March 2007 - Barbecued Peri-Peri Pork with Quick Guacamole

I really wanted to make the cover recipe from issue #58. Valli Little's Warm Duck Salad with Beetroot and Pomegranate looked so good. I just love beetroot and pomegranates and was keen to try the combination in what looked to be quite a refreshing salad. I, of course, couldn't make it due to a lack of access to any duck meat. Although I did have a duck dish at a local Chinese restaurant last night. It was okay but I certainly wouldn't order it again. I should have asked where they get their duck from, although they probably get whole ducks rather than just breast fillets. I will find a source for them one day and go back and make all the wonderful sounding recipes that I have come across.

Tobie Puttock's Fried Mozzarella with Heirloom Tomatoes and Basil looked really good too. The tomato and basil mix looked so lovely. The mozzarella pieces were crumbed and then deep fried. I find deep fried food to be a bit rich for me. I usually enjoy eating deep fried food at the time but it is unsettling for me. I was also concerned that the fact it is not just deep fried food but deep fried cheese it might just make me sick so with disappointment I decided not to make it.

The guest chef in this issue was Jared Ingersol of Sydney's Danks Street Depot which I had never heard of to be honest but then again I do not live in Sydney. The menus on their website look nice and the recipes that were on offer in this issue look very nice. I really wanted to make the Roasted Quails with Agresto Sauce, which is a combination of nuts, herbs, oil and verjuice. I could not get quails but considered making it with a small chicken but when I went to get a small chicken the butcher only had very big chickens left. I probably still could have made the recipe but I find that if I cook a large chicken just for myself I end up with too much left over and I never get it all eaten especially when it has a sauce like this one on it as it makes it harder to use the meat in something else, like chicken pies. This is definitely a recipe to come back to, along with the Hasselback potatoes with l'edel de cleron and a hazelnut dressing. L'edel de cleron is apparently a type of cheese but Jared suggests that if it is unavailable that brie or camembert would be suitable substitutions. I think that they will be interesting to try. It has been a long time since I have made hasselback potatoes but they are very tasty.

In the end, after a long day at work, I went with the quick and easy option and made Kate Tait's Barbecued Peri-Peri Pork with Quick Guacamole. I didn't use the barbecue as I don't really see the point of heating it up for one pork chop but I also don't have a gas bottle for it at present. I ended up grilling it. The pork chop was very nice. I quite like the peri-peri flavouring. I have done chicken in the peri-peri marinade before and it was great. The quick guacamole wasn't all that great on its own as it was a bit bland but since the pork had so much flavour the guacamole wasn't required to have a lot of flavour. The citrus to come through nicely though. Perhaps using coriander would have made a difference, and I didn't have much mint so perhaps if I had more of it it would have had more flavour. I served it with a salad and it was very nice.

Barbecued Peri-Peri Pork with Quick Guacamole

Ingredients

• 4 pork cutlets, rind trimmed, bones scraped (I just used a pork chop and left the rind on)
• 1/2 c. peri-peri marinade
  

Quick Guacamole

• 1 avocado
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/4 c roughly chopped coriander leaves (I used a mint and parsley mix)

Method:

• Place pork chops in a bag with the marinade and mix around to coat. The recipe suggest marinading for 5 minutes. I left mine for 30 minutes.
  
• Combine all the ingredients for the guacamole and set aside.
  
• Pre-heat grill to 180 C.
  
• Remove pork from marinade and place on a rack under the grill and cook for 5 - 8 minutes and then turn over and cook until done.
  
• Serve with guacamole on the side.