24 Hour Pulled Pork

This has to have been one of my most successful experiments ever! I’m not very good at slow cooking, not because it’s difficult, but because I am horribly impatient and assume that my kitchen has set fire if I leave it. This week however, I pushed passed my neuroses and actually left the house for five hours whilst the pork was going (annoying my friends every hour or so wondering aloud whether my house is still standing). I can’t quite describe how happy I was when the pork fell apart (well, it would have were it not for the string holding it together) as I lifted it from its roasting tin. I served it in ciabatta buns, apple slaw and barbecued corn on the cob, perfection!

Ingredients

Shoulder of Pork (about 2.5 kilos fed 5 of us with a portion left over)

Dry Rub

2 ½ teaspoons hot paprika

1 teaspoon salt

3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 heaped teaspoon cumin

 6-8 cloves

Baste

150ml cider vinegar

150ml white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 apple

1 teaspoon chilli flake

1 cinnamon stick (about 5cm long)

Salt/pepper

10pm the night before

Mix all the dry rub ingredients together other than the cloves (crush the garlic and pick leaves off thyme). Put the pork in a roasting tray and rub all over (most pork comes with its fat already scored, if it isn’t then you will have to do this before rubbing). It will seem like you can’t get any more on but keep going and cover as much as you can with it. Poke the cloves into the fat.  Once you’ve used the entire mixture, cover in cling film and refrigerate overnight.

Peel and core the apple and whizz it up in a food processor or hand blender. 

Add to all the other baste ingredients and leave in the fridge overnight.

11am the next morning (to be ready for 8pm)

Take the pork out the fridge and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Turn the oven to 130 C or 250 f, using an oven thermometer is really useful here, and place a deep ovenproof dish filled with water at the bottom of the oven. 

Baste the pork (slop some of the vinegar mixture over it) and put it in the oven. You want to baste every 45 minutes- hour, however, if you wish to leave the house then add up to half the baste to the bottom of the pan and a little water (use your discretion as to how much depending on how long you are leaving for).

After 8 hours your pork will be ready, it may look very blackened but this is just the baste that has caramelised, don’t be scared! Take the pork out the roasting tray and pull apart(so that’s where the name’s from!) or shred with a couple of forks. It should easily come apart in mouth-watering chunks.

‘De-glaze’ the roasting tray by putting it on the hob on high and adding water, mixing to ensure all the saucy bits(and the bits on the bottom of the tray) are mixed in. Bring to the boil and reduce slightly before adding the pork to serve. 

Simple Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce

I’m pretty sure I have said somewhere before that I’ll rave about a basic fresh tomato pasta sauce. Well, as you may have already figured out, that time has come! Ready in as little as 20 minutes (though if you can bear with it doing it slower is even better) and with just 4 basic ingredients it really is a doddle (olive oil is an ingredient, sugar and salt are seasoning). Italian house mate has informed me that they only use cherry tomatoes to make pasta sauce like this, as the large ones create a rather orange outcome…so there you go, some real Italian wisdom! You can make a sauce with as few as 8 cherry tomatoes if you use good pasta that the sauce really sticks to. The key to this is to cook the onions as slowly as possible to bring out their natural sweetness. 

Ingredients

Approx 500g cherry tomatoes
1 white onion
1 clove of garlic 
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil


Dice the onions and garlic (or crush the garlic if you have a crusher). Halve the tomatoes.

Heat a pan with a good glug of olive oil in and add the onions and garlic. Cook very slowly for as long as you can stand, keep them moving so they don’t brown. After at least 10 minutes add the tomatoes and turn the heat to medium. After another 10 minutes when the tomatoes have started to break down taste and add sugar and salt as needed. Stir and continue cooking on low for another 5 minutes (or prepare earlier and turn off the heat at this point, then heat before serving).

Just before serving you can add (though it is not necessary) any mix of fresh herbs you fancy. Basil is obviously a classic favourite but parsley and coriander work nicely too. 

Gazpacho

If the idea of cold soup turns your stomach, then of course, I do understand...but bear with me. This is the perfect remedy for a hot and airless day, not only is it uber healthy and refreshing, but it'll help keep you hydrated too!

I’m afraid to say that gazpacho is one of the few things that I have never particularly liked my mother’s version of, and there is one reason for that. It’s because she never adds the bread. There’s fair reason for this, when I was a young’un I couldn’t eat gluten until I was at least 8 years old, and then about 8 years ago my father found out he is also intolerant to it, so she’s been fairly restricted. Unfortunately, it is something that you cannot do without in this recipe. In fact, if you take gazpacho to its original form it didn’t even contain tomatoes and was a soup made from bread, oil and garlic.

