This recipe is great for buttering up your dinner guests… but its also just great to have some flavoured butter in the fridge for when you want to whip up a beautiful meal with minimum fuss!
You know those recipes that make everyone think you’re a rockstar in the kitchen… but actually you’re not? Yip… chimichurri is one of those!
Whether you are chilling on the deck around a BBQ in the summer, or huddled over the stove on a miserable winter’s afternoon… this recipe is packed with flavours that are diabolically good… and the perfect accompaniment to a really good bit o’ Freedom Farms pork.
Click here to view this recipe as a PDF.
A good ol’ spaghetti bolognese is a staple in most kiwi kitchens… but 90% of the time we turn to beef as our hero ingredient. And fair enough… NZ does do damn good lean beef mince. But, spaghetti bolognese has a much pork-ier history.
Translated spaghetti bolognese just means ‘spaghetti from Bologna’ – a city of around 400,000 people in Northern Italy. Originally a rich farming district, the city has done well in the Industrial Age and it’s proximity to a big agriculture industry means it’s now home to some of Italy’s largest food producers, as well as a busy engineering industry and is often seen as a transport hub for the northern parts of Italia.
The meat-based sauce is what makes spaghetti bolognese awesome. It’s been around since the late 18th century – the first published recipe appeared in Pelligrino Artusi’s cookbook, “The Science of Cooking and the Art of Fine Dining“, in 1891.
Below is a kiwi-friendly version of that recipe with easy-to-find ingredients for an authentic Italian taste explosion at home!
The secrets to releasing pork belly’s magic don’t require any special machinery or a food handler’s certificate – they’re techniques you already know, or can learn on the fly. You won’t be able to whip this up on a whim, but there’s not much to it, other than patience.
This recipe is based on the one found in Bill Granger’s excellent cookbook ‘Bill’s Everyday Asian’. We love Bill’s cooking for it’s simplicity… that somehow still achieves tons of flavour and texture.
The Vietnamese Caramel Sauce is what makes this recipe sing. We serve this with rice and a big side of stir-fried veggies.
Pork tenderloin is such a great cut of meat, both for it’s wonderful flavour and easy preparation. This recipe is slightly less carefree than just whacking it in the oven… but the effort is absolutely worth it… as my husband never tires of telling me, pork on pork can never end badly. I can’t help but agree.