On the cover:
Roasted five spice pork belly rice bowl
What do I want to be cooking at this time of year is a question one hardly has to ask. Appetite is all about what you feel like. At the moment I want full flavoured food that isn’t too heavy and with plenty of vegetables around at this time of year, making dishes like this is easy as I hope the following recipes demonstrate.
Roasted five spice pork belly rice bowl
Juicy pork slices are a faster and cheaper way of enjoying belly pork.
Serves 6
1 kg pork belly slices (I get
them at the supermarket) 1 ½ tsp salt 1 tsp Chinese five spice
powder 3 cups jasmine rice, well rinsed in cold water and drained 2 Tbsp chilli bean sauce 4 Tbsp naturally brewed
Japanese soy sauce ½ iceberg lettuce, thinly
sliced 2 spring onions, thinly
sliced on the diagonal 250g cherry tomatoes,
halved ½ cucumber, peeled, split in half lengthways, diced 2cm Coriander sprigs and sweet
chilli sauce for serving 1 Put the pork, salt and five spice powder into a large mixing bowl and mix well with your hands, rubbing the salt and five spice all over the pork. Reserve for at least 1 hour or overnight. 2 Heat the oven to 220C. Place the pork slices side-by-side on an oven rack set over a shallow oven tray. Roast for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 200C and roast for a further 20-30 minutes or until the pork is well cooked and crisp. 3 Meanwhile, use a rice cooker to cook the rice or place it in a saucepan and add enough water to come 1.5cm above the level of the rice. Bring to a rolling boil then move to your smallest stove element, cover and turn the heat to the lowest setting. Cook without uncovering for any reason for 20 minutes. 4 Remove from heat and, without uncovering, stand for 5 minutes. Uncover and gently fluff up the rice with a fork — but don’t mash the rice grains. Cover and reserve. 5 Mix the chilli bean sauce and soy sauce together. Pour into a small serving bowl and reserve. 6 Remove the pork from the oven and slice, discarding any bones and gristle. 7 Put some rice into each of 6 bowls. Pile lettuce, spring onions, tomatoes, cucumber, pork and coriander on top. Serve with the chilli bean/soy sauce mixture and sweet chilli sauce for dipping.
Moroccan-style fish and potatoes
I love the combination of fish and potatoes and the addition of a Moroccan chermoula-esque dressing makes it even better.
Serves 6
8 medium-sized agria or other floury potatoes, peeled, sliced 2cm ½ cup pitted kalamata
olives Peel of ½ preserved
lemon, finely diced 6 Tbsp extra virgin olive
oil 3 Tbsp lemon juice 4 cloves garlic, chopped Large handful chopped coriander stalks and leaves 1 tsp sweet, smoked
paprika 1 tsp ground cumin Large pinch chilli flakes 1 tsp salt 800g firm white, skinned
and boned, fish fillets 1 Heat the oven to 200C. 2 Carefully steam or boil the potato slices until tender but not collapsing. 3 Place half the potato slices in an even layer in the bottom of a shallow ovenproof dish. Sprinkle the olives and preserved lemon evenly on top. Reserve. 4 Put the oil, juice, garlic, coriander, paprika, cumin, chilli flakes and salt into a small food processor and process until smooth. 5 Place the fish fillets side by side in one layer on top of the potatoes in the dish. Spoon ¾ of the coriander mixture evenly over the fish. Cover evenly with the remaining potatoes. Brush the rest of the coriander mixture over the top layer of potatoes. Bake for 30 minutes or until browned and the fish is cooked. 6 Serve with a big salad.