Pork Burgers with Sweet Apple Relish

Pork & Apple Burgers
These pork burger patties are nice on their own, but the apple relish transforms them into something a little bit fancy.
My husband found this recipe on Taste.com, tweaked it a little and converted it for the Thermomix.

The secret ingredient to the relish is definitely the prunes, even if you are not normally a fan I suggest you leave them in and give the relish a try.  They add a sweet stickiness that is very tasty. If you have relish left over you could also use it to accompany pork chops, sausages or on a Ploughman’s platter.

Pork Burgers with Sweet Apple Relish
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
Relish
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large red onion, halved, thinly sliced
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • 2 green apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1.5cm pieces
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 70g (1/3 cup) pitted prunes, roughly chopped
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
Burgers
  • 1 brown onion, peeled and cut into quarters
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 green apple, peeled and quartered
  • 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
  • 800g pork mince
  • 25g (1/3 cup) fresh breadcrumbs
Mustard Sour Cream (optional)
  • 90g (1/3 cup) light sour cream
  • 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
Extra
  • Tbsp olive oil for frying the burgers
  • Buns and salad to serve
Method
Relish
  1. Place onion, cinnamon, and olive oil into Tmx bowl and sauté at 100 degrees, 2 minutes, speed 1.
  2. Add apple, honey, vinegar, and prunes and cook for a further 15 minutes 100 degrees, speed 1. Add lemon juice in the last few minutes of cooking.
  3. Set the relish aside. Don't clean the bowl.
Burgers
  1. Place onion, apple and garlic into the Tmx bowl, chop speed 7, 5 seconds.
  2. Add oil and sauté 100 degrees, 2 minutes, speed 2.
  3. In a large bowl combine the onion, apple and garlic mixture with the pork mince, thyme and breadcrumbs. Mix with a large wooden spoon (or use your hands) until well combined.
  4. Shape the mixture into patties, This mixture will make between 6 and 8, depending on how large you like your patties.
  5. Cook the patties in a frying pan or on the BBQ, until browned and cooked through the middle. Depending on how thick your patties are this will take about 5 minutes each side.
  6. If making mustard sour cream. combine sour cream and mustard in a small bowl and mix with a spoon.
  7. To assemble: Prepare bottom half of a bread roll with a layer of sour cream, then add salad of your choice (lettuce, tomato) place a pattie on the top, followed by a dollop of relish. Top with remaining half of the bread roll.

 

Slow Cooker Roast Chicken

I have to admit that that I have never been all that confident at roasting chicken, and therefore in the past I have not made it much.  But now that I have discovered this fool proof method of using the slow cooker I make it much more often.

The skin obviously doesn’t go as crispy as in the oven, but it still does go quite brown (and to be honest I generally don’t eat much of the skin anyhow).

By sitting the chicken on the potatoes the cooking juices collect in the bottom of the cooker, don’t throw them out – use them to make a lovely tasty gravy.

I don’t have a photo for this recipe, but will rectify that soon!

Slow Cooker Roast Chicken
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 fresh whole chicken (1 -1.5kg)
  • 1 lemon
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 3-4 small potatoes
Method
  1. Wash potatoes and place them in the bottom of the slow cooker.
  2. Rinse the chicken, inside and out, under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels. Season the chicken with the salt, pepper and paprika, by rubbing them all over the skin,
  3. Cut the lemon in half and push into the cavity of the chicken.
  4. Put the chook in the slow cooker on top of the potatoes and set the slow cooker to High for 1 hour, then turn down to low for about 8 to 10 hours, or until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear.
  5. I don't serve the potatoes, but you could if you liked. They are there to keep the chicken off the base of the slow cooker bowl.
  6. Once cooked, carefully remove the chicken to a serving tray and slice/portion to serve. It will be so tender that it will be falling off the bone, so be careful when you move it that it doesn't all collapse!

 

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Pulled Pork
This is not a Thermomix recipe, but boy oh boy, it is a good recipe! If you have not heard of pulled pork before it is a way of cooking and eating pork shoulder, whereby the pork is seasoned, slow cooked, then shredded (pulled apart) and mixed with more yummy sauce and seasoning before serving. It is absolutely delicious.

