Cubano Sandwich and Hash Browns (by G)

Biggs was due not to be dining at home tonight so I decided to go with something simple that could use up some of the left-over pork from the other night. A cubano sandwich is a grilled sandwich with pork (check), ham, Swiss cheese, mustard and bread-and-butter pickles - so basically I had to buy a whole bunch of other things just to use up some cooked pork.

I did fortunately have some hash browns in the freezer ready to be oven baked to perfection as a side to the sandwiches. Probably not traditional.

I thought the sandwiches are not too bad, the pickles overpowered the other components a little. In the end Biggs did turn up at dinner time so I was able to feed her cubunos rather than the delivered fast food chain hamburgers that she had planned.

Fish Curry (by Biggs)

I keep a list of meals I'm keen to cook and tonight as I headed to the supermarket I realised I hadn't actually decided what we were going to have for dinner so checked what the easiest thing to make on my list was - fish curry.

A base of onion, ginger, garlic, onion and red Thai curry paste. Coconut milk was added before cooking off broccoli and snapper in the mix. I did my best to balance it all with brown sugar and lime before adding some fresh coriander.

And eggs - the recipe called for eggs. Who am I to argue?

Smokey Chopped Pork (by G)

Pulled pork is about the best thing in the world and with my recently purchased smoke-in-a-bottle I figured I should be able to execute a decent pulled pork recipe (and perhaps rule the world).

I put a huge piece of pork rubbed with a garlic, ginger and cider vinegar mix in the oven at a low temperature then drank a few beers and took a 5 hour nap figuring the pork could take care of itself. When I checked on it again 5 hours later the meat was not as tender as I had hoped - so I cranked up the heat for the next 2 hours.  After 7 hours the meat had become quite tender but not pull-apartable so I chopped it in to little pieces instead. To give the pork some flavour I then mixed in a whole lot of slow sautéed onions and my secret BBQ sauce made from hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, liquid smoke and chilli sauce (well, I guess it's not a secret any more - but I bet you're not going to go to all the effort of mixing those 4 things together to make the world's best BBQ sauce).

Along with the pork I served a mixed chilli and cabbage pickle to cut through the fattiness of the meat. Also some slices of white bread (as is traditional in these parts).

"Carne Asada Tacos" (by Biggs)

There is a well known brand of "Mexican food products" that keep advertising these "Carne Asada Tacos" on TV and I got suckered. I got suckered bad. So, I bought the fixings. Actually, I didn't buy the fixings....I forgot avocado but replaced it with cheese.

So, sirloin steak (flavoured with a mysterious packet of flavouring from a box), tomatoes (flavoured with a mysterious packet of flavouring from a box that was meant for the forgotten avocado), onion, cheese, coriander and lime.

These were not terrible.

Chicken Salad in Pita Bread (by G)

BBQ chicken, capsicum, cucumber, tomato, coriander, olives, capers and tartare sauce stuffed into pita pockets. What could be easier or tastier? Well, there are plenty of things tastier, but it was pretty easy.

Pie (by Biggs)

I haven't put much effort into cooking lately so decided I should step up to the plate today. I thought a slow cooked something something would be good. I love a good pie so decided to make one. I slow cooked some beef in beer with a few veges all afternoon and slowly added herbs, spices and salts until I thought I'd reached perfection (perhaps a bit too salty for some).

The crust was cheese-laden flour mixed with butter and water until manageable. For sides I chose a buttery mash and buttery brocollini. A buttery dinner all round.

For a simple home-made dinner I sure did trash the kitchen....but that's a tomorrow problem now.

Pork, Pearl Barley and Vegetables (by G)

I've become a bit of a fan of the Berkshire pork since first trying it a couple of days ago. The plan this time was to try some of his ribs. In the interests of nutrition I also decided to include some vegetables.

First I chopped the ribs into little pieces and fried until crispy. Then I gave some vegetables a little fry - from memory there was zucchini and capsicum and cabbage and cauliflower.

Pearl barley is a new thing for me, I've never cooked with it but it turned out to be pretty awesome like rice but with more texture and... well, I don't know what else. It's bigger.

Anyway, I mixed the pork, vegetables and barley together and topped it with a hoisin, mushroom sauce and bottled smoke mix. Pretty tasty!