I didn’t actually have stale bread, but I left it out in the sun for a bit and that worked beautifully. I must say for my first attempt at gazpacho I’m blooming chuffed! Eating it out in the sun took me right back to family holidays in Spain and my sister and I ordering it at every meal (oh and Spanish Housemate approved so what more can I ask for!?)

Ingredients

Approx. 1kg very ripe tomatoes

2/3 large cucumber

3 cloves of garlic

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 thick slice stale crusty bread

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sherry or Red Wine Vinegar

Salt

You will need a hand blender or food processor for this.

Soak the bread in a bowl of cold water and put aside.

Chop the peppers and place into a large bowl or if you have a food processor the bowl of that. Peel the cucumber and chop roughly, add to bowl. Crush the garlic into the chopped veg (or if you don’t have a garlic crusher just chop finely).

Core the tomatoes; this is just taking out the hard white bit in the middle. You can usually cut in half and pull it out with your fingers, or cut into quarters if struggling.  You only need to do this if using big tomatoes, cherry or plum will be fine as they are.  Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the bowl.Once the bread has been soaking for about 20 minutes, squeeze out the water and add in pieces to the bowl.

Add a good couple of glugs of olive oil and blend until smooth. Once smooth, taste and add salt and vinegar as needed. Then push through a sieve until you can’t get any more liquid out.

Chill before serving for at least an hour.

Serve with chopped pieces of cucumber, peppers, olives, croutons, boiled egg, serrano ham…it’s your choice, and don't forget a good drizzle of olive oil.

It's Texican!

As any avid follower of Sheldon’s* wisdom will know, Chilli con Carne is not Mexican (and apparently should not contain kidney beans but we’ll brush that aside for now). I never used to like Chilli, I have always thought that bolognese is a far superior use of minced meat (not to mention meatballs and burgers) and couldn’t understand the fuss about this gloopy mess. However, the Boy is a big fan and to satisfy his craving one day we compromised by deciding to use steak instead of mince, except that he doesn’t like steak unless it is fully cooked (DON’T GET ME STARTED) and I just think this is blasphemous. So, another compromise was made (look at what a grown up relationship we have!) and we decided to use pork steaks instead. Well, I haven’t looked back since! Although beef steak is obviously a superior meat, pork works surprisingly well in this dish at a fraction of the price. I can’t really name this dish chilli con carne though…how about Chilli con Charley?!

Ingredients

Pork Loin Steaks

1 heaped teaspoon cumin

Just over ½ teaspoon sweet paprika

1 flat teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon flour

2 red chillies

1 green chilli

1 red onion

1 white onion

1 sweet red pepper

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Squeeze of tomato puree

400g tin of peeled plum tomatoes

1 level teaspoon oregano

Salt and pepper

1 tin red kidney beans

3-4 squares of chocolate

Cut the pork steaks into strips. Put the flour, cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper into a bowl and mix. 

Then add the pork steaks and coat in the mixture, its best to use your hands here to make sure every strip has an even covering.

Roughly dice the red and white onion, and roughly chop the chillies and garlic (be careful after using chilli and don’t do what I did and touch a broken piece of your lip…IT WILL HURT!) 

Chop the pepper into chunks and set aside.Heat a glug of oil in a pan (I used my cast iron casserole but a heavy based frying pan would be fine) and add half the pork. Brown the pork. This means sealing the edges of the strips so the outside is quickly cooked. You may want to do this in two batches, when browned remove from the pan.

In the same pan add some more oil and then the chopped onions, chillies and garlic. Keep the mixture moving so as not to burn anything and if using a casserole try and scrape up as much of the flavour that has stuck to the bottom as possible. 

After about 5 minutes when the onions are starting to go translucent and golden add the peppers and balsamic vinegar and cook on high until its reduced (i.e. the liquid has got thick and sticky) before adding a good squeeze tomato puree. Once mixed add the tomatoes and oregano and reduce (bubble) until the liquid is about half the original volume.

When the liquid has reduced add the pork and turn the heat right down. Now the mixture can simmer until you are ready pretty much, it needs at least an hour but it can easily stand 2. Stir every now and then to ensure that nothing sticks or burns.

10 minutes before you are ready to eat, add the canned kidney beans and turn the heat to medium. Just before serving turn the heat off and add the chocolate, stirring until its melted.

Put the pan on the table with some tortillas and nachos and enjoy!

*If you don't know who Sheldon is then you must get yourself to a television and watch the big bang theory. If you know who Sheldon is and haven't seen this particular episode, then I can direct you to season 4 episode 17 for a full explanation. 

Thai Green Curry

I should probably apologise for my lack of posts as of late. Between starting a new photography course, seeing Bruce Springsteen (absolutely AMAZING) and attempting to buy a house (I have everything crossed at the moment as my offer is on the table) I feel like my feet have barely touched ground. No excuse I know, but hopefully this will make up for it...

