Pork with feta, cherry and thyme

October 1, 2016 / Lyn Jones / 0 Comments

Including the perfect mix of ingredients, creating a flavour explosion – Serves 6 for family Christmas?

xmas-pork-with-flavour-explosion-in-middle

Ingredients

  1. 100g fetta, crumbled
  2. 2 tbs fresh thyme leaves
  3. 1 lemon, finely grated rind
  4. 125g fresh cherries, pitted, roughly chopped
  5. 2kg boned rolled leg of pork roll
  6. 2 tbs olive oil
  7. 1 tbs sea salt flakes
  8. Vegetables of choice, to serve
  9. , to serve

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 220C. Combine fetta, thyme leaves, lemon rind and cherries in a bowl.
  2. Remove twine from pork and place onto a chopping board, skin side down. Spread cherry mixture over pork.
  3. Roll and secure, every 4-5cm with kitchen twine. Rub oil over pork skin and rub with sea salt flakes.
  4. Place pork into a roasting pan and place in oven. Roast for 30-45 minutes or until skin is crisp and golden.
  5. Reduce oven temperature to 180C and cook for 45-60 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a skewer. Transfer pork to a serving platter with vegetables and apple sauce.

Tips

Buy your pork the day before you wish to cook it. Remove all packaging from the pork and place into a baking dish, skin side up. Place in refrigerator overnight, uncovered. This will allow the pork skin to dry out which will give a crisp finish. Once you have stuffed and retied the pork, rub oil over skin with your hands then add the salt. Roast initially on a high heat, then reduce heat so skin still continues to cook but meat does not dry out.

Honey glazed berry Pavlova with lemon cream

October 1, 2016 / Lyn Jones / 0 Comments

You’ll want to show off your fresh berries with this quick & easy dessert. – Serves 12
honey-glazed-berry-pavlova

Ingredients

  1. 1 x IGA ready-made Pavlova
  2. 500g fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and halved
  3. 500g fresh raspberries
  4. 500g blueberries
  5. ½ cup honey
  6. 1 orange zested
  7. 1 lemon zested
  8. 200ml thickened cream
  9. 1 cup lemon curd
  10. Icing sugar for dusting

Method

  1. Place the berries into a large bowl.
  2. Combine the honey in a separate bowl with the lemon and orange zest and stir in 1 tablespoon of boiling water. Allow this to sit for a couple of minutes then stir through the berries.
  3. Beat the cream until it forms stiff peaks and fold through spoonful’s of the curd but not mixing it completely.
  4. Top the Pavlova with the lemon curd cream then pile on the berries.
  5. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Tips

The Pavlova on its own will keep for weeks. However once the whipped cream and fruit are placed on the meringue, the dessert should be eaten immediately as the meringue will start to soften and break down from the moisture of the cream and fruit.

For perfectly whipped cream beat the cream with electric beaters until soft and then continue with a hand whisk until the desired consistency. The cream should be able to hold the fruit and not slide off the Pavlova.

For other interesting flavour combinations try cold-steeping herbs like mint or rosemary in your cream overnight, remove the herbs the next day and whip your cream as usual. Finely grated citrus zest can go in the cream last-minute, as can most spices. You can also blend the whipped cream with sour cream, crème fraiche, ricotta and mascarpone.

Adding different textures also keep a Pavlova interesting, try pomegranate seeds, toasted nuts, and cracked-up candy brittle these will not only look fantastic but also give wonderful crunch.

Substitute Ingredients:
Any wonderful summer fruits such as passionfruit, peaches, nectarines, cherries can also be added to the berry combination. Check out our Passionfruit, mango & blueberry pavlova recipe for inspiration.

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