Tag: appetizer
Chinese Roast Pork Belly
Chinese Roast Pork Belly
Continuing on with my pork journey is this to die for crisp roast pork belly. You may have seen this at a Chinese restaurant as an appetizer served with a variety of dipping sauces. The meat of the skin on belly is marinated in a pretty standard mix of soy sauce/oyster sauce/rice wine/ 5 spice overnight uncovered in the refrigerator. The belly is first roasted at 400 degrees to sear in the juices; then slowly at 300 degrees to render out the fat; then at 450 degrees to crisp the skin. What you get in return is a rainbow of tender pork with a layer of salty, crispy skin. I highly recommend looking for your pork belly at an Asian market. It is only $3.79lb at the one I shop at, which is about half the price of anywhere else. I think it’s very good quality. They have pork belly cut every single way you can imagine. For this recipe, you want a single 3lb slab with the skin on. Skinless will not work for this recipe.
Ingredients
- 3 lb pork belly slab skin on
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce
- 1/4 cup oyster sauce
- 1/4 cup rice cooking wine
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- salt
Instructions
- Mix all of the marinade ingredients together.
- Cut cross hatches through the skin of the pork belly, but not into the fat of meat.
- Place the marinade in a baking dish with the pork belly meat side down , trying to make sure that the marinade doesn’t get onto the skin. Marinate overnight uncovered in the refrigerator.
- When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the pork belly skin side up on a rack on a baking pan lined in foil. Dry the skin side with paper towel. Rub a heavy layer of salt across the skin.
- Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 300 degrees and roast for 2 hours. Turn the oven up to 450 and roastfor 20-30 minutes until the skin is crispy. It is very important to have water at the bottom of the baking sheet. If not, plan on calling the fire department. Let rest for 15 minutes before carving.
- Cut the belly into 4 pieces like so.
- Take one of the chunks and slice it horizontally.
- Serve as a main course or as an appetizer with dipping sauces such as hot mustard or plum sauce.
Cuban Pulled Pork Taquitos
Cuban Pulled Pork Taquitos
Here is a great use for leftover Cuban pulled pork. Roll them up in corn or flour tortillas with your favorite cheese. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Top with your favorite toppings. That simple.
Ingredients
- 1 lb cuban pulled pork
- 8 corn or flour tortillas lightly fried
- your favorite cheese
- sofrito
- sour cream
- avocado sliced
Instructions
- Add a heaping tbsp of the pulled pork down the center of the tortillas. Top with your favorite cheese.
- Just like so.
- Roll them them up really tight. Do not like the edges.
- Place seam side down in a lightly greased baking dish.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Serve with a little sofrito, sour cream, and sliced avocado.
Plantain Fritters
Plantain Fritters
The plantain fritters are super easy to make; and are vegan, paleo friendly, and gluten free if you use rice flour. These can also be made sweet; replacing the onion, garlic, green onion, parsley, and cayenne with cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla.
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 3 ripe plantains
- 1 cup whole wheat or rice flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp ginger grated
- 2 tbsp onion finely chopped
- 2 tbsp green onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, lightly chopped up the plantains until there are no more lumps. If they are really ripe, you can smash them with a potato masher.
- Addthe remaining ingredients to the mashed plantains.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Add 2” of cooking oil to a pot over medium high heat. The oil temp should read 350 degrees. Using a cookie dropper, drop balls of the plantain dough into the hot oil. Make sure to not overcrowd the pot. These will take about 6 minutes to fry. Drain grease on a paper towel.
- Serve with dip consisting of 2/3 mayo/ 1/3 sriracha.
