Pork Extravaganza Part 2 : Healthy Fried Rice and Pork Tacos



It's all about the selling pitch, I find; I'm talking about whether my kids will eat what is prepared for them or push the plate away (arggghh!). This blog may primarily be about family friendly food, but be under no illusions, I do not have perfect eaters in this house and neither am I the perfect Mum. I have to use all the strategies under the sun to "sell" the food I prepare, but then I try not to hover or force them to eat it. There is a general rule, eat it or go hungry until the next meal (unless they are sick).

Anyway, hence the pink sauce. Having 2 young girls in the house, we are living the pink years. So I work it to my advantage, whenever possible. The sauce is actually salmon colored, thanks to smoked paprika, but my pitch seemed to excite the girls into taking at least their first bite. Then they realised their dinner was tasty.

If you read my previous Pork Post, you'll know it all started with a roasted stuffed pork loin. I didn't get my act together in time that night, to present that to my kids, as dinner. That night they had wholewheat gnocchi, pesto and corn. Point proven; not the perfect Mum.

I've taken some artistic licence with the tacos; the consistency is not what you'd expect but I wanted to disguise the vegetables. My youngest is going through a picky vegetable phase so the squash was my choice. Corn, tomatoes, peppers (roasted or not), even peas would work nicely/ nicer here.

Anyway, here are my 2 leftovers options:

Pork Tacos with Pink Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients for the Pink Sauce

approx 1 cup reduced fat sour cream

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

approx 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (approx 1 lime)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for the Tacos

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 teaspoon jalapeno pepper, diced finely (or some chilli powder, flakes or hot sauce, to taste)

2 cloves of garlic, diced finely or minced

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 lb leftover meat (diced finely)

1 package frozen winter squash, defrosted (substitute roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes or corn)

1 cup vegetable broth (or chicken if you have it)

1 can black beans (rinsed thoroughly to remove some sodium)

8-10 small 6" tortillas (I always prefer wholewheat to corn)

Directions

1. Whisk together the pink sauce ingredients and set aside
2. Heat the oil in a deep sided pot on medium high.
3. Add the onion and fry for 3-5 minutes until softened
4. Add the jalapeno, garlic and spices and cook for a further 3 minutes until fragrant
5. Add the meat and cook a further 2-3 minutes then add then add the squash and broth. 
6. Add the beans, stir gently to combine and add more broth if it needs it, to gain the consistency you like for your filling  
7. Heat the tortillas in the microwave, wrapped in a paper towel, on high for 2 minutes
8. Serve with the pink sauce and either guacamole or simply avaocado on the side

Enjoy!

Healthy Fried Rice

(sorry no photo!)

Serves 4

Sauce Ingredients

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons mustard (I used a garlic mustard)

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon garlic (I omitted, as garlic mustard used)

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (to taste)

3 tablespoons water

Ingredients

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1-2 cloves garlic chopped finely or minced

4-5 cups chopped raw veg of your choice (I used carrots and corn; it was all I had left!)

2 cups cooked grains (I used brown rice but Lorna suggests barley or quinoa)

1-2 cups cooked meat (or scrambled egg)

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

Directions

1. Mix together the sauce ingredients and set aside (this will be too much but will keep for a month in the refrigerator)
2. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok or a large pot and add the onion and garlic. Fry for 2-3 minutes until softened then add 1/4 cup water and the remaining veg.
3. Cover the pot and steam the veg for approx 3-5 minutes depending on the vegetables you are using.
4. Add the rice, meat and ginger. Stir to combine and heat through
5. Add enough of the sauce to coat everything.

Enjoy!

Pork Extravaganza



I've been pondering on how to make my dinners more exciting for the blog; but then I remembered, that's the whole point. They're family dinners! They're supposed to tasty, nutritious and quick to prepare, not Michelin star worthy. So I thought I'd give an example of dinner in our house for last 3 nights.

This story starts with a lowly 2lb pork loin. I have a bunch of good tenderloin recipes but I didn't have a recipe I loved for pork loin, so I took advice from Martha Stewart, Everyday Food. Pork Loin with Dried Fruit and Chestnut Stuffing. http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pork-loin-with-dried-fruit-and-chestnut-stuffing

This one is definitely a keeper. I didn't change it much and its actually dinner party worthy. The pork is stuffed with cooked chestnuts and dried fruit. I used apricots and cherries and it was really delicious. I served it with roasted potatoes and I defrosted a tupperware of sweet and sour red cabbage, that I had made a huge batch of, a while back.

Needless to say there were lots of leftovers, so come night 2 I reached for my usual leftover pork idea; fried rice. Except this time, I used the "Whole Grains for Busy People" book, by Lorna Sass. I can't get enough of this book, at the moment. I've actually borrowed it from our library and renewed it twice; I just can't bear to give it back. Time to fork over some money at Borders I think. Anyway, I was intrigued by her take on fried rice; she doesn't use egg but her sauce looked and indeed turned out to be, totally mouth watering.

Finally, tonight, there was still pork leftover and another starred recipe in Lorna Sass's book got the treatment; tacos. I took a lot of artistic license with her recipe, but was drawn to it by the smoked paprika sour cream. It's supposed to have ground chicken as the meat and cherry tomatoes, however I had leftover pork and cherry tomatoes do not darken the door of our house until they're in season. 

I added black beans, frozen pureed winter squash and changed up the spices a bit but all good. The tacos were wolfed down by my 4 year old and eaten via the "pulling everything apart to check what it is" method, by my 2 year old. My husband and I loved them too.

All in all 3 easy, tasty and yet different meals out of one base ingredient. Part 1 is below, I'll publish part 2 and 3 during the course of this week.

Pork Loin stuffed with Chestnuts and Fruit

Ingredients

1 boneless pork loin (I used a 2 lb one, bigger would work just fine)

approx 1/2 cup cooked chestnuts, chopped

approx 1/2 cup dried fruit of your choice, chopped

salt and freshly cracked pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons ground coriander or 1 tablespoon freshly cracked coriander seeds

Gravy Ingredients

3/4 cup dry white wine

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

approx 14fl oz chicken broth (low sodium)

1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F
2. Place the pork on a chopping board and slice lengthwise, parallel to the work surface. Do not cut right through; you should have one large rectangular piece of pork. 
3. place 4 or 4 pieces of kitchen string underneath the pork ready to roll and tie it back together after the stuffing is in place.
4. Mix together the chestnuts and fruit and place them mixture on top of the pork. Push it gently to adhere and make it easier to roll. 
5. Roll up the pork, overlapping slightly and tie it together.
6. Rub the pork in oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and coriander
7. This can be made ahead to this point and refrigerated for up to a day.
8. Place it in the oven for approx 40 minutes or until a thermometer reads 145°
9. Cover the meat with foil for 10 minutes while you make the gravy
10. Place the roasting pan on the stove and add the wine. Stir to get the tasty bits released and reduce the wine a little for 5 minutes.
11. Add the mustard, broth and reduce for another 5 minutes.
12. Remove from the heat and add the butter.
13. Drizzle over the meat

Watch this space for Healthy Fried Rice and Pork Tacos with Pink Sour Cream.

Recipes will be posted this week

Enjoy!!