A three course menu with plenty of variation

STARTER

Stuffed courgette

MAIN COURSE

Asian pork belly and rice with vegetables and sweet-and-sour cucumber

DESSERT

Banana bread with coconut

Pork belly (one day in advance)

It’s best to prepare the sweet-and-sour cucumber a day in advance. This will make it even tastier! Cut the mini cucumbers lengthwise into six long slices. Chop the chilli pepper as finely as possible and mix in a bowl together with the vinegar, ginger syrup and 1 dl of water. Place the cucumber in the sweet-and-sour mix and store covered in the fridge.

Pork belly (on the day itself - part 1)

For the marinade, peel the ginger root, as well as the onions and garlic. Cut these and the chilli pepper in coarse chunks and use the food processor to purée them. Generously smear the pork with the mix, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least one hour.

Banana bread

Ignite the charcoal in the Big Green Egg and heat with the convEGGtor, the Stainless Steel Grid and the Baking Stone to 200°C.

In the meantime, peel the bananas and halve them lengthwise. Dice and mash the bananas. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat on the cooker. The butter must not get too hot.

Poor the butter in the bowl of a food processor, mount a flat mixing hook, add the caster sugar and switch on the machine. First add the eggs, then the mashed banana, flour, ground almonds, grated coconut and a pinch of salt, and mix it into a smooth batter.

Grease a 1.5 L cake tin with butter, dust with flour. Turn it around and knock the excess flour out of the tin. Pour the batter in the tin.

Place the tin on the grid, close the lid of the EGG and bake the bread for about 40 minutes until golden brown. While the banana bread is cooking, you can continue to prepare the stuffed courgette and pork belly.

Stick a wooden skewer into the bread, right to the centre, to check whether the cake is done or not. If the skewer comes out clean, the banana bread is done. If not, return the cake tin to the EGG for 10 more minutes and check again. Remove the cake tin from the EGG and leave to cool (extinguish the EGG). Turn the tin around on a chopping board and make sure the banana bread comes out.

Stuffed courgette

For the stuffing, dice the chestnut mushrooms and finely chop the spinach. Peel and finely cut the garlic and the shallots. Remove the leaves from the thyme, finely chop them, dice the feta (1×1 cm). Cover and store the feta in the fridge.

Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan on the stove. Add the chestnut mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until golden-brown. Mix in the finely-chopped spinach, shallot, garlic and pine nuts, fry until the spinach has shrunk and season with salt and pepper. Mix in the thyme. Leave to cool, then cover and store in the fridge.

Pork belly - part 2

For the rice, bring a pan of lightly salted water to a boil on the stove. Boil the rice as indicated on the package and drain. Peel the daikon and dice (1×1 cm). Halve the pointed peppers, remove the stalks and seeds and cut the flesh into strips. Peel the onion and cut it into half rings. Cut the spring onion into rings. Pick the leaves from the coriander and chop finely. You can store the daikon, paprika, onion and spring onion together in the fridge. Keep the coriander separately.

Stuffed courgette

Ignite the charcoal in the Big Green Egg and heat, with the convEGGtor and the Cast Iron Grid, to a temperature of 200°C. Take the stuffing and the feta out of the fridge.

Halve the courgettes and spoon out the seeds. Sprinkle the flesh with salt and pepper. Place both halves of the courgette, on the cut side, on the grid and close the lid of the EGG. Grill the courgettes for about 3 minutes, move each piece a quarter turn to create a nice grill pattern, and grill for another 3 minutes.

Remove the courgette halves from the EGG. Fill the courgette halves with the stuffing and sprinkle with the feta cubes. Place the courgettes halves on the grid skin-side down, close the lid of the EGG and allow to cook for 15 minutes until the courgettes are done and the stuffing is soft.

Pork belly

Take the sweet-and-sour cucumber from the fridge to let it reach room temperature. Mix the ingredients for the lacquer in the Cast Iron Sauce Pot.

Heat up the sunflower and sesame oils in the Cast Iron Dutch Oven on the grid of the EGG. Add the sugar snaps, the cut daikon, pointed pepper, onion and spring onion, and fry for few minutes until al dente. Mix the rice through the vegetables and heat. Between actions, always close the lid of the EGG. Remove the Dutch Oven from the EGG and put the lid on the pan to keep the rice and vegetable mix warm.

Use the Cast Iron Grid Lifter to lift the Cast Iron Grid and place the Rectangular Drip Pan on the convEGGtor. Reposition the Cast Iron Grid, close the lid and bring to a temperature of 220°C.

Place the pork belly on the grid above the Drip Pan. Close the lid of the EGG and grill the pork for 15 minutes. Flip the pork every three minutes.

Leave the cuts of pork belly on the grid, smear them with the lacquer and close the lid of the EGG. Grill for one minute, flip the pork and smear the other side with the lacquer. Keep grilling this way for 10 minutes in total, flipping the cuts of pork and smearing them with the lacquer every minute.

Remove the pork from the EGG and cut it into nice pieces. Sprinkle with the coriander and serve with the rice and vegetables, and sweet-and-sour cucumber.

Banana bread

Slice the banana bread and serve with a spoonful of quark, the coconut chips and slices of banana.