French Fridays with Dorie: Coconut lemongrass-braised pork

Another short and sweet French Fridays with Dorie post this week.  I know you’ll be disappointed to hear I did not make this recipe in Paris – but it just worked out that I fit it in my schedule before I left in June.  To be honest, I have been so busy this week with cooking classes and making things like terrine (dealing with liver – eeeew!) and cakes (my first ever baking experiment in Paris, even including all the years I lived here!) that I wouldn’t have had time to make this anyway. So it’s just as well that I was organised!

Dorie says that “it’s hard to go wrong with a sauce based on coconut milk, cardamon, coriander, curry and fresh lemongrass” and I tend to agree. I do think something went a bit wrong with this dish though, because whilst it tasted really good, it looked nothing like it was supposed to based on the photos and Dorie’s description (p. 274).  Time being of the essence just before I left, I chose to not add the separately-cooked root vegetables to the sauce just before serving (it was also a bit hot for that!) so I ended up with something more along the lines of an Asian soup.  Dorie does say that the sauce is not particularly thick so maybe I did get it right. I guess reading the recipe and looking at the photos, I thought it would be a heartier dish.  The fact that it wasn’t was actually ok. I know Mr Neil found this a bit odd but I had some the following day and it was much tastier (the flavours benefit from a night in the fridge!) and once I got my head around it not being as I thought it would, I was actually quite pleased.  I would try this same sauce with chicken and use rice noodles for a completely different, but just as simple, dish that would be perfect for both the outrageous heat you’ve been experiencing over in North America and the ridiculous cold and rain we have been dealing with here in Europe 😉

Want to join French Fridays with Dorie? Join here.

French Fridays with Dorie participants do not publish the recipes on our blogs, rather, we prefer if you purchase Around My French Table for yourselves (trust me, you definitely want this book!) which you can do here on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository.

Keep up with me this summer through my Summer 2011 Flickr set. I will be updating this with day to day pictures (read: not all food photos!) fairly regularly so head on over there if you are interested. You never know what or who you might see there, like, you know… Dorie….

52 thoughts on “French Fridays with Dorie: Coconut lemongrass-braised pork”

  1. Looks good, but more interested in the ridiculous cold and rain…….must pack wellies and rain coat then??

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  2. As I mentioned to you, I don’t eat pork but this dish, showcased by that stellar photo, is enough to make me reconsider…. WOW! I can practically taste it!

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  3. Mardi, I like your subtlety in crossing out the link ;-). Wonder what’s going on there? Anyway, the sauce seemed a bit thin to me too, but I cheated and added cornstarch at the end to thicken it up a bit…whoops! There wasn’t any stew leftover in our house for the next day, but it was useful knowing that it actually tastes better the following day.

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  4. Mardi, well done on your organisation skills as well as this lovely looking dish. I’m a firm believer that many concoctions taste better the next day – like your version of more of a broth with the wetter sauce. Speaking of wet, my goodness, thinking of you just now. Someone run away with our Parisian summer. So sorry! See you later 🙂

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  5. Not so much odd, but a tad too watery. Flavours were nice, though.

    Paired with a Tawse Sketches of Niagara rose – one of the best of the bunch out from Ontario at the moment. Dry, but with some nice fruit that worked well with the pork, and didn’t compete with the strong Asian flavours of the dish.

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  6. I really loved this! Seemed more like a fall/winter dish but we devoured it anyway! Hope you’ll write about your baking experiences!

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  7. There were so many changes that I almost did to this recipe – but stuck through it verbatim. It did seem a bit too watery and like Mr. Neil said, the flavors were nice. That was just it for me – nice. I’ll take it for what it is – a French curry.

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  8. Yum! Curry sauces/soups almost always taste better the second day, that is for sure. I’ll even the leftovers cold, which is kind of weird, but so am I! 🙂

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  9. Split decision with Nana and I – but only because she really loved it. I was underwhelmed when I thought I would be blown away by all the exotic ingredients. I did love working with fresh lemon grass and just adore that aroma. Happy travels and great photo !!

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  10. My Mr. found the whole thing a bit odd…but I was glad he at least ate a serving. Curry is not his favorite, along with a litany of other ingredients. Yours looks exactly the way it should be. Happy weekend, Mardi~

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  11. Mine also came out more like a soup at first and I had to boil the broth down to get a picture which looked more like Dorie’s. But, since I somehow ruined the dish, next time I should probably worry less about the picture and focus more on how everything tastes!

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  12. Looks lovely. I also thought the sauce would be thicker, but it soaked up really nicely with a couple of slices of sourdough 🙂

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  13. I am still plugging my way through AMFT. I made this dish recently. I agree with you that the sauce was quite thin. I don’t think I will add the water next time. We liked the flavor of the dish. I added all the optional ingredients except celery root.

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