Pork Bok Choi Salad, Rice Pudding and Appreciative Toddlers

I rock a few vintage Australian Women's Weekly recipes.  Mostly via my best friend Amy, whose mum is a diehard fan of the 70s culinary classics cannon - right down to mayonnaise made with condensed milk (says Amy).  No judgement from me - most of the food is pretty awesome.  Such as this 'Asian Style' [sic] roast pork sliced into a bok choi salad.  The salad dressing comes straight off the back of the Chang's Fried Noodles packet.  Don't you love it?!

So grab yourself a packet of Chang's Fried Noodles - you can use the leftovers to make Chocolate Spiders to complete the retro fun - and whip up a batch of the dressing.  Recipe is on the back - from memory it contains olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, white vinegar.  Actually, make that a triple batch, since it keeps brilliantly in the fridge (leave at room temp for a few hours so that the oils re-liquify).  Definitely include the sesame oil.  Here is what it looks like out of the fridge, with a solid layer of oils on top:

Wash and slice up a few bunches of bok choi (get the younger - sometimes called baby - stuff, which is crispier and greener).  Toss through a good amount of the dressing, and some of the Chang's noodles at the last minute.  You could trick it up a little with some sliced spring onions and some toasted pine nuts - I often do, and it's awesome, but I didn't today.

Then add thinly sliced pieces of the roast pork - recipe below - and drizzle over some of the reduced pork marinade.  I'd allow, per person, a couple of bunches of bok choi, and 1/3 to 1/2 a pork fillet per person for a reasonable dinner.

To make the pork:

Combine 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons red wine, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon red food colouring, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and a clove of crushed garlic in a bowl.  Add a pork fillet, and marinate at least a few hours, preferably overnight (this also freezes brilliantly in its marinade, in a snap lock bag).

Roast in a baking dish (on foil - the marinade is a pain to scrub off) at 180 degrees for around 25 minutes, or until medium (60 - 63 degrees at thickest part for you Thermapen users playing along at home).  Rest, then add the juices to the marinade, and boil in a small saucepan for a few minutes to kill any raw meat bacteria.  It should thicken up nicely to use as a pour-on glaze.

Because all the elements can be prepared in advance, it's a good dish to take on a picnic or to a 'bring a plate' affair.

Cool weather.  Gotta be rice pudding, doesn't it?  For lunch, for dessert, cold for breakfast, standing in front of the fridge eating it straight from the dish with a spoon...  Erm, forget about the last part.

Tabitha loves it, I love it, you love it.  Of course you do.

Grease a 2 litre shallow baking dish.  Add 3/4 cup rinsed and drained short-grain rice, 3 cups milk, 3/4 cup cream (or milk), 1/4 - 1/3 cup caster sugar (preferably vanilla infused caster sugar), 3 tablespoons sultanas and 1.5 teaspoons vanilla.  Mix lightly with a fork.  Dot the top with 3 teaspoons of butter in small pieces, and a good grating of fresh nutmeg.

Bake at 160 degrees for around 2 hours, or until rice is tender.  Serve warm or cold with cream, ice cream and / or a dollop of jam or stewed fruit.

Homemade cherry jam.  So good.

Meanwhile, Tabitha is devouring the ginger cookies from the other day.  

She says that they smell 'so nice mummy!'

Tabitha also says, 'Thank you for being clever and making me some delicious rice pudding mumma!'

Nawwwww.