You need a slow cooker to make this. I love cooking with a slow cooker, it the second most used appliance in our kitchen (after the Thermomix of course). I have had the same one for years, it is an el’ cheapo model that sports a few dents and scratches on the outer shell, but it just keeps on going. I love it for preparing tender meat, and also for the ability to prepare meals ahead. Mine is just a 4.5L model, sometimes I wish for a larger capacity bowl; when I am cooking this and corned beef it would good to be able to fit larger cuts of meat in. But for making ragu or stewed meats it is just perfect.

Anyhow, enough about the slow cooker, more about the pork! This is my favourite way to eat pork, I am not a pork chop kind of girl, I do like pork roast, but this is even better. And it extends such a long way. Once the pork is shredded it serves a crowd. And you can use the leftovers to create yummy salads, nachos,  or pork sliders the next day. I have also frozen the leftovers and then used the pork as pizza topping at a later date.

We enjoy this with salads (coleslaw is perfect), salsa, beans, apple sauce, pita bread, or tortillas. I present it as a ‘help yourself ‘ style meal; meat, salad, breads (or corn chips)  all in the middle of the table and tuck in!
So what are you waiting for? Go and get yourself some pork, drag the slow cooker out of the cupboard and give this a go. You won’t regret it – promise!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: A crowd!
Ingredients
  • 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1.5kg (or thereabouts) pork shoulder (you can use rolled shoulder also)
  • ½ cup barbecue sauce (optional)
Method
  1. Place the onions and garlic in the bottom of the slow cooker and pour in the stock.
  2. Combine the sugar, spices and salt together in a small bowl. Pat the pork dry with paper towels, remove the string (if it is a rolled shoulder) and rub the spice mixture all over the pork.
  3. Pace the meat on top of the onions and garlic. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook 6 to 8 hours on high or 8 to 10 hours on low.
  4. Once cooked, remove the pork and trim off the fat (discard). Strain the most of the liquid from the slow cooker into a bowl, and keep it aside. Don't tip it down the sink! Skim the fat off the top of the liquid.
  5. Keep the onion and solids and add back to the bowl.
  6. Using two forks pull the meat apart, shred it into pieces, add the pork back to the bowl with the barbeque sauce (if you are using it) and ½ cup of the reserved cooking liquid.
  7. If you don't want to add barbeque sauce use 1 cup of cooking liquid.
  8. Mix the meat and sauces together and then serve.
Notes
You can use up to a cup of barbeque sauce if you like. The more you use the sweeter and stickier the end result is. I find half a cup is plenty but adjust to your own taste.

 

 

Honey Mustard Chicken Salad

HoneyMustardSalad copy
This is such a tasty meal, and lovely to eat on a warm summer day when you really don’t feel like facing a plate of steaming hot food for dinner.
It does not take too long to prepare, once you have the chicken and sweet potato cooking you can go and do a few other things and then come back to assemble it all.
Last time I made this my local shop had run out of bocconcini (how rude!) so I substituted with mozzarella instead that I just tore into small pieces.

When preparing I suggest you follow the steps in the order I have listed, so it all comes together at the same time at the end. So get the sweet potato into the oven first, then set the chicken to steam. Then do the dressing and shred the chicken, by which time the sweet potato should be done.

If you have any leftover chicken you can save it for sandwich fillings or freeze for later. Any leftover dressing can be kept in the fridge to use on other salads. It tastes lovely and can be easily used to flavour other types of salads.

Warm Honey Mustard Chicken Salad
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients
Chicken
  • 2 large chicken breasts
  • 2 cloves garlic
Salad
  • Bag of baby spinach leaves
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 220g tub baby bocconcini
  • Punnet of cherry tomatoes
  • Pine nuts to taste
Honey Mustard Dressing
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 2 Tbsp seeded mustard
  • ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup olive oil
Method
Prepare the sweet potato
  1. Turn on the oven to 220 degrees.
  2. Peel and dice the sweet potato into small cubes. Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.
  3. Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes or until soft and slightly caramelized on the edges.
Steam the chicken in the Tmx
  1. While the sweet potato is cooking prepare the chicken.
  2. Cut the chicken breasts in half on the horizontal plane. So you get four large thinner pieces of chicken.
  3. Place them in to the top tray of the Varoma.
  4. Fill the water level in the bowl to 1L and add garlic cloves to the water.
  5. Set Tmx to steam at Varoma temp, 25 minutes, speed 2.
  6. Once cooked remove the tray and set aside. Wash the bowl, then make the dressing.
  7. Decant the dressing into a jug and without washing the bowl add the chicken back in and shred on reverse, speed 4 for 4-5 seconds.
Dressing
  1. Add all dressing ingredients to the bowl and mix speed 7-8 for 10 seconds.
Assemble Salad
  1. Arrange a layer of spinach leaves on each serving plate, add shredded chicken, bocconcini (torn in half), warm sweet potato, cherry tomatoes (halved) to each serve and sprinkle with pine nuts.
  2. Drizzle dressing over salad and enjoy!
Notes
If you prefer your chicken in larger pieces reduce the shredding time to just a couple of seconds.

