Stir-fried Pork with Hoisin and Greens

I don't know about you but, as is usually the case at this time of year, I'm a bit sick of cakes and sweets and have been scouring my recipe books for lighter, healthier dinners. Stir-fries are one of my favourite options in this situation as they usually include plenty of veg and are easy and quick to throw together. 

This recipe is a recent discovery that has quickly become a hit with the whole family. It's yet another successful recipe from one of my favourite books, Every Dayby Bill Grainger, and I've yet to make something from it that I didn't like.

As with all good stir fries this is quick to make and, thanks to the five-spice marinade and the combination of hoisin sauce, soy sauce and chicken stock, it has bags of flavour. I've tweaked the recipe slightly as this suggests cooking the broccoli in the wok rather than boiling or steaming. I know broccoli doesn't benefit from being over cooked but at the same time I'm not keen on it when it's too crunchy and I can never manage to cook it enough in a frying pan or wok.  Also, I often buy a 600g pack of pork steaks from the supermarket and use half for each meal, instead of the 400g suggested below, which provides enough for two adults and two children.

Stir-fried Pork with Hoisin and Greens

(adapted from Every Day by Bill Grainger)

2 teaspoons cornflour

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice

400g/14 oz pork leg steak, cut into thin strips

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

3 tablespoons chicken stock

1 tablespoon peanut oil (I just use sunflower oil)

3cm/1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin strips

1 bunch tender-stemmed broccoli, cut into long florets and boiled or steamed for a couple of minutes until just cooked

6 spring onions, chopped

1) Mix together the cornflour, sesame oil and five-spice. Put the pork in a non-metallic bowl, pour the cornflour mixture over the top and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

2) Mix together the soy, hoisin and chicken stock. Heat the peanut or sunflower oil in a large wok or frying pan over a high heat. Add the ginger, spring onions and pork to the wok and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the pork is light golden. Add the broccoli to the wok, add the sauce and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Serve with jasmine rice or similar.

Serves 4

Griddled Halloumi with Spiced Couscous

If you want a simple, quick, inexpensive and filling weekday dinner then you can't get much better than this. I actually tried this several years ago and wasn't too impressed but I think that was because I'd never tried halloumi before and was a bit bemused by it's unusual texture and flavour. Fast forward to this year and my taste buds are now accustomed to the squeaky cheese and I was happy to give this recipe another try. I'm really glad I did as I enjoyed it much more this time. The spices add a subtle flavour to the otherwise plain couscous and the halloumi adds texture and a hint of saltiness.

Griddled Halloumi with Spiced Couscous

(taken from Good Food Magazine January 2005)

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

handful of sugarsnap peas

175g/6oz couscous

1/2 tsp each cinnamon, cumin and coriander

300ml/1/2 pint hot vegetable stock

handful cherry tomatoes, halved

250g pack halloumi cheese

juice of half a lemon

olive oil

1) Steam the broccoli for 6 minutes, add the peas and steam for 2 minutes more.

2) Mix the couscous with the spices in a bowl, pour over the hot stock, then cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes.

3) Heat a non-stick frying pan or griddle pan. Cut the halloumi into 6-8 slices and cook quickly on each side for 2 minutes until lightly tinged brown.

4) Mix the vegetables and tomatoes into the couscous, fork in the lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil. Pile onto plates and top with the halloumi.

Serves 2

Duck, Orange and Honey Stir-fry with Lots of Greens

I recently came across this lovely stir-fry in Jo Pratt's In the Mood for Food, a really nice cookbook full of tempting recipes and great photography that I dip into on a regular basis. Before I made this recipe I was a bit concerned that it might turn out to be a bit, well, unexciting. But I'm pleased to say that I was proved wrong. The orange, honey and soy sauce provided lots of flavour with the orange in particular really standing out and adding something a bit different.

I also liked the fact that the stir-fry is designed to be a complete meal with noodles being just an optional extra - great if you're trying to cut back on the carbs a bit.

