Egg Stuffed Pepper is not the same but still nice. 

When preparing this, my biggest surprise was realizing how small the pepper cavity is. The thickness of the pepper really shrinks the inside volume and I never realized this before.

Bacon and Egg Stuffed Pepper

Ingredients

1 medium bell pepper

2 eggs

30-50 grams bacon, cooked

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1.      Cut out the top part of the pepper and remove the seeds and ribs

2.      Place the pepper inside a ramekin (optional but recommended, especially for those with a round or uneven bottom!)

3.      Line the inside of the pepper with about a third of the bacon

4.      Break an egg and add to the pepper. Break the york but no need to mix. Season with salt and pepper and add with about a third of the bacon

5.      Break another egg and add to the pepper. Break the york but no need to mix. Season and add the remaining bacon

6.      Close or cover the pepper with the pepper lid

7.      Bake at 190°C/375°F until the white has set, about 35-45 minutes,

Bacon and Egg Stuffed Pepper

Semolina Tres Leches Cake Recipe

Tres leches cake

A tres leches cake involves soaking a basic cake in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. For the purposes of this recipe, cream is considered milk.

I made a semolina cake instead of a basic cake. Semolina gives a nice texture to cakes, and it is especially appealing in cakes that require soaking, such as Semolina Lemon Coconut Cake and Semolina Yogurt Cake.

Tres leches cake

Ingredients

1 cup semolina

½ cup sugar

1-1½ cups milk

½ cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

3 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

For the Syrup

12 oz. evaporated milk

14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

½ cup heavy cream or plain milk

Ingredients

1.      Beat eggs and sugar until sugar has dissolved

2.      Add yogurt and oil and mix well.

3.      Add all the rest of the ingredients and mix to combine. Start by adding a liter of milk and add more if the batter is not runny enough. Semolina absorbs a lot of moisture so if the batter turns out to be too runny, don't worry.

4.      Line a 8×8 pan with baking paper and pour batter in it.

5.      Bake at 175°C/350°F until golden brown and delicious, about 25-30 minutes.

6.      Let the cake cool to room temperature. Thoroughly pierce the cake with a fork and

7.      Mix the syrup ingredients and pour over the cake. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Occasionally, spoon the syrup that has runoff back onto the cake.

Pesto Recipe

Pesto

One of my few memories of eating pesto is in a sandwich that I used to buy. Pesto, together with prosciutto, mozzarella cheese and sunflower seed bread was absolutely divine. I didn’t have prosciutto at home so it’s a plain mozzarella pesto sandwich in the photo above. Delicious but it needed the prosciutto. And sandwich with oil running down the sides is not ideal for eating.

And here’s pesto with pasta, a really quick and easy meal. Bit of interesting and totally useless information: if you replace ‘e’ and ‘o’ in pesto, you get pasta. And Wikipedia tells me pesto is Italian so it seems Italians were not so creative with using alphabets to create names. What they lacked in creativity they made up for it with good food.

Pesto

Source: Food Network

Ingredients

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves

2 cloves garlic

¼ cup pine nuts

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

½ cup freshly grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese

Directions

1.      Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

2.      If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.

3.      If freezing, transfer to an air-tight container and drizzle remaining oil over the top. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and stir in cheese.

Pesto