 

Lemon Chicken

LemonChicken copy
This is a bit of a retro recipe, but it is a favourite in our house as my husband’s mother used to make it often, we think of her when we share this meal. We have used her recipe but adapted it for the Thermo. It is quick to prepare and a winner with the kids thanks to the sweet flavour of the sauce! We serve with a side of steamed vegetables.

The chicken is pan fried separately to the sauce, so get the sauce cooking and fry the chicken while the Thermo does the work for you cooking and stirring the sauce. I always cook rice first when making this (and keep it warm in the Thermoserver), so the meal is ready to serve as soon as the chicken is cooked.

Do you have a favourite retro recipe?

Lemon Chicken
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 5
Ingredients
SAUCE
  • 35g cornflour
  • 45g sugar
  • 500g water
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 2 chicken stock cubes or 2 Tbsp of Tmx vegetable stock concentrate
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 3cm fresh ginger, peeled
CHICKEN
  • 500 - 600g chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces - use breast or thighs (depending on your personal preference) The sauce cooks separately to the chicken in this recipe so you can increase the quantity of chicken if you have a larger family.
  • Flour for coating chicken
Method
  1. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, coat in flour and set aside.
  2. Place ginger into the Tmx bowl and and chop speed 7, for 2-3 seconds.
  3. Add cornflour, sugar, water and lemon juice and cook at 100 degrees, speed 4-5 for 5 minutes.
  4. Add the stock and soy and cook for a further 10 minutes, at 100 degrees, speed 4-5.
  5. While the sauce is cooking fry the chicken in a small amount of butter or oil in a frying pan.
  6. Once the sauce and chicken are cooked serve the chicken on rice with the sauce poured over the top.
Notes
Serve with rice. I cook the rice prior to starting step one of the recipe and keep warm in Thermoserver.

 

Chicken Pesto and Rice

ChickenPesto copy
This is one of those recipes that you really have to taste to appreciate – because (lets face it) it’s hard to make a dish like this look glamorous in a photo!  Trust me though – it tastes lovely. I have been making this for years and it always gets eaten up, no complaints from anyone. And it is a good weeknight meal as it doesn’t take long to prepare.
I use store purchased sundried tomoto pesto for this, usually the Leggo brand. You don’t need the whole jar so use the leftover on pizza, bruschetta, to stir through pasta, add to casseroles or freeze for later.
You can make tomato pesto in the Thermomix, I have not tried yet though – but perhaps I should give it a go soon.
In pre-thermo days I made this in a heavy based pan (I have a wonderful large le creuset that is just perfect for dishes like this). To cook on the stove top fry off the rice and onion with the spices, then add the rest of the ingredients and cook (stirring) for 15 minutes until the rice has absorbed the liquid and the chicken is cooked through.

Chicken Pesto and Rice
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 5
Ingredients
  • 1 onion
  • ⅔ cup arborio rice
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 20g oil
  • 2 chicken stock cubes (or 1 large tablespoon of Thermo vegie stock paste)
  • 500g water
  • 2 chicken breasts - diced
  • 75g sundried tomato pesto
  • 100g frozen corn
  • 100g frozen peas
  • 250g button mushrooms quartered
Method
  1. Add onion to Tmx bowl and chop speed 5, 5 seconds
  2. Add the rice, spices and oil, cook 2 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1.
  3. Add all other ingredients and cook 100 degrees, 25 minutes, reverse speed 1.

