I blame this one on hubby. Of course, he'll say that I blame everything on him, but that's not exactly true. In reality, it's just most things. *chuckle* However, this one is all his fault, because he's been swerving my lovely pork steaks in mushroom sauce meal for weeks, eventually coming up with the suggestion that "you know what I'd really like? Pork done in a Satay style sauce". So I did some research and came up with this recipe, which worked very nicely.
In the course of my research, I discovered that there are three styles of satay sauce and each style harks from a different part of the world. One is the thick style that you would dip marinated and grilled chicken or pork on a stick into, another is a thinner, less robust but fiercely hotter version. I went for the Thai version, which seemed to suit my plans for the pork, better than any of the others.
For varying reasons that I won't bore you by going into here, I needed to poach or otherwise cook in liquid, the pork steaks so as to render them tender and ensure they weren't in any way dry. Now it made sense - in my mind if nobody else's - to capitalise on the meaty flavours by cooking the pork in the satay sauce. However, I knew that once the peanut butter is included, you have a very short time before it starts to catch on the bottom of the pan - and nobody likes a burned satay sauce.
So I could have seared the pork, cooked the onion and then poached the meat in stock - but then how would I have included the red Thai curry paste? The obvious answer was to sear the pork, cook the onion, add the curry paste, the stock (for which I used the beautiful chicken stock powder from Essential Cuisine) and coconut milk - and then poach the pork in the lovely curried coconut flavours. Basically, create a pork red Thai curry, then add the ingredients to turn it Satay.
Would you believe it, it worked. The poaching liquor, of onion, red Thai curry paste, chicken stock and coconut milk tasted divine and the pork steaks simmered away very happily until they were cooked through, staying moist and tender. I realised that, even with the Thai curry paste, the chilli heat wasn't going to survive the not-very-tender mercies of being hammered by a great dollop of peanut butter, so quickly added a teaspoonful of dried red chilli flakes to bolster the chilli ratio. After that, it was a simple matter of adding the peanut butter and the all-important cider vinegar.
Now, if you make this recipe, don't ever be tempted to leave the cider vinegar out. It is essential and changes your sauce from being a chilli/peanut combo, into a Satay sauce. It provides that sweet/sour thing that so many oriental dishes have. The coriander is optional, in that if you don't like it, it won't hurt the dish to leave it out. I have heard that sweet Thai basil would be good instead, but never having tried it can't recommend it. However, it's worth a go if you really dislike coriander.
One more thing, from the cook's perspective, is to make sure that you don't continue cooking and trying to reduce the sauce, once you've put the peanut butter in. As I've said up there ^^^ somewhere, it will burn easily but not only that the peanut butter releases its oil and you'll wind up with a pan full of oil with the over reduced, thickened sauce hiding somewhere underneath. At that point, all you can do is retrieve the meat and throw the sauce away. So, be sure that your meat is ready, before you add the peanut butter.
All the family were very happy with this recipe. Son & heir declared it to be "meaty, very very meaty!" (which is always a good thing in his book, as he's a young caveman in training). Hubby wasn't too struck on the pork, but loved the sauce and ventured the opinion that it would be as good if not better, with chicken or large prawns. By jingo, I think he's right, too! I loved the pork (predictably) and really enjoyed the sauce's relationship with the meat. I felt the flavours complemented each other very well. The sauce was also really good with the rice and I had designs upon decanting the leftovers of both into a bowl for lunch today, right up until I discovered that the remains of the sauce had done the releasing its oil thing and was unusable. Hey ho. I'll have to remember to cool it quickly the next time.
I also enjoyed the sugar snap peas with the pork and sauce. The rice is there to bulk out the meal, but the peas just added that light and refreshing crunch with accompanying sweetness, making them a perfect palate cleanser between mouthfuls. Now, where sugar snap peas are concerned, can I make a plea? Can everyone - restaurants included - please make an effort to remove the strings from either side of the pea pod? Please? It really only takes a second to do - and makes such a difference to the eating experience. Thanks. Appreciated. *wink*
So anyway, all in all, I'll be doing this one again!
