Pork five spice salad with persimmon

Light meal for 3 people in 40 minutes 

Often I buy something in bulk so I can experiment with it and get the recipe right. I did that will this one. I have been dying to do something with five spice and my male friends say I don’t have enough meat-based recipes on the blog. This pork was supposed to rectify that, but after getting things wrong a few times, I have ended up with what is generally not thought of as a manly meal: a salad, albeit one with meat.

Five spice is just as it says on the tin: a powder mix of five spices, although the mix of spices can vary. The one I used included star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and fennel seeds.

In looking at five spice recipes, I learnt the mix is based on the yin and yang principle, and is supposed to produce balance in the flavour of the food by encompassing the five main flavours: sweet, sour, bitter, pungent and salty. Although there are two things wrong here:

1 – there is nothing salty in five spice

2 – pungency is not one of the five main flavours, but umami (or savoury) is

At the Spice Shop off Portobello Road you can buy a handy mixed bag of the whole five spices so you can grind them yourselves for a fresher mix.

For this recipe, you will need:

1. Pork

• 1 pork loin of about 300g
• 4 tablespoons five spice powder
• Salt and pepper to season
• 1 Persimmon cut into sections

2. Dressing

• 3 limes
• 6 small squeezes agave syrup (or as sweet as you want)
• 3 tablespoon roughly chopped coriander
• As much finely chopped chilli as you want
• 9 peanuts, skin removed and crushed

3. Salad

• 3 cups chopped baby leaf lettuce

Cover a cutting board with a layer of the five spice and salt and pepper. Roll the loin in the spice, like so:

Sear the pork on all sides in medium high heat, browning it on four sides.

Put it on a roasting tray rack topped with foil with the persimmon sections. Put the tray in a 250 C oven for 15 minutes, making sure the centre of the loin is no longer pink.

While it is cooking make the dressing by combining all dressing ingredients, mixing well.

Take out the loin, let it sit for five minutes and then cut into 1 cm-thick-ish slices.

Combine the dressing and the salad and plate. Place the slices of pork on top and serve.

Steak soft tacos with tequila pineapple salsa

Quick recipe for 1 that only takes a few minutes to prepare but needs some marinating time.

Wow! I have taken a long break. A long break from writing, but not from cooking. I have a stockpile of recipes I think are blog worthy just sitting.

I generally write on Sundays, and the break started when, for a couple Sundays in a row, I had things on and couldn’t write. But then, for the last couple Sundays, I found myself sitting down in front of the computer and not able to write. I couldn’t believe that after only a few weeks of writing I already had writer’s block, particularly because I deliberately try to keep my posts writing light and food focused.

This week I realised I was not blocked, but simply putting waaaaay too much pressure on myself. I wanted to say something grand and I wanted the recipe to be something grand, but neither are the point of this blog. Again, the point is to be food focused. The food is supposed to be delicious, but easy to execute and accessible, highlighting an ingredient that is seasonal, lesser known or unusual in the context of the recipe.

This recipe is just that. Not grand. Not groundbreaking. The pineapple and tequila is simply a lovely change to a tomato-based salsa.

Ingredients

1. 2 corn tortillas

2. Steak
(What we are going for here is a smokiness and subtle heat.)

• 1 piece flatiron steak
• 1 heaped tablespoon chipotle in adobo
• 1 heaped tablespoon of ground cumin
• Juice of half a lime
• Couple twists of salt

3. Salsa
(What we are going for here is the balance of liquor, salt and lime you get with shot of tequila.)

• ¼ cup finely diced pineapple
• ½ shot to 1 shot tequila
• Juice of half a lime
• ¼ tsp lime zest
• ½ tsp chopped red onion
• 1 spring onion
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 tbsp chopped mint

Method

Combine the chipotle, ground cumin, lime juice, salt and rub into the steak. Place in a baking dish and marinate overnight.

Preheat he oven to 250C.

Combine the pineapple, tequila, lime and lime zest and let sit while the oven heats up and the steak cooks.

Put the steak on in the baking dish on top shelf for 7 minutes, flip and cook 5 more minutes. The steak will then be medium to medium rare. Take the steak out and let sit on a cutting board.

Meanwhile put the rest of the salsa ingredients in with the pineapple mixture and mix it well.

Warm the tortillas in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Slice the steak and divide between the tortillas. Top with salsa. Note: The salsa has a lot of tequila in the bottom, so don't empty the dish over the tortillas, but fish out the salsa with a fork to drain it.