Christmas meats

These meat dishes would be a welcome addition to any Christmas feast. You can choose to prepare one, two or all three.

Coconut-lemongrass Baked Pork

Baked meat dishes like this one eliminate the need to make a gravy or sauce to accompany the meat. With this recipe, the sauce can be served as is with the curds from the coconut milk or it can be strained or pureed in a blender to emulsify, becoming and a smooth, creamy, highly flavourful sauce.

For the flavour of this dish to come through, an overnight marinade is recommended. Canned coconut milk can be used; if you prefer to use fresh coconut milk, make a thick milk by blending 1 cup of grated coconut with 1 cup lukewarm or warm water and pass the mixture through a sieve. Be sure to squeeze out the extra milk.

The part of the lemongrass used for the marinade is the stalk, not the long shaft-like green leaves. I’ll tell you what to do and how many stalks of lemongrass you will need.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup chopped onions

• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

• 1 tablespoon chopped thyme

• Chopped hot pepper to taste

• ½ cup chopped lemongrass stalks (see notes below)

• Salt to taste

• 2 cups canned coconut milk or thick homemade coconut milk

• 5 pounds pork shoulder cut into 3-inch thick chops, rinsed and pat dry

DIRECTIONS

1. Blend/grind together the following ingredients to make a paste – onions, garlic, thyme, pepper and lemongrass stalk using a little of the coconut milk to help grind/blend the paste. Season with salt to taste – do not be shy, this is the only salt seasoning for the dish.

2. Add the coconut milk to the seasoning and pulse a few times to mix. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
3. Add the pork to a bowl or dish with a cover or a 2-gallon zip bag; pour all of the marinade over the meat and toss to coat. Cover or seal tightly and refrigerate overnight.

4. Bring the meat up to room temperature before cooking.

5. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

6. Add the meat to a deep baking dish as well as the marinade. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 2 hours. At the end of that time, remove the foil, turn the heat to 400 and cook for 1 hour or until a fork inserts easily into the meat and the top is lightly brown. To get the meat darker, place under a broiler for a few minutes.

7. Let the meat rest for 20 – 30 minutes before serving.

Note for lemongrass

• Chop off the leaves of the stalk and reserve for tea or other use. Remove the outer fibrous layers at the bottom of each stalk until you get to the tender part (you will need to remove about 4 – 6 layers). Repeat and roughly chop the lemongrass to the specified amount stated in the recipe.

Shrimp in Garlic Butter Sauce

This is one of my favourite ways to cook shrimp and it is always a crowd pleaser.

INGREDIENTS

• 8 oz/1 cup/2 sticks butter (salted or unsalted)

• 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme

• 2 teaspoons minced hot pepper or red  pepper flakes, to taste

• 24 cloves roasted garlic, mashed to a  smooth paste (see notes below)

• ½ cup stock/white wine or water

• 2 pounds large shrimp, shelled,  deveined

• ¼ cup minced parsley

• Salt to taste

• Fresh lime/lemon juice, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut butter into large chunks and add to a cold pan along with the thyme and pepper and place over medium to low heat to melt. When the butter melts completely, add the garlic paste and whisk until the sauce thickens. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes.

2. Add water, stock or wine; whisk and simmer for 2 – 3 minutes.

3. Add shrimp and parsley, toss to mix with the sauce and cook for 2 – 3 minutes or until shrimp turns pink and cooked. Season with salt to taste and add a couple or few squirts of lime/lemon juice; toss to mix and serve immediately.

NOTES

• The garlic can be roasted in the oven or on the stovetop. The stovetop is quicker for this recipe. Add whole unpeeled cloves of garlic along with a couple tablespoons of oil to a cold pan. Place the pan over medium heat and just as it begins to sizzle, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until a knife inserts easily into the garlic. Let cool until you can handle and remove the flesh from the skins. This can be made ahead and refrigerated.
• If you use salted butter, taste the sauce before adding more salt as some butter contain more salt than others.

• A tip I learnt from Chinese recipes – toss the shrimp with a little baking soda and salt for several minutes before cooking. The baking soda does something to the shrimp making it cook up plumper and tenderer. For this recipe I left the tails on for easy pick-up but you can remove them.

Gingery Baked Beef

This is another recipe that makes its own sauce. Cooking this way for the holidays is one of the easiest ways to cook to feed a crowd. All you have to do is season the meat the day before, refrigerate, bring up to room temp the following day and then cook it low and slow. There is no need to monitor anything, just set a timer. The aroma though, that will torment you.

For this type of dish, you want meat that has in some fat in it as well as marrow. This will provide added flavour and not let the meat dry out. It will also improve the texture of the meat when cooked. Choose the cuts of beef that are best for stewing; the shanks with the marrow is a definite must. Other cuts to consider for this dish are the rib and the meat sold for stews.

Beef shrinks when cooked; therefore, this should be taken into consideration, especially when buying to cook for a crowd. In other words, buy a couple more pounds than you need. Ask the butcher to cut the meat into thick pieces.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 whole scallions/green onions (white and purple parts)
• ½ cup chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped celery

• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

• Chopped hot pepper to taste

• ¼ cup grated ginger

• 1 ½ tablespoons dark soy sauce

• 1 ½ tablespoons sweet soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• Salt to taste

• 5 pounds bone-in beef

DIRECTIONS

1. Blend together the following ingredients – scallions, onions, celery and pepper with a little water. Add the grated ginger, both soy sauces and Worcestershire sauce, blend to mix. Taste and add salt to taste.

2. Pour the mixture over the meat and toss well to coat and mix. Transfer the seasoned meat to a bowl or container with an airtight cover or to a large zip bag, seal and refrigerate overnight.

3. When you are ready to cook, bring the meat up to room temperature.

4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

5. Add the meat and the marinade to a deep baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and cook for 2 hours.

6. After the 2 hours, raise the heat to 375, remove the foil and cook uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the meat is tender.

7. Remove from oven, cover lightly and let rest for 20 minutes before serving.

NOTE

Substitute the soy sauces with a good all-purpose Chinese sauce.