Orange Cranberry Pork Loin Roast

This pork loin roast recipe is the perfect holiday main dish! This Orange Cranberry Pork Loin Roast is juicy, delicious, and super festive. 

The orange cranberry sauce is what makes this pork loin roast recipe so amazing!. It adds such bright and cheery flavour, which is why it's so perfect for holidays. I love this roasted pork recipe for Christmas.

Ingredients:

• 1kg to 1.5kg boneless pork loin roast
• olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• ¾ cup orange juice, divided
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• 225g sweet orange marmalade
• 200g whole cranberry sauce

Method:

Preheat oven to 190ºC/170ºC for fan assist oven.

Place the pork in a shallow roasting pan or grill pan and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Rub all sides with olive oil.

Season with salt & pepper on all sides.

Sear each side over high heat for 2 minutes per side, 10 minutes in total.

While searing, make your sauce. In a medium bowl, stir together the ½ cup orange juice, vinegar, marmalade and cranberry sauce.

Place seared pork in a large roasting pan and pour sauce over the pork.

Cook for 60-80 minutes or until internal temperature reaching 140-145 in the most central part of the pork. Baste every 20 minutes in orange juice mixture.

While pork is resting, add remaining ¼ cup orange juice to the juices left over from cooking. If your roasting pan is stove-top safe you can just keep all the sauces in the pan or if not, add to a saucepan.

Bring sauce to a boil and then reduce to a simmer while pork rests.

Slice and serve pork, drizzled with more sauce and garnished with orange slices and fresh cranberries.

Enjoy!!!

"Bucket" Chocolate Cake with Golf Balls Truffles

This cake is perfect for an avid golfer!!! Rich chocolate cake cut & design into a bucket and top with delicious white chocolate truffle that looks JUST like a golf balls!! 

You can make hollow golf balls, or solid white chocolate  golf balls, but since it's a birthday cake why not make it into a boozy dessert, we are going to fill these with white chocolate-rum ganache, spiked with orange zest and cinnamon. They are amazingly complex and flavourful, and the citrus/cinnamon combination compliments the spicy rum and sweet white chocolate perfectly.

Bake any style of chocolate cake that you like a covered it with grey/silver fondant to loo like a bucket. Below are the recipe for the golf ball truffles.

Ingredients:

• 450g white candy coating
• 350g white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate
• 6 tbsp double cream
• 55g unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ cup rum, if not can substitute additional ¼ cup cream and 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Method:

Make sure the golf ball candy molds are clean and completely dry.

Place the white chocolate candy coating in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30 seconds increments, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating. Stir until the coating is melted and smooth.  

Use a spoon or candy scoop to fill each cavity in the mold with white coating, coming up to the top. Let the mold sit for 3-4 minutes, until the coating just starts get a little thicker.

Place a piece of baking paper on your work surface, and turn the mold upside-down, letting the excess coating drip out onto the baking paper. You can re-use this extra coating for another project. Once only a thin layer of white coating remains, set the mold down on the counter and drag a metal spatula or knife across the top to remove any excess coating and give the golf balls smooth edges. Refrigerate the mold while you prepare the filling.

Combine the chopped white chocolate and cream in a microwave- safe bowl, and microwave together in 30 second increments until mostly melted. Whisk until smooth-at first it might seem too thick, but keep whisking  and it will loosen up until it's the texture of a thick liquid. Add the room temperature butter, rum, orange zest, cinnamon and salt and whisk everything together until smooth.

Press a layer of cling fling on top of the ganache and refrigerate for about an hour, until it has thickened slightly and is the texture of peanut butter. Fit a pipping bag with a large round tip or coupler, and scrape the ganache into the pipping bag. Pipe the ganache into each chilled golf ball cavity, until it comes almost to the top of the mold. Leave a small margin at the top. Refrigerate the molds again for about 45 minutes to make the filling firmer. Turn the mold upside down and flex it gently to remove the golf balls halves.

Re-melt some white coating and place it in a paper cone or plastic bag with a hole snipped in the corner. Pipe a circle of coating around the edge of one of the golf ball halves, and press a second half on top. Run your finger around the edge to remove any excess coating. Repeat until you have stuck all of the golf ball halves together.

Once all the golf ball completed, arrange it on top of the ready iced chocolate cake and serve.

Granola Bars

A simple, soft and chewy granola bars recipe that is delicious and can be adapted base on your favourite dried fruits, nuts or chocolate. The possibilities are endless-all you need to know is the base. Oats, butter, honey and brown sugar. After that, add what you like.

Ingredients:

• 230g rolled oats
• 80g whole almonds, coarsely chopped
• 113g honey
• 56g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 50g packed light brown sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt
• 60g dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

Method:

Heat oven to 175ºC. Line bottom and sides of a 8 inch or 9 inch square pan with aluminium foil. Then lightly oil or spray with cooking spray.