Duck, Orange and Honey Stir-fry with Lots of Greens

(adapted from In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt)

Grated zest and juice of 1/2 small orange

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 knob (about 15g) fresh ginger, peeled and chopped or finely grated

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

1 large or 2 small skinless duck breasts, cut into strips (I used chicken which worked just as well)

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1-2 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil

2 pak choi, cut into quarters lengthways

100g thin asparagus tips

200g Chinese, tenderstem or traditional broccoli

1 bunch spring onions, cut into 2-3 cm pieces

1) Mix together the orange zest, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and honey in a bowl. Add the duck strips and leave to marinade for up to 30 minutes.

2) Heat a wok over a high heat. Add the sesame seeds and toss around until they are lightly golden. Remove from the pan and return the pan to the heat.

3) Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan and when it is beginning to smoke remove the duck from the marinade (leaving behind as much marinade as possible) and add to the wok. Stir-fry for a few minutes until it is browned and sticky and then transfer to a plate.

4) Add all of the vegetables to the wok with a little extra oil if it looks like it needs it. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Mix the orange juice into the remaining marinade and pour in. Cook for a couple of minutes longer for the sauce to thicken and the vegetables to become tender. Return the duck to the wok, stir, then spoon into bowls and scatter with the sesame seeds.

Serves 2

Spicy Sausage & Broccoli Tartlets with Roast Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe comes from Books for Cooks, volume 4, a collection of recipes put together by the bookshop of the same name. For more information about what is, in my opinion, one of the best shops in world, have a look at their website here.

I've tried various puff pastry tarts in the past but these ones sounded a bit different. No sauce as such to bind the filling together, just an interesting mix of sausage, tomato, broccoli and spices. I was worried at first that there was too much filling for the pastry but with a bit of gentle stretching and a couple of minor patch-ups I got them into the oven pretty much intact. And, as you can see above, they came out in one piece aswell.

The result was lovely - hearty flavours from the sausage and broccoli, a little bit of warmth from the chilli and a hint of aniseed coming through now and again thanks to the fennel seeds. I'll be making these again.

Spicy Sausage & Broccoli Tartletts with Roast Cherry Tomatoes

(adapted from Books For Cooks Volume 4 - various authors)

375g/12 oz puff pastry

300g/10oz sprouting broccoli, broccoli di rapa or broccoli

3 tbsp olive oil

350g/12oz best meaty pork sausages, skinned

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/4 tsp crushed chilli flakes

12 (about 200g/7oz) ripe cherry tomatoes, halved

Salt & black pepper

4 tbsp freshly grated Pecorino or Parmesan

125g/4oz mozarella, diced

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 handful fresh basil, torn

Extra olive oil to serve

1) Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/gas mark 6. Have ready 2 floured baking sheets

2) Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a square about 30 by 30 cm (12 by 12 inches). Cut out four equal sized squares from the rolled out pastry. (If you have a box of ready rolled pastry I'd recommend rolling it out a bit further to the size mentioned above, otherwise you might struggle to fit all the filling on)

3) Cut up the broccoli into 2 1/2cm/1 inch pieces and cook in a pan of boiling salted water until just tender, from 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and straightaway refresh the broccoli pieces in plenty of cold water to preserve their nice fresh green colour, then drain well.

4) Warm the oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Stir in the sausage meat, garlic, fennel and chilli. Fry quite briskly, stirring and squashing with a wooden spoon to break up the sausage meat into pieces, until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the broccoli pieces and cherry tomatoes halves and cook for another minute to flavour with the herby, spicy oil. Add salt and pepper and any extra chilli to taste (the 1/4 teaspoon of chilli flakes don't give a huge amount of heat so if you like a bit of extra kick then I would recommend you add some more).

5) Divide the sausage mixture among the pastry squares, leaving a 2cm/3/4 inch border, aiming to have a few of the tomato halves on top for the best colour, then sprinkle over the grated cheese. Fold over the pastry border onto the filling, pleating as you go.

6) Bake the tarts until the pastry is crisp and golden, about 20-25 minutes, swapping the baking sheets over half way through baking. Transfer each pie to a warmed plate, sprinkle with mozarella dice, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil, grind over a little pepper and scatter with basil. Serve at once.

Serves 4