FLOWER POT KITCHEN: SWEET STICKY AROMATIC PORK KEBABS

25 May 2016

SWEET STICKY AROMATIC PORK KEBABS

Fabulous to the last bite, everything you want in a mouthful, aromatic marinated seared pork with a drizzle of sweet sticky soy and honey caramelised glaze, then thrown in a un leven flour wrap and loaded with Asian pickled carrots, beetroot relish and a blow your head off habanero salsa, this is one of those wonderful loose yourself in the moment and not so pretty don't watch me eats !

When marinating your meat, 30 minutes will do, but the longer you can leave the meat in the marinade the deeper the flavours infuse, and a more sticky caramelised seal will develop during cooking. I generally plan a day ahead and leave the pork in the fridge overnight. For the toppings you can have anything, raw cabbage, onions, carrots, mayonnaise etc, I like to preserve/can some of my late summer veg in sweet and sour Asian infused vinegars and they go great on these kinda of dinners.

Prep time 30 minutes / Marinating time 30 mins - 24hrs / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4)

1kg pork fillet or loin

1 tbsp fresh grated turmeric

or 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

100ml shaoxing wine

30ml light soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp honey

Sea salt

White pepper

In a bowl mix all the ingredients together and add the pork, place in the fridge and leave to marinate. When ready to cook remove the pork from the marinade, skewer the pork, heat your plancher to a medium hot and place the skewers on to cook, once the pork has sealed after a couple of minutes and not before turn, repeat and turn twice more after a minute or so, the skewers should only take 2-3 minutes each side, so in effect you have turned each side twice, this helps to keep even cooking.

Take off the plancher pile high on a serving plate and leave to rest for five minutes before taking to the table. Serve family style on the table with a plate stacked with flat breads and all the sides of salad, shredded carrot, beetroot, spring onions, cabbage, mayonnaise and hot habanero chilli sauce.

No comments:

LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.