 

Chicken & Mushroom Lasagne

ChickenMushroomLasagne2 copy
This recipe was originally from my mother-in-law. She was an amazing cook, and I was very fortunate to be given many of her favourite recipes over the years. I think of her when I cook this.
This was not a  Thermomix recipe originally,  I have adapted it.
You can substitute the wine for chicken stock but I suggest that you use wine if you can (open a nice bottle and drink the rest with the meal;)) The combination of the wine and the oregano really does make this very flavoursome. And don’t be worried that the meat sauce has a lot of liquid, this is normal and the liquid soaks into the lasagne sheets making them super soft and tasty.

Chicken & Mushroom Lasagne
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 large onion (or two small) Peeled and quartered
  • 15g olive oil
  • 500g mushrooms, sliced
  • 125g white wine (or chicken stock)
  • 2 Tbsp chopped oregano - fresh is best but dried will work too
  • 2 chicken breasts, cut into 4-5cm cubes
  • 375g lasagne sheets. Dried are fine, but fresh are great.
White Sauce
  • 500ml milk
  • 45g butter
  • 40g plain flour
  • 1 Tbsp seeded mustard
  • 100g cheese (cut into rough cubes)
Method
  1. Chop onion speed 5. 3 seconds
  2. Add oil to onion and saute 100 degrees, 2 minutes, speed 1
  3. Add chicken, wine and oregano to onion and cook Varoma temperature, 20 minutes, reverse speed soft.
  4. Add sliced mushrooms to the bowl and use spatula to combine by hand. Remove and set aside in the fridge.
  5. Don't clean the bowl.
  6. Place cheese into the bowl and grate, speed 8, 6 seconds.
  7. Add butter, milk, mustard and flour, cook 90 degrees, 7 minutes, speed 4.
  8. Turn the oven on to preheat at 180 degrees.
  9. Grease a large casserole or lasagne dish and alternate layers of lasagne sheets, chicken mixture and cheese sauce. Finish with a layer of cheese sauce - you can top with extra grated cheese if you like.
  10. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown on top.

 

Honey Soy Meatballs

HoneySoyMeatballsI was inspired to create this recipe when I was having one of those evenings when I was home after work for a brief window, then had to go out for kids sports training, and knew I would be back late. You know those evenings? We have them quite often here 😉 This fits the criteria of being able to be mostly prepared early and then just put in the oven when you walk in the door late.

And it tastes so good. A complete hit with the discerning taste testers in the house of Chaos. If preparing in advance, make the sauce and put in the fridge, then make meatballs, shape and place in the dish and pop in the fridge too. When you are ready to cook just put the balls in the oven, and add the sauce with ten minutes to go. You might just need to heat the sauce slightly in the microwave or back in the Thermomix, so it pours easily.

We have this with rice, and salad or vegetables. I like to use chicken mince for this, but you could use beef mince too.

Honey Soy Meatballs
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 5
Ingredients
Sauce
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 50g tomato paste
  • 90g honey
  • 3 Tbsp soy sauce
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
Meatballs
  • 500g mince (I like to use chicken mince for this, but you can use beef also)
  • 1 egg
  • 40g (1/2 cup) breadcrumbs
  • 1 small onion
  • 50g milk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Sesame seeds - optional
Method
  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
Sauce
  1. Peel garlic and place into Tmx bowl, chop speed speed 7, 2-3 seconds.
  2. Add all other sauce ingredients and cook Varoma temperature, speed 1-2, 5 minutes.
  3. Remove the sauce from the bowl and set aside. Don't clean the bowl.
Meatballs
  1. Add onion to Tmx bowl and chop speed 5, 5 seconds.
  2. Add all other ingredients and combine reverse speed 3-4, 20 seconds.
  3. Shape into walnut sized balls and place into a greased casserole dish.
  4. Cook meatballs for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven, pour the sauce over the meatballs (and sprinkle with sesame seeds - optional) then place back into the oven to cook for a further 10 minutes.
Notes
I like the texture of chicken mince in these meatballs, but it is a lot sloppier to work with when trying to shape balls. I sort of 'plop' the spoons of meat mix into the dish and shape roughly. Beef mince is a lot firmer and will roll better.

 

Steamed Pork Buns

SteamedPorkBuns The process of making these lovely dim sum treats does take a while, it is best to leave this recipe for a day when you are going to be home for a few hours and have time to come and go from the preparation. However; this is not a difficult recipe, most of the time is in the rising of the dough (three rises in total).
This recipe is a combination of the dough from the Budget Busters Thermomix Cookbook and a filling that I have developed myself (I found the filling in the Cookbook too runny for our tastes, and I also prefer a more BBQ flavour).
These are certainly worth having a go at, the finished result is delicious and well worth the wait. We eat these straight out of the steamer as an entree to a light evening meal, but they are quite filling and you could serve them as a meal in themselves with some stir-fried or steamed Chinese vegetables as a side dish. And don’t worry if your bun folding does not look fabulous – I have discovered that the final rise is very forgiving and even my less than perfectly folded attempts seem fine by the time I get them in the steaming tray.

