WWDH - Pork Dumplings

Who knew you could make dumplings?  Dumplings are those mysterious but wonderful flavour-filled packages that you buy at Chinese restaurants.  I never dreamed that you could make your own quite easily at home.

This week for Wednesday with Donna Hay, I learned that you could.   Margaret chose Dumplings from Off the Shelf, to use up our wonton wrappers from last month.

These little parcels comprise wonton wrappers filled with pork mince (in my case, Otways pork mince bought in Hawksburn Village), sweet chilli sauce, hoisin sauce and coriander, then steamed or poached in stock.  I didn't have any hoisin sauce, so I used citrus honey sauce instead, and I poached my dumplings in beef stock.  I served the dumplings with sweet chilli sauce on the side.

I was amazed - not only did the finished product look the part, but it tasted great too.  Yum!!!

To see what Margaret, Kayte and Chaya thought of these dumplings, visit their websites.

WWDH - Thai pork with noodles

For Wednesday with Donna Hay this week, I chose Thai pork with Noodles from Modern Classics Book I.  Although I am no expert on Thai food, I would call this a larb dish.

I really liked the crisp Thai flavours in this dish of pork mince, onion, chilli, lemon grass, lime juice, brown sugar and fish sauce with vermicelli noodles.  (I skipped the mint.) I would have liked some Asian greens  to serve with it, but unfortunately I did not have any.

To see what Kayte, Margaret and Chaya thought, visit their websites. 

WWDH - Bacon and Egg Pies

This week's Wednesday with Donna Hay is my pick.  I went for quick and simple, and chose Bacon and Egg Pies from p158 of Off the Shelf.

These little pies are so easy - just line a mini pie pan with puff pastry, brown some bacon in the oven, put a cheese and mustard mixture in the puff pastry base, put the browned bacon on top, and crack an egg over all of it, and bake for around 20 minutes in the oven.  (Donna uses two eggs and two pieces of bacon per pie, but I wanted something a little less hefty.)

These pies taste delicious, and are achieved with minimal effort.

To see what Kayte, Margaret and Chaya thought of these pies, visit their blogs tomorrow when it will be Wednesday their time.

FFWD - Fresh Orange Pork Tenderloin

Thank goodness it's Friday again - my week has been out of control, and the number of rabbits being pulled out of the hat lately is ridiculous.  I look forward to the weekends, when I have some control over my own destiny.

This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe is Fresh Orange Pork Tenderloin.  I can hear the people who hate meat and fruit together moaning in disbelief, but this was actually a rather delicious dish, with strips of pork tenderloin served in an onion and orange juice sauce, with orange segments.  It is fairly quick and easy to make, with segmenting the oranges being the most taxing part of the exercise.

Dorie says this dish can't be reheated successfully, but I did the next day and it tasted just fine.

I served this dish with steamed veges, and found it to be a rather nice, light meal.

To see what the other Dorie cooks thought, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.

WWDH - Parmesan Crusted Pork Cutlets

This week for Wednesday with Donna Hay, I chose Parmesan Crusted Veal Cutlets from p94 of Off the Shelf.  This recipe entailed making a tomato sauce on which to rest a veal cutlet coated with parmesan cheese.  I used pork cutlets instead, as veal was hard to find.  I served the dish with simple steamed veges.

Verdict - this dish was quite tasty - the parmesan adds a nice flavour to the meat as well as a crispy crunch.

To see what Margaret, Kayte and Chaya thought of this dish, visit their blogs this time tomorrow.

WWDH - Thai Caramelised Pork Salad

This week's Wednesday with Donna Hay recipe is Thai Caramelised Pork Salad, chosen by Kayte.

I loved the pork component with its sweet and spicy flavours, but the undressed salad did not impress me.

To see what the others thought of this salad, visit Kayte, Margaret and Chaya.

FFwD - Chard-Stuffed Pork Roast

I entered into this week's FFwD with some trepidation.  Pork stuffed wth green stuff is not something that automatically makes me jump for joy, and I have hideous memories of chomping through tasteless, watery greenery.

However, I need not have worried - Dorie's Chard-Stuffed Pork Roast is magnificent!  I used pork steaks instead of roast, and used frozen spinach instead of chard.  I also used pre-ground pepper and cardamom to coat my pork, and as I did not have chilli flakes, I chopped up a dried chilli:  

The end result was realy tasty - the cardamom gives a pleasant sweetness to the pork, and the chilli gives a zing to the stuffing.  I also found that there was sufficient seasoning so that the stuffing was not a tasteless mass.

Would I make this again?  Absolutely! It was a pleasant surprise taste-wise, and it wasn't difficult or time consuming to make.  I loved this one - it is a real winner for me.

To check out what the other FFwD members thought of this week's dish, visit the LYL scetion of the FFwD website.