Add oats and almonds to a small baking sheet, then bake for 5 minutes, stir and bake another 3-5 minutes until lightly toasted. Transfer to a large bowl.

Combine butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla extract and then salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until butter melts and the sugar completely dissolves.

Pour butter mixture into a bowl with toasted oats and almonds. Mix well. Let cool about 5 minutes then add cranberries. Stir to combine.

Transfer oat mixture to lined pan then use a rubber spatula or damp finger tips to firmly press the mixture into the pan. (Press hard here, this way the bars will stay together once cooled and cut-press for about one minute to be extra safe).

Cover then refrigerate at least 2 hours. Remove block of granola mixture from pan then peel away aluminium foil. Cut into 12 pieces.

Store bars in an airtight container for up to one week. For the softest bars, keep at room temperature. For slightly harder bars, store in the fridge.

Indian Slow Cooker Lamb Masala

Lamb Masala, also called mutton masala, is a classic Indian meat dish with a distinct flavour and aroma. The process is simple, easy and effortless with exotic Indian spices that make this dish a true success. Whether you eat it with Indian chapati, naan or plain white rice this dish is to die for

Ingredients:

• 1kg lamb
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp mince garlic
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 250ml yoghurt
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp pepper powder
• 2 tsp salt
• ½ cup coriander leaves
• 250ml water or stock for gravy

Spice mix:

• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp fennel seed powder
• ½ tsp garam masala

Method:

Clean the lamb removing any silver skin and excess fat. Cut into bite-size cubes and pat dry to remove excess moisture. Season with salt and pepper, set aside.

Measure all ingredients now so you won't burn the spices when cooking. Cut onions fairly thin so they cook faster and blend in the sauce. Grate the ginger. Mince the garlic.

Saute:

Add oil to a pan over a medium heat. Saute onions with bay leaves and cinnamon stick for 5-7 minutes until cooked and caramelised but not burned. Then add the lamb pieces-sear the meat for 3-4 minutes.

Next add the spices one at a time along with ¼ cup water. Stir for 3-4 minutes on a medium-low heat, until the spices are cooked with a beautiful aroma in the air. Add the tomato paste and mix well for a minute or so.

Add the yoghurt, mix well for a minute or so. Add salt and pepper to taste. Lastly, add the lemon juice and water.

Cooking in a slow cooler:

Alternatively, transfer to a slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours until the meat is fork tender. Or cook on high for 4 hours until fork tender.

Adjust gravy by adding a bit more water if necessary-then bring it to a boil again.

Garnish & Serve:

When done sprinkle chopped fresh coriander and give it one good stir. Sprinkle more chopped coriander for garnish. Serve with any Indian bread or rice. Enjoy!!!

3 Easy Indian Condiments

Three quick and easy Indian condiments to make your curry special: Cucumber Raita, Onion and Tomato Salad, Banana Sambal.

For Cucumber Raita:

• ½ cucumbr-about 12cm
• 100ml natural yoghurt
• 5-10g fresh mint or coriander

Method:

Wash the cucumber and cut into small dice-about ½cm on each side. Finely chop the herbs to give a good tablespoonful. Mix the herbs with the yoghurt. Mix in the cucumber.

For Onion and Tomato Salad:

• 2 tomatoes (about 50g)
• 1 small white onions (about 50g)
• 10g fresh coriander

Method:

Chop the tomatoes-about ½ cm on each side. Finely chop the onion-about half the sixe of the tomato. Mix the onion and tomato. Finely chop the coriander leaves and scatter over.

For Banana Sambal:

• 1 large banana
• 1 tsp lemon or lime juice
• 2 tsp desiccated coconut

Method:

Peel the banana and slice fairly thinly. Transfer to a small bowl. Sprinkle banana slices with lemon juice and coconut flakes. gently shake the bowl to cover the banana slices with coconut flakes.

Vegan Brownie

The BEST Vegan Brownies i have ever had!! They are fudgy , full of chocolate and completely dairy free, egg-free and vegan. Made without any weird ingredient, you'd never believe Vegan Brownies could taste this good !!

Ingredients:

• 140g plain flour
• 20g cocoa powder
• 200g caster sugar
• 80ml vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g dairy free (vegan) dark chocolate, melted
• 240ml almond milk
• 75g dairy free (vegan) chocolate chips, optional

Method:

Preheat oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan oven. Line an 8inch square baking tin with baking paper.

In a large mixing bowl, add flour, cocoa powder and sugar and gently whisk to mix.

Add oil, vanilla, melted chocolate and almond milk. Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth and combined. Add chocolate  chips and mix gently.

Transfer brownie batter to prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until skewer inserted comes out clean. Try not to over bake or brownies will turn cakey.