Australian Pork masterclass

Back in October I blogged about how you could win with Australian Pork.

Even though everyone wins when eating or cooking with Australian Pork, one lucky taste.com.au reader, Fotini Starvridis, was a triple winner. She won a pork masterclass, a Brilliant Cut Knife and my three latest books: Just Add Spice, Lyndey Milan’s Best Collection and Balance. Matching Food and Wine, What Works and Why.

The pork masterclass was held a couple of weeks ago. Fotini and I had a lovely time getting to know each other while delighting in lots of porky goodness.

Prior to the masterclass, Fotini nominated roast pork (with crackling) and pork larb as two recipes she would like to cook with me. I added char siew and pork belly to bring the number of pork recipes to four and to demonstrate different cuts and cooking methods.

First up, we cooked Glass Crackling Pork Belly, adapted from a recipe by chef Michael Moore.

Glass Crackling Pork Belly

Click here for the Glass Crackling Pork Belly recipe. When you make this recipe, plan ahead as the rind (crackle) really benefits from two hours pre-salting to reduce moisture and ensure the resultant crackle is ‘glass-like’. I know the method is fairly lengthy (salting and then marinating), but I recommend you follow all the steps to achieve excellent crackle and tender meat, ever so lightly scented with Chinese five spice.

Next up we cooked the perennial Chinese favourite, Char Siew Pork which we later served with noodles and vegetables.

Char Siew Pork just out of the oven

I have been cooking this recipe for many years. The taste, texture and flavour belie the effortless method and store cupboard ingredients. Char Siew Pork is so versatile – we served it warm with noodles and baby bok choy but it is equally delicious the next day served cold, sliced with salad greens and a dash of chilli soy dressing. Cook it now to celebrate Chinese New Year!

Char Siew Pork with noodles and bok choy

Click here for the recipe on my main site.
The celebratory pork rack was next. We cooked Gingered Pork Rack, a recipe from Just Add Spice. This is a great dinner party recipe that can be prepared and cooked in under an hour. The 1kg rack (perfect for four serves) is roasted and while it rests, the sauce comes together in the pan juices with the addition of ginger, cinnamon, marmalade, orange segments and my favourite Indonesian soy sauce, Kecap Manis.

We served the Gingered Pork Rack with roasted potatoes and broccolini in a pool of the gingery orange sauce.

Gingered Rack of Pork

Click here for the recipe on my main site.

The last recipe of the day was one I cooked on my Brilliant Cut Knife dvd, Pork Larb, the ten minute wonder!

There are quite a few ingredients, but all are pretty easy to find at your local fruit and vegetable shop or Asian grocery store. The sweetness of the pork mince is the perfect carrier for these strong Asian flavours. For a more substantial dish, you can add reconstituted rice stick noodles, but don’t substitute the lettuce cups – they are the perfect serving vessel.

Click here for the recipe on my main site.

Regional food stars at Brisbane Good Food & Wine Show - starts this Friday

For the third year running I’ve been asked to host the Lyndey Milan Producers’ Market at the Brisbane Good Food & Wine Show.

My friends at Forever Knives will be there too and I’ll be demonstrating my Brilliant Cut Knife on their stand at various times throughout the day. Make sure you come and say Hi.

I’ll also be chatting and interviewing these fabulous artisan and boutique producers at the Lyndey Milan Regional Producers’ Market:

Hills of Byron is an award winning, plantation roasted coffee from the Bryon Bay hinterland with rich flavour and aroma. The 18,000 Arabica coffee trees meet pesticide and herbicide free growing standards prior to being processed, roasted and packed. A judge at a recent coffee competition stated ‘the coffee has a good sweet aroma with hints of pleasant strong toasty fragrance and mix of molasses or honey’.

Silverwood Organics from Longreach in western Queensland sells and delivers organic meat packs. Silverwood grows the dorper breed of sheep which naturally shed their wool and are also known for their excellent carcass and superior eating quality. The free-range lamb is grown in natural Mitchell grass paddocks without chemicals or supplement feeding. To avoid undue stress, the lamb is processed locally by an organically accredited processor. Half or full packs with associated cuts are available online for home delivery. Just one taste and you will be convinced.

Located in the Barossa Valley, Careme Pastry, is owned and operated by William and Claire Wood, who, coming from a restaurant background we were always disappointed with the quality of commercially available ready-made pastry. Careme only use natural ingredients, free of additives, preservatives and colours to produce their hand-crafted pastry products. Their product range includes ready to use pastry dough: all butter puff, sour cream shortcrust, vanilla bean sweet shortcrust and dark chocolate shortcrust as well as a range of tarts, pies, savoury galettes and sweet tarts and croissants and pastries. Stephanie Alexander commends it!

Seasonal delights at McGuigan Hunter Valley

You may recall I hosted the McGuigan Season in the Barossa last June.  What a great day – lots of amazing producers and, of course, wine.

The good news is that the markets are on again but this time in the Hunter Valley – this Sunday, 10 October – at McGuigan’s cellar door. Click here for location and directions.

Like the seasonal market in the Barossa, McGuigan Winery in the Hunter Valley will transform into a vibrant farmers’ market, showcasing the finest local product from the Valley with live music and family entertainment as well as wine.

Producers and restaurants attending this Sunday include:

Tar10

Mikes Got Worms
Pukara Estate
Hunter Valley Cheese Factory
Gelato Company
Alldinga Oysters
Hunter Valley Chocolate Company
Lambert Macadamias
Good Food Distributors Australian Beef
The Steakhouse Restaurant
The Verandah Restaurant

I will be doing a cooking demonstration using a selection of produce gathered exclusively from the market. Can’t wait!

