Roll Of Roast Pork Stuffed With Pistachio Nuts And Thyme ©
An excellent Sunday roast or an alternative to Turkey at Christmas.
This is a roll of pork stuffed with pistachio nuts, pine nuts and crushed fennel seeds.
It is marinaded in orange juice, white wine and brandy and surrounded by dried apricots, cranberries and rosemary.
Easy
Serves 6
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
1-1.5 kilos of pork for stuffing
50 g pine nuts roughly chopped
50 g pistachio nuts roughly chopped
2 tbs fennel seeds ground
4 tbs Dijon mustard or enough to cover meat inside and out
16 dried apricots
4 tbs dried cranberries
4 tbs fresh thyme leaves, stalks removed
6 small sprigs of rosemary
Juice two oranges and the zest
3 cloves garlic
4 whole star anise
A generous drizzle of olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Gather all your ingredients together to prepare the marinade.
2. Lay meat out on a roasting tin or an ovenproof dish.
3. Using 1/2 the Dijon mustard, spread over the meat.
4. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper.
5. Toast fennel seeds lightly in a frying pan and grind in a pestle and mortar.
Sprinkle over meat.
6. Roast nuts until golden and chop roughly. Place a line of nuts down the centre of both pieces of meat.
7. Sprinkle over the thyme leaves.
8. Carefully tie together each piece of meat with kitchen string.
9. Pour over orange juice, white wine and brandy. Season with salt and pepper and cover with remaining mustard.
10. Place a line of chopped garlic along the top and decorate with sprigs of rosemary.
11. Evenly distribute the dried apricots and cranberries around the pork.
12. This can all be done the day before and placed in the refrigerator to marinade.
13. Important: One hour before cooking time, remove from fridge to come to room temperature.
14. Place in pre-heated oven 200.C and roast for 1 to 1.5 hours, basting regularly and adding a little more orange juice, so sauce doesn’t dry up. When it is nicely browned on top, cover with a sheet of grease proof paper and leave for the rest of the cooking time.
15. Allow 15 minutes to rest, remove string carefully and cut into slices.
16. Garnish with thyme sprigs and serve.
Apricots and cranberries
Roasted pistachio and pine nuts.
Grind roasted fennel seeds
Lay each piece of meat out onto roasting tray and season.
Grind fennel seeds
Roughly chop roasted nuts
Sprinkle meat with fennel and thyme leaves
Pour a line of nuts down the centre of each piece of meat
Roll meat up and tie with kitchen string
Add the rest of your ingredients
Roast in preheated oven at 200.C for over an hour until cooked. Baste every 20 minutes and cover with grease proof paper, if it gets too brown. Have a little extra orange juice on hand so that surrounding sauce doesn’t dry out.
Yuvarlakia (Γιουβαρλάκια) Greek meatballs in egg and lemon sauce
This is a favourite family winter dish, easy to make and very warming.
It can be eaten covered with the lemon sauce or thinned and eaten as a soup.
This is dedicated to Irene and Natalie 😋
Easy
Serves 4
Preparation Time : 1/2 an hour
Ingredients
1/2 kilo mince meat, veal or pork or mixed
1 whole egg
1 medium onion finely grated
1 finely grated carrot
2 small coffee cups patna rice
1 tbs finely chopped parsley
1 tbs olive oil
1-2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 tbs flour, seasoned with a little salt (spread on tray to roll meatballs in )
For the stock
1/2 litre stock or enough to cover meatballs
25g butter
1 tbs olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
For the egg and lemon sauce
2 whole eggs
2 heaped tsp corn flour
Juice of large lemon
salt to taste
Garnish
2 tbs finely chopped parsley
Method
- Gather all your ingredients together.
2. Place mincemeat, whole egg, finely grated onion and carrot, rice, olive oil and seasoning, in a large bowl.
3. Knead together with your hands, to mix ingredients thoroughly.
4. Shape into small meatballs and place on tray of seasoned flour. Roll in flour to cover. ( This helps thicken lemon sauce.)
