Saeng wa of grilled pork (adapted from Greatest Ever Thai Cookbook by Judy Bastyra & Becky Johnson)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. tamari
1 tbsp. local honey
14 oz. organic pork tenderloin (or de-boned pork chops)
6 shallots, julienned
1 lemongrass stalk, julienned
5 kaffir lime leaves, julienned
2 inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled & grated
2 thai red chillis chopped (or 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes to taste)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
For the dressing:
2 tbsp. organic brown sugar
2 tbsp. fish sauce (Squid brand)
juice from 2 limes
4 tsp. thick tamarind juice (mix tamarind paste with warm water)
Directions:
Preheat the grill to medium. Mix tamari sauce with honey & stir until honey dissolves. Cut the pork into long thick strips & place in grill pan. Brush pork with tamari/honey mixture & grill for 10-15 minutes until cooked through but tender. Turn pork strips & thoroughly coat with tamari/honey mixture. Transfer the cooked pork strips to a cutting board & slice across the grain, then shred it with a fork. Place it in a large mixing bowl & add the shallots, lemon grass, lime leaves, ginger, chillis, & cilantro. To make the dressing, place the sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, & tamarind juice in bowl. Whisk together until the sugar has completely dissolved. Pour the dressing over the pork dish & toss well.
This week on the farm we’ll have planted onions, scallions, leeks, chard, peas, radishes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, chinese cabbage, broccoli, and artichokes. Using Biodynamic techniques we follow a planting calendar for optimum growth. The planting calendar is not only beneficial for the crops but it’s a great organizational tool for us! The potato order is coming soon so we’re on mole patrol for the rest of spring.
Planting tip: saved onion seeds might not be viable for large bulbs. Instead, plant multiple seeds in groups for fast growing scallions.
The hot weather crops like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers will be grown under lights on heating coils in the hot house. Between the hot house and the heat lamps for spring chicks, our electric use is high and that’s one of the reasons why we’re so interested in using energy generated by our biogas digester.
We’ve hired two seasonal agricultural workers and they started training this week. We’ll add two more in June- it’s nice to have some help!
The livestock are enjoying the spring grasses and we’ve secured their fence to protect them from all the coyotes.
Our first batch of Cornish Cross meat chicks will be ready for pick up in two weeks. It takes about ten weeks for them to reach butchering weight.
Farm visitors this week are renewable energy engineering students from Oregon Institute of Technology checking out our biogas digester.
Distillery news: Any day now we’ll be getting our grain mill which can be used to grind barley, corn, and other ingredients. It’s hard to find grain mills these days so we had it custom made. We’re working on our whiskey futures contract and permitting. Stay tuned…..