Come along and also enjoy a glass of wine from award winning McGuigan Wines, International Winemaker of the Year in 2009, at the International Wine and Spirit Competition, London. A fine selection of their wines will be available at the market, including the McGuigan Bin 9000 Semillon 2003, which has scooped awards at the International Wine Challenge and the Decanter World Wine Awards this year and a selection of quality wines from the McGuigan Wines Discover range. Impressive.

I will also have a selection of my books for sale and the new Lyndey Milan Brilliant Cut Knife. Come along and try it out for yourself.

Details are:
McGuigan Seasonal Market
09:30am – 3:00pm
McGuigan Hunter Valley Cellar Door
Cnr Broke & McDonalds Roads, Pokolbin
Click here for more details.

See you there!

How to win with Australian Pork – a pork masterclass, Brilliant Cut Knife and my latest three books

I am excited to let you know that I have teamed up with my friends at Australian Pork who are running a fabulous competition with taste.com.au.

I’ve written about my love for Australian pork and my main website features a few of my favourite pork recipes plus a round up of cured pork.

Click here for your chance to win:


First prize
* A one-on-one Australian Pork masterclass with me in Sydney (which includes economy flights from your nearest capital city and ground transfers in Sydney – value $2,500).
* A Brilliant Cut Knife including sharpener and 52 minute DVD featuring five of my favourite recipes plus hints and tips on how to get the most from the Brilliant Cut Knife – value $278.95
* Copies of my latest three books: Lyndey Milan The Best Collection (New Holland), value $50; Just Add Spice (Lantern) co-written with Ian ‘Herbie’ Hemphill, value $50; and Balance, Matching Food and Wine, What Works and Why (Hachette) co-written with Colin Corney, value $35

Runners-up prizes
* Three Brilliant Cut Knives including sharpener and 52 minute DVD featuring five of my favourite recipes plus hints and tips on how to get the most from the Brilliant Cut Knife – value $278.95

Good luck!

My Brilliant Cut Knife makes easy work of chicken larb on Kerrie-Ann

This morning I appeared on Kerrie-Ann (Nine Network – weekdays from 9am) as I usually do on a Thursday morning, and cooked one of my favourite fast and fabulous recipes, Chicken larb with rice noodles.

Using my Brilliant Cut Knife makes this recipe extra speedy! The fine blade (a unique alloy of diamonds, silver, ceramic and titanium) makes easy work of the fine chopping involved – garlic, ginger, chilli and kaffir lime leaves – all done in a flash!

Larb is a Laotian dish that found its way to northern Thailand and is now loved across Thailand and, in fact Australia. It is a salad of finely chopped or minced meat or fish cooked gently with aromatics and mixed with a fragrant dressing. While the dressing has lots of variations, the core ingredients are fish sauce, lime juice and lots of fresh herbs such as coriander and mint. I like to include basil too, and slicing basil leaves into a chiffonnade couldn’t be easier with the Brilliant Cut Knife plus the leaves won’t oxidise and discolour because the blade doesn’t contain steel.

Larb can be served a number of ways. I like to place a spoonful in a lettuce cup (baby cos are good), roll up and eat with my fingers. Another way to serve it is over rice or rice noodles. Both are good. 

On Kerrie-Ann today I served it over rice noodles

   

  I think Kerrie-Ann and Jamie liked it!

Here is a link to the recipe on my main site.
Here is some more information about my Brilliant Cut Knife

Diamonds really are a girl’s best friend

I am very excited to announce that my Brilliant Cut Knife has arrived!

This is the first time in my 25 year career in the food industry that I’ve put my name to a product. However after testing this knife and working with the Forever Knives’ developers and designers for over 12 months, I couldn’t say no. I love it.

First of all, it hardly ever needs sharpening. According to world leading testing organisation CATRA (UK) the blade will hold its cutting edge up to 45 times longer than steel. Impressive. The more so because so many of us just don’t know how to sharpen knives properly. My pet hate is trying to work in someone else’s kitchen without a decent sharp knife. This one is so versatile, it can suit all your needs.

Back to the cutting edge, the blade is made of a unique alloy – also a world-first – that combines diamonds, silver, ceramic and titanium:

DIAMONDS a world-first for incredible performance and durability
SILVER with unique anti-bacterial properties for good health
CERAMIC for sharpness and holding the cutting edge for a very long time
TITANIUM is corrosion resistant, flexible and lightweight to reduce fatigue

The other things I love include:
 it is lightweight and perfectly balanced, hence comfortable for long periods in the kitchen or for those who find chefs’ knives too heavy
 it is dishwasher safe
 the blade is sharp, durable and flexible and can tackle all kitchen jobs such as slicing, chopping, shredding and dicing with ease and precision – this means no “crying” when cutting onions
 because there is no steel and no oxidation, you can cut lettuce and basil and there is no discolouration!

The Brilliant Cut Knife will be making its debut at the Sydney Good Food & Wine Show, 16-18 July, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour. I’ll be demonstrating the knife at the Forever Knives stand (i40) on the hour, each hour. The show times are:

Friday 16 July 10am-6pm
Saturday 17 July 10am-6pm
Sunday 18 July 10am-5pm

The knife will retail at the show at the introductory price of $199 (though the RRP is $249.00) inc GST including a special sharpener for fool-proof sharpening when it does finally need it.

**As a special limited offer Sydney Good Food & Wine Show purchasers will receive a FREE 52 minute DVD featuring five of my favourite fast and fabulous recipes with step-by-step instructions plus lots of handy knife tips and tricks, normally valued at $29.95.**

Click here for more information about the Brilliant Cut Knife
Click here for online sales at Forever Knives