PORK STEAKS IN SATAY STYLE SAUCE (serves 3)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp sunflower oil
6 pork steaks, trimmed of 95% of their fat (assuming 2 each)
1 onion, chopped finely
3 dessertspoonfuls of red Thai curry paste
400ml tin of coconut milk
200ml chicken stock
1 teaspoonful of dried red chilli flakes (to taste)
2 dessertspoonfuls of peanut butter
2 dessertspoonfuls of cider vinegar
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander.
Method :
1. In a deep frying pan or wok, heat the oil until really quite hot, then sear the pork steaks on both sides. Once the steaks are golden brown, remove and reserve to keep warm.
2. Add the onion to the pan and cook on a moderate heat until softened and golden brown.
3. Add the Thai curry paste and stir to combine. Cook for some 3-4 minutes until the oil is separating from the paste.
4. Add the coconut milk and stir well to combine. Make sure you get all the bits from the bottom of the pan, as these are all flavour.
5. Add the chicken stock and stir to combine.
6. Once the sauce is bubbling, return the pork steaks to the pan and simmer - uncovered - for some 10-15 minutes, or until the pork is cooked through. It is at this stage that you can taste the sauce and decide whether or not to add the dried red chilli flakes, but just remember that the peanut butter will do its best to wipe out every other flavour, so be brave!
7. Add the peanut butter and stir gently to combine. The sauce will thicken at this stage, so take care to stir regularly to prevent it catching on the bottom of the pan.
8. Add the cider vinegar, stir to combine. Give the vinegar 5 minutes or so to simmer and amalgamate with the other flavours, then taste for seasoning and adjust. I found the dish required a fair amount of salt, to bring out the flavours of the peanuts.
9. Just before serving, add the chopped coriander, saving a little back to sprinkle over the plated up dish.
Serve with plain white rice (basmati is good) and a light, green vegetable such as sugar snap peas.
Printable version
I am very pleased to report that our summary failure with the Gnocchi did nothing to shake hubby's enthusiasm for his meatball dish.
The meatballs themselves were made from some Cumberland sausages bought from our local butchers. It's just an easy matter of unzipping the sausage (or taking it out of it's skin) and breaking off chunks which are then formed into balls. Job done!
He put some basmati rice on to cook and made an omelette to cube up and include in the rice when it was done. In the last couple of minutes of cooking the rice, he added some frozen peas for colour and to provide a sweetness in the rice.
The thai-style sauce was provided by melting a knob of butter in a deep frying pan and sweating a couple of shallots until they were transparent. Then, the Red Thai Curry Paste was added and cooked on for a minute or two before adding a tin of coconut milk.
The raw meatballs were then added and poached in the sauce until cooked. You couldn't get away with doing this with cheap sausagemeat because of the fat content, but our butcher's sausages have little or no fat. Towards the end, a handful or two of baby sweetcorn that had been cut into small pieces was added to the pan to cook through.
The end result was good looking, but a tiny bit confused as it didn't really know whether it was Thai, Italian or Chinese. Hubby's intention with this recipe was to create something that was a) quick to cook, b) tasty and c) interesting. Well, he certainly scored with the first one. As to whether it was tasty or not, yes it was - but there was just something missing or out of place. I suspect it was the very British sausage which had no place in a Thai sauce. I felt they would have been perfect in an Amatriciana sauce with pasta, or if you were after something less predictable, perhaps in a Mexican chilli sauce. For me, the sausage and the sauce did clash a little bit. Which doesn't mean that it wasn't tasty!
As for being interesting, well, I suspect we've talked more about this recipe and it's adjustments than any other! I think that next time, he's going to go down the Mexican route. These sausage meatballs are really too good to not have again - just in the right context, this time!
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Well, our week's menu planning went right out of the window as of Wednesday evening. I had bought ten chicken breasts so that I'd be all ready for two of the dishes booked onto the menu and could put one set of three and a single one into the freezer for next week.