I recently had a friend over for dinner who is ‘mostly vegetarian’ (I’m not entirely sure what that means) but it meant I had to put my thinking cap on. It’s not that I don’t like or eat vegetarian food, in fact it’s quite the opposite. My problem is that I get worried when making veggie food that it won’t fill people up unless it’s majorly carb heavy, and that’s not ideal for anybody. However, there are certain things I do believe meat makes very little difference to and Thai curry is one such dish. It’s surprisingly easy to make the paste from scratch (especially if you have a mini chopper). If you don’t have a store cupboard set up for Thai cooking the initial investment in ingredients may seem a lot, however if you like Thai food you’ll be stocked for a good while (and once you realise how quick and easy Thai food is to make you’ll be cooking it all the time).

Ingredients

Green Curry Paste

 

Handful Coriander

Handful Basil

2-4 Green chillies (To taste)

2 lemon grass stalks

4 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

4 spring onions or ¼ onion (an Asian shallot would be preferable to either or these)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

3 kaffir lime leaves

Juice of 1.5 limes and zest of 1

2 cm sq piece of ginger

Salt and pepper

You will need a pestle and mortar, mini chopper or food processor (you may be able to do it with a hand blender actually).

Peel the garlic, ginger, onions and lemongrass and roughly chop into small bits along with the chillies (the smaller they are the easier it will be to make into a paste). Grind the coriander seeds (I usually use a pestle and mortar but you can get spice grinders that do the job too). 

Put everything so far in either the food processor or mortar (if using a hand blender put them all into a container just bigger than the blender piece, I find a mug is usually perfect for this so long as its wide enough at the bottom). Grind or blend everything together.

Chop off the leafiest bit of the coriander and put aside. Chop the rest and the basil (including stalks) and add to your mortar or food processor. If your lime leaves are fresh add them too. Grind or blend again. Add the juice of 1 and a half limes, the soy sauce and fish sauce and continue to grind or blend until everything comes together to form a paste.

Thai Green Curry

1 Tin Coconut Milk

Mixed Vegetables

Pretty much any vegetable can go in Thai curry, I used baby aubergines, courgettes, peppers and an onion. Broccoli, cauliflower, beans and spinach (add this right at the end) also work really well. 

To make up the curry fry the paste (as little as half or as much as all for 2-6 people) in a hot wok for a few minutes until the fragrance really starts to come out. Add the harder vegetables (onions, peppers) and cook for a minute or two before adding the rest. Toss the vegetables around in the wok so that they are evenly covered in the paste, then add the coconut milk (if you are using dried lime leaves, add them whole here). Cook for 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the veg.  Don’t worry if at first it looks too white, it will go greener the longer you cook it.

Serve with steamed rice and fresh coriander leaves (you can use some of the leftover ones from the paste).

Tips

If you are keeping the curry paste it will keep for longer if you put a thin layer of oil over it in a jar. 

If using a mini chopper for the paste you can pretty much put everything in at once, however if using a pestle and mortar its best to keep to the stages I have set out. 

Also works beautifully with chicken and prawns, marinate these with a bit of the paste first and add before the coconut milk (though I often cook these separately to ensure they are not over done).

One Week, Two Burgers

This past week I have been lucky enough to have had lunch out twice (an unfortunately rare exercise) and strangely enough I ate a burger both times. However, neither of these was your average burger and I felt I should share them with you.

Around Preston Circus in Brighton there is an often overlooked eatery. In fact, until I was taken there by a friend of mine I had thought it was a head shop (one that sells naughty paraphernalia and such like) and had always passed it by. It is dubiously named ‘Cummin Up’ and the sign has such a lurid yellow background it is truly a wonder how the human mind can shut out things it doesn’t think it will like. Well, in this instance the human mind is wrong! This is an absolute gem and well worth pushing past your gut instinct. A Caribbean kitchen serving exotic wonders such as goat curry and the obligatory rice and peas. However, I must hang my head in shame and say I have only tried one thing on their menu, the Ja Burger. This repetition is not for lack of want to try other items, just that I know I like the Ja burger so much I don’t want to risk something else being a disappointment.

Now, the Ja Burger isn’t really a burger, it consists of a coco bread bun (slightly sweet, fairly dense and absolutely delicious) filled with mouth wateringly scrumptious (and messy) shredded jerk chicken. Maybe this doesn’t sound as good as it is, but seriously, this jerk chicken is incredible. The juices inevitably fall out, and where I would usually find this highly annoying the bread is just dense enough that none of it falls apart and there always is a dry bit to keep hold of. Just make sure you have lots of napkins (or preferably wet wipes) at hand!

