The Canadian Press
In her most recent cookbook, “The New Easy,” Donna Hay offers ways to make life easier for home cooks.
She thinks there are two separate agendas weeknights and weekends.
“The weeknights, there’s a lot of time constraints as well as availability of ingredients ‚Äî hopefully you already have some in your fridge or you already bought the chicken or bought the steak or you have broccoli or those kind of staple ingredients,” says the Australian cookbook author and magazine editor.
“That’s how I looked at weeknights: ‘Let’s try and get people to cook Tuesday night when they’re really tired and they don’t feel like it, like what are we going to do there to convince them. That had a lot of constraints on it, time, ingredients, motivating factors.”
For weekends Hay offers recipes for items like brisket and pulled pork, letting the oven do the work.
“That’s weekend type for me. I can do that kind of mid-morning or after lunch and it’s ready for dinner, but I wouldn’t attempt that on a weekday because I’d never get it done.”
She also offers chapters on salads and sides, baking and desserts.
Here are some recipes from “The New Easy” to try.
PORCHETTA
Hay calls this main-course dish “absolutely divine.”
“I cooked it so many times to get it right that I don’t know if my friends got sick of it of not,” she says.
It is in the weekend chapter of “The New Easy” because time is needed to allow the flavours of the herb mixture to permeate the meat. Hay says it’s better if it sits overnight.
“It’s the combination that you put in here as well as the way you cook it that makes it really great. I love when you come across a recipe and that super combination is just to die for.”
30 ml (2 tbsp) fennel seeds
30 ml (2 tbsp) rosemary leaves
30 ml (2 tbsp) marjoram or oregano leaves
15 ml (1 tbsp) finely grated lemon rind
30 ml (2 tbsp) superfine sugar
15 ml (1 tbsp) sea salt flakes
5 ml (1 tsp) cracked black pepper
3 kg (6 1/2 lb) boneless pork loin, belly piece attached, skin on
In a small food processor, place fennel seeds and process until finely ground. Add rosemary, marjoram, lemon, sugar, salt and pepper; process until finely chopped.
Using a meat tenderizer, pound pork skin for 3 minutes, then score skin at 1-cm (1/2-inch) intervals. Turn pork and spread herb mixture on meaty side. Refrigerate, skin side up, on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 250 C (475 F). Tuck pork under itself and tie loosely with kitchen string. Roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until skin has crackled. Reduce heat to 120 C (250 F) and roast for a further 2 hours or until pork is just cooked through. Thinly slice pork to serve.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND CHORIZO SALAD
This colourful salad is as beautiful to look at as it is to eat. The recipe has been included in the weeknights section of the cookbook, which includes recipes Hay finds solve the dilemma of what to cook that’s simple and satisfying.
Chorizo are firm, spicy, coarse-textured Spanish pork sausage seasoned with pepper, paprika and chilies. They are available fresh and dried from butchers and delicatessens.
Unlike Hungarian paprika, the Spanish style known as pimenton is deep and smoky in flavour. It is made from smoked, ground pimento peppers and comes in varying intensities from sweet and mild (dulce), bittersweet medium hot (agridulce) and hot (picante).
750 g (1 1/2 lb) butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
6 eschalots (French shallots), peeled and quartered
15 ml (1 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil
6 dried chorizo, cut into large pieces
250 g (1/2 lb) truss cherry tomatoes
30 ml (2 tbsp) marjoram or oregano leaves
80 g (3 oz) baby spinach leaves
Paprika Dressing
10 ml (2 tsp) smoked paprika
30 ml (2 tbsp) maple syrup
30 ml (2 tbsp) red wine vinegar
Preheat oven to 200 C (400 F).
Paprika Dressing: Whisk together paprika, maple syrup and vinegar. Set aside.
Place squash and eschalots on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and drizzle with oil. Roast for 25 minutes. Add chorizo, tomatoes and marjoram to tray and roast for a further 15 minutes or until squash is soft and chorizo golden and crisp.
Place spinach, tomato, squash, chorizo, eschalots and pan juices in a bowl with the dressing and toss gently to combine. Divide among plates to serve.
Makes 4 servings.
CHOCOLATE CHUNK SHARE COOKIE
This is a fun dessert to serve when you’re having people over for dinner. “It’s one huge cookie that you share,” says Hay.
Dulce de leche is a thick South American milk caramel made by slowly heating and thickening sweetened milk. You can buy it in jars and use it to fill cookies, pies, tarts and more. You can also make your own cheat version by baking sweetened condensed milk.
85 g (3 1/2 oz) unsalted butter, softened
175 ml (3/4 cup) brown sugar
50 ml (1/4 cup) superfine sugar
1 egg
10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla extract
250 ml (1 cup) all-purpose flour
0.5 ml (1/8 tsp) baking soda
50 ml (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
50 g (2 oz) milk chocolate, chopped
50 g (2 oz) white chocolate, chopped
Vanilla ice cream and store-bought caramel sauce or dulce de leche, to serve
Preheat oven to 160 C (325 F).
In a food processor, place butter, both sugars, egg, vanilla, flour, baking soda and cocoa and process until a dough forms. Press dough out to a 25-cm (10-inch) round on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper, scatter with chocolate and lightly press pieces into dough.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Let cool slightly on the tray.
Serve warm with ice cream and caramel sauce.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Source: “The New Easy” by Donna Hay (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., 2014).