(Pictured with the Steam Pork Buns is a Chinese Steamed Dumping – also delicious! You can find the recipe here.)

Steamed Pork Buns
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients
Dough
  • 2 tsp dried yeast
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 280g bakers flour
  • 170g warm water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp baking powder
Filling
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1 small chilli
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2cm ginger
  • 2 Tbsp oil
  • 400g pork fillets, chopped into chunks (approximately 5cm large)
  • 15g soy sauce (or tamari)
  • ½ tsp Five Spice
  • 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp BBQ sauce
Method
DOUGH
  1. Place all dough ingredients into the bowl and combine speed 5, 5 seconds.
  2. Close the lid and knead the dough on interval setting for 2 minutes.
  3. Turn onto a silicone mat and shape into a ball and let rise for 30 minutes.
  4. After the initial rise divide into 16 parts and roll each portion into a small ball and set aside to rise for the second time for a further 30 minutes.
FILLING
  1. Place spring onions, chilli, garlic & ginger into the bowl and chop speed 5, 5 seconds.
  2. Add oil and saute 100 degrees, 3 minutes, speed 1.
  3. Add the remaining ingredients and cook 100 degrees, 20 minutes, reverse speed soft.
  4. At the end of the cooking time shred the meat at reverse speed 4, 4 seconds.
  5. The meat mix should be a little moist (but not sloppy) and be fairly evenly shredded with no large chunks remaining.
  6. Set aside in the fridge while you wait for the dough to finish rising.
ASSEMBLING AND STEAMING
  1. Roll each ball of dough into a circle (after the second rise).
  2. Place a large spoonful of filling into the center of each circle. Try and judge the filling so that you have a generous amount but not so much that you can't easily fold the bun up.
  3. Fold the buns by bringing the edges of the circle up to meet in the middle, pinch at the top to seal.
  4. Place the finished buns on an individual square of baking paper on a tray and set in a warm spot for a final rise. Allow to rise until most of the folded pleats have vanished in the bun.
  5. Pour 700g water into the Tmx bowl and place the buns (on their squares of paper) into the Varoma tray and dish. You will need to cook them in two batches as they won't all fit at once.
  6. Set Varoma in place and steam Varoma temp, 18 minutes, speed 3.
  7. Serve straight away with additional soy and sweet chilli sauce, to dip.
Notes
The dough recipe in the Budget Busters Cookbook suggests placing the buns into a 40 degree oven for the final rise. I have tried this and found that it partly cooked the base of the buns and didn't give such a nice finished texture. However - this could be my oven which is not very accurate at measuring temperatures that low.

 

Mild Chicken Curry

MildChickenCurry copyThis recipe is a mish mash of a few that I have tried, from various sources. It is very mild but very flavoursome and my kids all enjoy it (my husband and son add sambal for extra heat). You can find my sambal recipe here.

Mild Chicken Curry
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 5
Ingredients
  • 500-600g chicken chopped into thin strips (we use thighs but you could use breast)
  • 1 tsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
  • 1 large red onion - chopped in half
  • 2cm fresh ginger
  • 1 clove garlic
  • ½ tsp chilli powder
  • 1 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • ½ tsp tumeric
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 3 cloves
  • A few fresh curry leaves
  • 125ml coconut milk
  • Bunch of fresh coriander
Method
  1. Add mustard seeds, and oil to the Tmx, heat varoma, 3 minutes, speed soft to release flavour (they should pop and crackle a bit)
  2. Add onion, ginger & garlic, and chop speed 6, 6 seconds.
  3. Sauté 100 degrees, 2 minutes, speed soft.
  4. Add all other ingredients except coconut milk, cook varoma, 15 minutes, reverse speed 1.
  5. Check that chicken is cooked through
  6. Add coconut milk and reduce heat to 80 degrees and cook for a further 2 minutes, reverse, speed 1.
  7. Serve with generous amount of chopped coriander on top.