5. Fill a medium sized saucepan with 1/2 litre of stock and a knob of butter and olive oil.
6. Bring to the boil and simmer gently.
7. Lower the meatballs using a slotted spoon into the stock and simmer for 1/2 hour.
8. Once they are cooked, remove with a slotted spoon into a clean saucepan.
For The Egg And Lemon Sauce
- Place two whole eggs in a bowl. Beat lightly with a fork to break up eggs.
2. In a small glass place 2 heaped tsp corn flour and mix in lemon juice.
3. Beat this gently into the eggs and add 2 ladlefuls of the stock. Sieve this over meat balls and heat through. Do not boil, to avoid eggs curdling!
5. Serve in pre-heated serving dish and just before serving, sprinkle with finely shopped parsley.
* If you prefer this recipe as a soup, add another 1/3rd liter of stock.
Bring stock to the boil and when gently simmering, lower in meatballs with a slotted spoon.
Final result! Delicious!
Spicy Meatballs ©
This most delicious recipe is the difference between day and night in the meatball kingdom!!!!
It is the spices in this recipe that make all the difference and the Yogurt!
Soft, crunchy on the out side, very flavoursome and moist!
Thank you, wonderful guests of the big house…….This will be my recipe from now on! Thank you A! et ALL!!
Easy
Preparation Time : 20 minutes
Serves 4 -6 persons
Ingredients
500 g Minced Veal
500 g Minced Pork
60 g grated rusk / Galleta. Or two thick slices of bread, crusts removed.
1 tsp whole cumin
1 tsp whole Coriander
1 tsp whole Glikaniso /Anise /Fennel Seeds
1 250 g Carton of Greek Fage Yogurt
1 Large finely grated onion, or 4 very finely chopped spring onions
Very finely grated zest of one lemon
3 tbs Olive oil
2 heaped tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
For Frying :
Corn oil enough to cover your saucepan 3 cm deep in oil
4 tbs flour
1 tsp salt
Method
- Peel and finely grate onion into large mixing bowl.
- Add mincemeat.
- Place whole spices in grinder or pestle and mortar and grind finely.
- Add spices to ingredients along with salt pepper lemon zest and olive oil.
- Add Yogurt and grated rusk or two thick slices of bread, crusts removed and soaked in a little water first. Squeeze out water before adding.
- Kneed the mixture thoroughly, your hands should come away clean, if at all sticky, add more olive oil.
- Roll into 3 cm balls.
- Place flour in bowl add salt, mix together and roll meat balls in seasoned flour.
- Heat oil in saucepan until oil begins to move, 3-4 minutes. There should be enough oil to come 3 cm up the side of the saucepan.
- Test the heat of the oil by adding one meat ball, it should instantly sizzle, if not wait a little. It is important for the fat to be hot enough to cook the meatballs quickly. ALWAYS FRY WITH A SAUCEPAN LID NEXT TO YOU, IN CASE OIL CATCHES FIRE! Never leave saucepan unattended while frying!
- Once meatballs are nice and brown, turn over with two spoons to brown the other side. Then lastly turn back for two minutes. Remove meat balls to a bowl lined with kitchen paper. Remove paper before serving.
- Serve hot or cold as a meze.
This is what you are aiming for.
Gather together ingredients.
Grind spices.
Place ingredients in bowl together with finely grated lemon zest.
Knead well! Hands should come away clean. If at all sticky add more olive oil.
Shape into 3 cm rounds.
Roll in seasoned flour.
Start heating corn oil for 3-5 minutes on high heat. ( For this part NEVER leave oil unattended. If it starts to smoke remove from heat and leave to cool down for two minutes.)
TEST by adding one meatball to see if it sizzles hard, like this., If it does add the rest, if not wait two more minutes.
Keep heat high so that all the saucepan is sizzling and ALWAYS HAVE A SAUCEPAN LID NEAR BY, INCASE OIL CATCHES FIRE!
When they are nice and brown, turn them over and once again for a minute or two, at the end.
Final result! Delicious and perfect as part of a Buffet.
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