However, hubby needed collecting from town with his newly acquired stereo - it was way too big to juggle all the way home on the bus - which broke into the time I would have been cooking the Paprika Chicken, before putting it in the oven. So, we had sandwiches and some hastily purchased cake, instead. A kind of high tea.
The stereo has proven to be a little gem, by the way - and a complete bargain.
Thursday evening, after a hugely busy day at work when I dealt with all the invoices for May (received so far, anyway) in the one day - never done that before! - I was absolutely wiped out when I came home and very definitely not in any fit state to make dinner. I'll have to remember that when I'm pushing myself to get all the invoices done, in future! ~slaps own forehead~
So, Thursday became a fish & chips day - and my menu planning was thrown into complete disarray.
However, bearing in mind that when Asda delivered the shopping on Tuesday, they forgot to deliver all of Friday's ingredients (and the pie for Monday!), I moved the Indonesian Fried Rice with Mackerel to Friday and bumped the Chicken Jalfrezi and Paprika Chicken to next week.
When Son & heir realised that it was Smoked Mackerel that we were going to have with the rice, he wasn't impressed. So, because I'm a kind and thoughtful Mum, I defrosted the one lone chicken breast for him. ~takes a curtsey~
I marinated it in a little sesame oil, some oyster sauce, soy sauce and honey, then put it in the oven at 200deg for 20-25 minutes. He ate the lot and declared it yummy, so that was that job done.
This is very definitely one of those dishes that requires you to commit to a mise en place (or getting everything chopped and prepared before you start cooking). I'd have totally lost the relatively small plot, had I have been trying to chop stuff as I went along. Once you've got everything chopped and ready, then it's just an easy matter of picking it up, throwing it in and mixing as it cooks. Of course, it makes a bit more washing up - which dear Hubby did for me. Bless him!
As ever, I added a few ingredients and did away with one ingredient from the original recipe. It just made it nicer from our point of view - plus it used up a few leftover veggies, which these fried rice dishes are so good at!
The ingredient I did away with, was some sliced and halved cucumbers which were used as garnish. In truth, I forgot to slice them and in actuality I'm sure they would have been nice, so I've left them in the recipe as detailed below. It's up to you whether you would like to include them, if you have a go at this.
I've also just eaten the leftovers for lunch, the day after. I can confirm that it is even nicer the next day - so if you've got time on your hands and space in the fridge, it is probably worth doing it that way!
INDONESIAN FRIED RICE WITH MACKEREL (serves 4)
From BBC Good Food website.
Ingredients :
1 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
pinch of caster sugar
800g cooked basmati rice
bunch spring onions, sliced
4-5 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
140g frozen peas
2 tbsp soy sauce (approx - you may need a little more)
4 smoked mackerel fillets, bones removed and flaked into chunks
half a cucumber, sliced into half moon shapes.
Method :
1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok. Tip in the eggs (I used each egg individually) and swirl to coat the base of the pan. Cook for 1 minute, then flip and cook the other side until set. Remove and roughly chop into ribbons, then place to keep warm.
2. Add the mackerel to the warm place (under the grill, is good) to gently take on some heat.
3. Add the curry paste to the pan with the sugar and fry for 1 minute. Add the onions and mushrooms and stir to coat in the paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes, before adding the cooked rice and folding gently to mix everything in and heat everything through well.
4. Add the soy sauce, the omelette ribbons and mackerel. Fold them through, gently.
5. Serve, adding the cucumber sprinkled over the top.
Would you believe it, it worked. The poaching liquor, of onion, red Thai curry paste, chicken stock and coconut milk tasted divine and the pork steaks simmered away very happily until they were cooked through, staying moist and tender. I realised that, even with the Thai curry paste, the chilli heat wasn't going to survive the not-very-tender mercies of being hammered by a great dollop of peanut butter, so quickly added a teaspoonful of dried red chilli flakes to bolster the chilli ratio. After that, it was a simple matter of adding the peanut butter and the all-important cider vinegar.
