October 2004 - Carrot & Walnut Salad with Harissa Roast Pork Belly

Oh goodness I am feeling unwell today but I really wanted to get a post done. Winter has decided to pay us another visit today as well. It has at least stopped raining and there is patches of sun outside but it is so cold. The heater is back on and doors are all closed. There are plenty of things that need doing outside, not the least of which is lawn mowing, but I have no desire to be out in the cold today. So I am posting on here while watching some old episodes of Criminal Minds. 

My original choice from issue #32 was Valli Little's Dukkah-crusted chicken with Moroccan tomato & cardamom sauce. It sounds like a fantastic combination. I have a lovely homemade pistachio dukkah that would be lovely. However I ended up using the chicken breast when I did the Kumara Jackets from the 2002 issue.

One thing that I did have to cook was a piece of pork belly. There weren't any recipes in this issue however that wasn't really a problem as I really wanted to try the Harrisa Roast Pork Belly recipe over at Meemalee's Kitchen. It was just the best way that I have had pork belly, it also reheated well and I used the rest of it chopped up and crispy fried in a noodle dish as well. I did make some changes. I left out the msg, I didn't have any ras-el-hanout but did have a "Moroccan seasoning" so used that, caster sugar in place of the fruit sugar, reduced the pepper to about 1 tsp and used a combination of stock and sherry vinegar in place of the wine. I had to add some additional water to the pan during cooking to stop it drying out and it made a wonderful gravy. The flavours were just fantastic. I enjoyed every little bit of it. I would highly recommend making this.

I needed something to go with the pork belly and came upon Jane Clarke's Carrot and Walnut salad. It was the perfect accompaniment. The coolness of the carrots went beautifully with the heat of harissa. I made a few changes to the recipe. Including using walnut oil in the dressing. I had never used it before but I was away and managed to pick up a bottle of walnut oil from a health food store. I didn't have any oranges either so used lime in its place. It was really good and will be a nice salad to have any time. 

Carrot & Walnut Salad 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

• 500g carrots, washed and coarsely grated 
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced (I used red onion) 
• 50 g walnut halves 
• 50 g sultanas 
• 1 bunch watercress, ends trimmed (I used spinach leaves chopped) 
• 3 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped (I used parsley) 

Dressing: 

• Grated rind and juice of 1 small orange
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 c (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 
• 25 g walnuts, roughly chopped

Method: 

• For dressing: place all ingredients in a processor and whiz until combined. 
• Place all salad ingredients in a dish and combine. 
• Drizzle over dressing and toss to combine.