Chinese Spiced Pork Loin with Cucumber and Coriander Salad

A few months ago it was all over the news that Pig Farmers in the UK were in crisis the increase in grain prices meant that were losing £20 on every animal they produced , A Save our Bacon campaign was launched and I dutifully bought a loin of pork at the local slow food market

I then left in in the freezer pork is just one of those foods I have just never got into cooking , it often seems to go dry and mealy. However I have made a vow to work my way through my freezer to at least make room for some ice cube trays so for Saturday night I was determined to use up the large pork loin.

On Thursday night I made up a chinese marinade for the pork which left overnight permeated the meat which once roasted gave a tasty sticky coating

I really like cold noodles in salad so while the pork was roasting it was no effort to make a light noodle cucumber and coriander salad takind advantage of the oven being on to toast some seeds and buts to add a little crunch .

I think this would work mixing cold pork or chicken into the salad too p
it certainly had plenty of zing.


Chinese Spiced Pork Loin

750g boneless pork loin

Marinade
4 cloves of garlic , finely chopped
1 tbsp of dried chilli flakes
1 tbsp of brown sugar
5 tbsp of sake / rice wine
1 star anise , crushed
1 tbsp of coriander seeds crushed

1. Mix together the marinade ingredients
2. Rub over the pork loin
3. Seal in a plastic bag or box
4. Leave refridgerated for at least 24 hours
5. Preheat the oven to 200deg C
6. Place the pork fat side down in a roasting tray , cook for 30 minutes
7. Turn right side up and roast for a further 30 minutes
8. Leave to rest for 10 minutes
9. Slice to serve

Cucumber and Coriander Salad

1 handful of coriander roughly chopped
Half a large cucumber sliced into ribbons
1/2 fresh red chilli , finely chopped
1 tbsp of white sugar
3 tbsp of rice vinegar
100g of dried rice noodles
2tbsp of peanuts , crushed
2 tbsp of sesame seeds

1. Place the seeds and nuts on a baking tray , grill or roast at 190degC for 5 minutes
2. Simmer the rice noodles in boiling water for 3 minutes.
3. Rinse the noodles under cold water, drain.
4. In a large bowl mix together the rice vinegar , chilli and sugar
5. Add the noodles , cucumber and coriander.
6. Sprinkle over the peanuts and sesame seeds

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