Chinese Braised Belly Pork with Pak Choy

The flavour of preparing belly pork in this way takes quite a bit of beating.

Try this for an inexpensive warming winter meal.

Ingredients:

1 -1.5kg belly pork

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
30ml sunflower or vegetable oil
30ml caster sugar
5 whole cloves garlic
1 inch fresh root ginger, sliced
4 whole star anise
5ml whole peppercorns
1 whole red chilli
30ml white wine
100ml light soy sauce
300ml chicken stock
400g pak choy (4 large), quartered lengthways
25ml sesame oil
25ml light soy sauce
white sesame seeds, toasted
3-4 spring onions, chopped, to garnish

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Season the belly pork all over with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour the oil into an oven-proof saucepan with a lid. Place the pan on the heat then lay the belly pork, uncut, in the pan and cook for a few minutes on each side until browned. Tip the rest of the ingredients into the pan, stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Cover and transfer to the oven for 2-3 hours until tender.

When the pork is almost cooked, prepare the pak choy. Pour 50ml of water into a large frying pan and place over a medium heat. Add 5ml salt and the pak choy. Cook, tossing occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until all the water has evaporated and the pak choy is just cooked - the leaves should be soft but the base of the stalks will still be slightly crunchy. Drizzle with the sesame oil and soy sauce, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.

To serve, lift the pork from the pan and place on a board. Cut into thick slices and serve with the sauce from the pork and the pak choy on rice or noodles, garnished with spring onions.

Lemon Chicken Curry

This is a great dish that takes, at most, 20 minutes to cook.

Perfect for when you want a delicious curry,

full of well rounded flavours, not just spicy!

It's easy to make for a quick lunch or dinner.

The amount here serves two,

but it can easily be adjusted to feed more.

Ingredients:
20ml vegetable oil
2ml of mustard seeds
1 onion, chopped
2 boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped into small cubes
10ml curry powder
10ml lemon juice
10ml corn flour
125ml water
10ml fresh chopped coriander

Method:
Coat the bottom of a skillet with vegetable oil and bring to a high heat. Add the mustard seeds and let them cook for a minute, or until they begin to 'pop', then add the chopped onion. Saute until the onion starts to turn translucent.
Add the chicken and curry powder. Mix the spices in thoroughly and add the lemon juice. Continue stirring, making sure all the pieces of chicken cook evenly.
When chicken is mostly cooked through, sprinkle in the corn flour and stir, making sure all the excess fat and liquids are absorbs.
Pour in the water and stir while it boils for a minute to create a thick sauce around chicken, then remove from heat. Allow to rest a few minutes before serving. Serve with rice or noodles.

Fruit and Vegetables in January

After the excesses of the holiday season, January in the UK is a quiet month in the kitchen; most families are reeling financially after splurging at Christmas and the kitchen cupboards are a bit bare. However, as the winter gets colder, it’s now that warming foods are needed - spicy foods to give a warm glow to the tummy.

Even if you are a bit skint after the festive season, if you know what to buy and where to get a bargain, the post-Christmas slow period is one of the best months of the year for shopping and cooking, especially if you are a citrus lover, since oranges simply don’t get any better than navel oranges from Spain and clementines and satsumas follow close behind and may even surpass their larger relations in sweetness and flavour. Kumquats are more of an acquired taste, but if you like them as much as I do, this is the best month to buy them. Any fruit from the southern hemisphere is likely to be good, since the depth of our winter is the height of their summer and the harvest is coming in down there. Big juicy grapes and apples from South Africa should be in top condition, as well as fruit like bananas and lychees. Fresh cranberries will also still be available after the Christmas festivities; I like to buy and freeze them for use in cooking and baking. Also look out for dried fruits such as dates and prunes; dried in the autumn, they should now be at their most tender.

While foreign produce dominates the fruit shelves, natives dominate the vegetables. Root vegetables began their season in the autumn, but they are at their best now and should be taken full advantage of for baking, roasting, mashing, soup and stews. Parsnips, turnips, swede, sweet potatoes, celeriac and carrots; these are all highly versatile, most of which can be used as alternatives for potatoes, or additives to mash potato. These vegetables take particularly well to a small but lively addition of something sharp, such as citrus, vinegar or mustard, or piquant such as spices or chillies. Celeriac, with its incredible sweet, nutty taste, a little like celery, may be the least known of these vegetables and certainly deserves a wider following.

The other great vegetable stars of the month include cabbages and their close relation, the Brussels sprout. These cruciferous vegetables are not just one of the best choices of the month, but are certainly among the cheapest. Tightly packed white and red cabbages are top choices for coleslaw or other salads, but the deep green Savoy is generally regarded as best if it’s going to be boiled, steamed or braised. Savoy has a somewhat shorter shelf life than white and red cabbage, both of which can be stored without refrigeration for a week or more. Their quality maintaining ability makes these good standby items when there are no other vegetables in the house.

Chicken and Lemon Tagine with Herby Tabbouleh

This exotic one-pot dish is the perfect mixture of sweet and spicy.

Serve it with a herb tabbouleh for a filling family supper.

