By Chef Laura Sharrad

We’re excited to have celebrity chef, author of My Italian Kitchen, TV personality and restaurant owner, Laura Sharrad, share some of her favourite recipes. Check out her delicious Honey & Soy Pork Skewer Bao Buns.

Honey & Soy Pork Skewer Bao Buns

Serves 4–6 people

INGREDIENTS

Skewers

• 4 pork-belly spare ribs, skin removed and thinly sliced
• 1 tbs honey
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Wooden skewers
• Oil, for frying

Buns

• 1 box frozen store-bought bao buns

To serve

• Hoi sin sauce
• Siracha Kewpie mayonnaise
• 2 cucumbers, finely julienned
• 2 carrots, finely julienned
• ½ bunch coriander
• ½ bunch mint
• ½ bunch Thai basil

METHOD

1. Combine the honey, soy sauce and sesame oil to make the marinade and mix in the pork slices, then skewer the meat onto the wooden sticks.
2. Cook the pork skewers in a hot and lightly oiled pan until caramelised and cooked through (around 3–4 minutes).
3. Steam the bao buns.
4. Mix the hoi sin and Kewpie mayonnaise to create the sauce.
5. To serve, spoon the sauce onto the bun, add the carrot, cucumber and herbs and top with a pork skewer.

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Visit us online or at your local Early Settler store to check out this season’s furniture and homewares range. And find more scrumptious appetiser, dinner, cocktail and dessert recipes for your summer entertaining.

Laura Sharrad

Originally from Melbourne before relocating to McLaren Vale in South Australia, Laura Sharrad grew up with a wooden spoon in her hand cooking beside her nonnas. Her rich Italian heritage has played a heavy hand in her epicurean journey, which was further strengthened after living in Tuscany. A former MasterChef contestant and an extensively trained chef, the impressive career of this now-25-year-old has leapt from strength to strength. Laura recently opened her own restaurant, Nida Bar and Pasta, with her husband and fellow chef, Max Sharrad. With another restaurant and cookbook in the works, Laura says the long‑term dream is to buy a property on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, teach students to cook and grow produce for a small sustainable restaurant.

Instagram: @laurasharrad