Tag Archives: BBQ

Pork Burgers with fennel and apple slaw

I initially prepared this recipe to make skinless sausages. They were delicious, but before I got around to posting the recipe, I decided to make the pork mix into burgers instead. The succulent pork burger with fennel seeds and apple pairs perfectly with the fennel bulb and apple slaw. Very easy to make, cook and serve. This burger will certainly pass as a gourmet burger if you are entertaining with the barbecue!

Ingredients

For the burgers
500g pork mince
1 med granny smith apple
1 med onion
1 1/2 Tbs fennel seeds, lightly crushed with a mortar and pestle
A pinch of salt and pepper

For the slaw
1 cup of finely shredded fennel
1 cup of finely Julianne green apple
1 cup finely shredded cabbage (use red cabbage to add some colour)
1 tablespoon of lime juice (or lemon)
1 – 2 tablespoons of whole egg mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

To serve
Goat cheese (optional)
4 sourdough buns

Method

Make the slaw by mixing all the slaw ingredients in a bowl, toss well. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Grate apple and onion into a fine sieve over a large mixing bowl. Squeeze the juice out of the apple and onion and collect it in the bowl below. Put the juice into a small saucepan. Bring it to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until reduced to about one tablespoon of liquid.

Put the pork mince, grated apple, onion, fennel seeds, a little salt and pepper, and the reduced apple and onion juice into the large bowl. With a clean hand, mix the mince until everything is well blended.

Shape the mince into four patties.

Cook the pork burger patties on the grill, BBQ, or in a frypan until cooked through.

To serve

Cut the buns in half and place the pork burger patty on the bottom half. Top with cheese and the slaw.

Bon Appétit

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Sate Ikan (Fish Satays)

We are back in Indonesia for a month and one of the things we really love about Indonesia is the food! We are moored at Pulau Weh, actually we are moored off a smaller island call Pulau Rubiah. The snorkelling here is fantabulous, as is the food! We have discovered a local delicacy called sate gurita (sate octopus). Delicious and tender, it awoke memories of our time with our boys at Gili Air when we sailed there for Christmas 2014. I cooked sate ikan, using some marlin we caught in Australia. It was part of a feast that I cooked up on the boat for a friend who wanted to film it.

Sate Ikan
Sate Ikan

While anchored off Gili Air (Lombok Indonesia)  with our son’s Jedd, Alex, Kye and two of their girlfriends, we had a visit from Jackie and her son Alexander. Jacqui was interested in filming a short video of us cooking up a storm on Thorfinn.  I hadn’t had time to think about what to cook and therefore had not shopped in Bali before we left. So, before I could decide what to cook, I had to look at what I had on the boat and then I had to go ashore to see what I could purchase on the small island of Gili Air. In the tiny village I found a shop selling some fresh produce and a very limited array of other supermarket goods. I choose some things I love to cook with – limes, ginger, garlic, chillies, galangal – while I gradually formulate an idea of what I would cook.

Shopping for chillies, lime, galangal etc.

Back on the Thorfinn I fine-tuned my proposed menu. When in Indonesia, do as the Indo’s… I decided to cook some Indonesian favourites. Ikan Bakar (grilled fish), sambal and sate ikan (fish satays).

So, while the boys enjoyed the swimming and snorkelling, and the girls chilled out on the sun-beds with a cocktail, Dwayne and I cooked and Jacqui filmed. It was a lot of fun and when it was ready the kids joined us on Thorfinn for a feast. As we sat around Jedd’s surfboard, which had become our makeshift table for the day, we enjoyed the sunset and the company of family and friends… and I think we all privately reflected on how lucky we were.

For the sates …

I grated one onion into a sieve over a bowl. Using a spoon I then pressed down on the grated onion to squeeze out the onion juice. I set aside the the grated onion for using in the peanut sauce.

To the onion juice I added…

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 finely chopped garlic clove
  • 1 tablespoon of grated ginger
  • 2 teaspoon of palm sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 kg of marlin fillet

I mixed it well, covered and refrigerated it until I was ready to skewer the marlin to grill.

For the peanut dipping sauce…

In a small saucepan, I sautéed the reserved grated onion for two minutes with –

  • 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
  • 2 crushed garlic cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon of sambal olek

I then added…

  • 3 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon of ground turmeric
  • 1 Tablespoon of palm sugar

I stirred continually as I cooked for a minute and then added…

  • 1 1/4 cups coconut cream

I gently heated it until almost boiling, then removed the saucepan from the heat and stirred in…

  • 3 Tablespoons of peanut butter

Once the peanut butter was well blended I returned to a gentle heat and cooked for about 5 minutes while stirring and checking it often. (Add water if needed).

To serve

I skewered cubes of marlin onto small skewers and Dwayne cooked them on the BBQ. I then served them with the peanut sauce.

Sate Ikan served with peanut sauce on Jedd's surfboard!
Sate Ikan served with peanut sauce on Jedd’s surfboard!

I loved our Christmas on Gili Air!… and have welcomed the opportunity to reminisce about it. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Christmas on Gili Air

Want to read about catching the marlin? Click on the photo below!

The Marlin

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Sate Ikan - Indonesian Fish Satays

Pantry Pancakes

While cruising though Asia, there have been mornings when Dwayne has asked “what’s for breakfast?” and, like the Mother Hubbard rhyme, ‘the cupboards were bare’. Well… not quite bare. I almost always have flour, powdered egg and powdered milk in the pantry. So I get to work preparing an easy, filling breakfast that Dwayne enjoys with maple syrup. I whip up some pancakes.

Pantry Pancakes
Pancakes and maple syrup… cooked on the BBQ

Simple really, this is what I do …

Gather my ingredients…
1 cup of plain flour
1 tablespoon powdered egg
2 tablespoon powdered milk
and water to add as needed.

Then I…
…sift the first three ingredient into a bowl and gradually add water, stirring continuously until I get my desired thickness. If I’m lucky I then get Dwayne to cook them on the BBQ.

Pancakes

Note: The powdered eggs I bought in Coles in Australia. ‘Farm Pride’ Powdered whole eggs.

Dwayne’s Barbecued Crayfish

Dwayne caught and cooked the crayfish.

SPICY CRAYFISH RISOTTO made with a crayfish caught on the Great Barrier Reef

It was while sailing the Howard Group of Islands in the Great Barrier Reef that we caught our first crayfish. We arrived there after lunch, shortly after catamaran ‘Miss Polly’, and jumped straight into the beautifully inviting water for a snorkel. Dwayne bagged an approximately three kilo crayfish. Yay!

Gerry and Polly from ‘Miss Polly’ joined us on the beach, for a cook up, where we all enjoyed crayfish until we were full and still had some left over!

Polly and Gerry

To cook it,  Dwayne simply cut the tail down the centre and washed it in the sea.

Dwayne’s Barbequed Crayfish, Queensland, Australia

He then spread it with garlic and butter…

barbecue crayfish over a fire on the beach

…and cooked it on the BBQ over a small fire.

Char grill crayfish tails over a fire on the beach

We enjoyed a few drinks and a bonfire while we waited for it to cook.

Great Barrier Reef Island

Fire on the beach cooking crayfish.
We cooked the head/legs of the crayfish on hot coals.