A recipe for the spice mixture, Rras-el-hanout, can be found in my

"Herbs and Spice Blends",

to be launched soon.

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Ingredients:
For the Tagine:
50g butter
1 medium chicken cut in 10 pieces
2 onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 inch piece of ginger root, grated
2 sticks of cinnamon
10ml Ras-el-hanout
5ml salt
5ml freshly ground black pepper
2.5ml turmeric
5ml cinnamon
2.5ml safron
1 preserved lemon, roughly chopped
50ml honey
750ml chicken stock
150g dates, stoned and halved
salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
30ml chopped fresh parsley

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For the tabbouleh:
140g bulgar wheat, soaked in cold water overnight
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, de-seeded and finely diced
2 large bunches of parsley, roughly chopped
1 bunch mint, roughly chopped
1 bunch coriander, roughly chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
60ml extra virgin olive oil

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Method:

For the Tagine:

Heat a large, lidded saucepan until hot, add the butter and add the chicken and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Do this in batches so that the pan is not overcrowded. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside on a plate.

Add the onions, garlic and ginger to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the spices and cook for 1 minute, then return the chicken to the pan and stir until the chicken is coated in the spice mixture.

Add the preserved lemons, honey and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat until simmering, cover with a lid and cook for 45 minutes.

Add the dates and stir well, then continue to cook, uncovered for another 30-45 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and the sauce has thickened. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then stir in the parsley.

For the Herb Tabbouleh:

Drain the bulgar wheat and place in a large bowl. Add the other ingredients and stir until well combined. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

To serve, spoon the tabbouleh onto serving plates and spoon some tagine alongside.

Potato, Mushroom and Parma Ham Terrine

This luxurious starter is quick and easy to put together,

but needs to be done the day before it is required

so that it can be pressed overnight and set in the fridge.

Buy the Parma ham freshly sliced and laid out on waxed paper

to prevent the pieces sticking together.

You can use any mushrooms you prefer,

but I find button or chestnut mushrooms work the best

because they keep their firm texture when sauteed.

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Ingredients:

650g firm potatoes like Maris Piper or Desiree

12 slices Parma Ham

200g butter

100g mushrooms, thinly sliced

30ml chopped fresh chives

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

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For the dressing:

2 plum tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and finely chopped

45ml balsamic vinegar

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

100ml olive oil

15-20ml chopped fresh parsley

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Method:

Boil the potatoes in their skins in a pan of lightly salted water for about 15 minutes until tender.

Drain and leave to cool a little.

When the are cool enough to touch, peel and cut into 1/2 inch slices.

Melt the butter in a pan and saute the mushrooms for a couple of minutes until they take on a translucent appearance.

Line a loaf tin with clingfilm, pressing it into the sides firmly and smoothly. Line the tin with half of the slices of Parma ham, allowing the ends of the slices to hang over the sides.

Arrange a layer of about 1/3 of the sliced potatoes in the base of the tin, then spoon over about half of the melted butter, a layer of half the mushrooms and cover with Parma ham. Sprinkle with half the chives and seasoning. Add another layer of potatoes, spoon over more melted butter, the rest of the mushrooms and cover with a layer of Parma ham. Sprinkle with chives and seasoning. Add the remaining potatoes and melted butter and finish with a layer of ham. Fold over the hanging pieces of ham from the base of the terrine. Cover the whole terrine with clingfilm and press down lightly to firm.

Place a flat plate in top of the terrine and weigh down with a large can or something similar. Chill overnight in the fridge.

Before serving, mix together all the ingredients for the dressing.

Demould the terrine onto a board, peel off the clingfilm and cut into 6 - 8 even slices. Place each serving on a plate and spoon around the dressing.

Serve lightly chilled.

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Cheese and Onion Scones with Bacon Topping

Sunday morning breakfast is always a little laid back,

but different from the rest of the week.

We try to have something a bit more imaginative

than the run of the mill rushed breakfast of the rest of the week.

Today we had scones,

but scones with a difference:

- Breakfast -

All in one bite.

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Ingredients:
2 small shallots, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
10ml olive oil
10ml butter
15ml chopped fresh parsley
500ml flour
20ml baking powder
2ml salt
50g grated cheddar cheese
250ml milk
8 strips streaky bacon

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Method:
Preheat the oven to 220C.
In a frying pan, add the olive oil and melt the butter. Sweat the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, but not coloured. With a slotted spoon, remove the onion and garlic to a mini blender and whizz to a paste.
In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and grated cheese. Add the onion and garlic paste and fold through the flour.
Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the milk. Blend to a dough with your fingers, mixing in the flour a little at a time. Pat the dough into a flat circle and turn out onto a floured board. With a rolling pin, roll out to about 3/4 inch thick and cut into circles with a floured, fluted scone cutter, or cut into squares with a floured knife.
Place on a baking tray about 1 inch apart and bake for about 10 minutes or until cooked through when tested with a metal skewer. Set aside on a wire wrack to cool slightly.
While the scones are cooking, fry the bacon in a skillet until cooked through, but not quite crispy. Cut the bacon rashers with a scissors into little strips, about 1/4 inch wide.
Cut each scone in half and butter each open side. Top with the bacon strips and serve.

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