My second burger of the week came after an afternoon of epic failure. Having planned to go for lunch with my friend on Thursday I had stupidly forgotten about an appointment at 1. So lunch was postponed until 2.30ish and we were to meet in East Grinstead. All well and good, except that on that particular morning I had woken up in a lot of pain and didn’t really fancy the 1.5 hour round trip. Never fear, we moved the venue to the Royal Oak in Henfield and off we went. Except that little did I realise he’d chosen a pub in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE that also happened to stop serving at 2.30, oh and we both arrived late! It’s ok though, we had a back-up plan that was just around the corner (and if I’m honest the one I actually wanted to try) the Ginger Fox. So off we went in our little motors down the road…to find that the Ginger Fox also had stopped serving food. Rather despondent to say the least (and annoyed that we were driving around on a beautiful sunny day) we ended up at the Devils Dyke Pub desperate for something, anything to eat!

If you don’t know what the Devils Dyke is it is a spectacular Iron Age hillfort with absolutely breath taking views of the downs. Unfortunately, the pub on the top of the hill is unable to make the most of those views and considering the position I would have expected it to be somewhat less dark inside. However, aesthetics aside I’m here to talk about the food. The menu was fairly standard with the usual array of pub food though it was nice to see a changing seasonal menu. However, after seeing the menu at the Ginger Fox I was a little disappointed, bar their one saving grace; the ‘Wild Boar and chorizo burger’. I rarely turn down the opportunity to have some chorizo on my plate and as everything else on the menu seemed rather standard we both ended up ordering this. 

It has to be one of the meatiest burgers I have ever tried. The flavours of the boar and chorizo worked nicely together, though I did find the boar somewhat overpowering and the chorizo ensured a rather oily outcome. That aside, it was damn tasty and came with some extremely delicious chips. However the fennel and apple slaw tasted merely of fennel and dressing, I was disappointed not to taste the apple in there. All in all it satisfied two very hungry customers with its meaty juiciness but I’m not sure I’d be running back here before trying out the other two.

15 Minute Marinated Steak

So, I thought that maybe some of my recipes seemed a bit too much like hard work, and perhaps it would be useful to include some more quick and easy meals. Well this one took no more than 15 minutes from start to finish and went down an absolute treat! I’ve used ribeye steak, but you could use any cut although this was only about £4 per person in total. Any mix of greenery will do, if using cabbage (I’d go with savoy) or other tougher greens blanch them in salted boiling water for a minute or two (the colour will really come out  and then they are ready to take out) before wilting them in the frying pan. I’ve also used coriander flowers in this recipe, this is a first for me and has been a result of my coriander going a bit mad in the crazy weather and bolting. For any non-green fingered readers, this is when the plant flowers and stops producing full leaves so I had no choice! Coriander flowers, like many others, are edible and they have a milder taste than the leaf, using normal coriander leaf would work just as well in this.

Ingredients

3 ribeye steaks (approx. 175 g each)

Marinade

1 clove garlic

2cm sq ginger

White pepper

2 tablespoons Shoasang rice wine

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1-2 tablespoon honey

Wilted Greens

2 cloves garlic

2 baby Pak Choi

1 lettuce (sainsburys basics)

1 salad pack (rocket, chard, beetroot leaves)

6-7 adult spinach leaves

Small handful basil leaves

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Corriander flowers

Peel the ginger and roughly chop with the garlic, mix together with all the other marinade ingredients. Pour over steaks and put aside.

Put a heavy based pan on high with sesame oil in. Chop the end off the lettuce and pak choi and pull apart the leaves. Wash all the greens.

Put steaks in the pan on high, sear for 30 seconds on both sides and turn the heat down to medium. 

Cook, flipping every 20 seconds or so for 6-7 minutes for medium rare.  1 minute before the end pour in the rest of the marinade. Take the steaks out and leave to rest on a plate, turn the heat up and bubble the marinade for 2 minutes then pour over steaks.

Wipe the pan and pour some more sesame oil and a glug of olive oil in.   Chop the garlic and cook on high until just turning golden, then add the pak choi and lettuce and cook for about two minutes. It will start to reduce in size so don’t worry if it seems like you can’t fit it all in. 

Once it has started to shrink add the spinach and a minute or so later add the salad pack (or any baby leaves) and basil. Cook until all the leaves have wilted, adding a glug more sesame oil if a bit dry.

Lay a bed of leaves, place the steak on top, pour over a spoonful of the sauce and sprinkle over the flowers.

Layered Roasted Pepper Pasta Bake

DISCLAIMER: I do not profess for this dish to have any kind of Italian origin!

And having got that out the way, I can start. So despite the disclaimer above, pasta bake also does not have to be the nasty gloopy mess that it is so often associated with. There are a few things that will really make your pasta bake stand out from the rest. To begin you must use a decent quality pasta that will hold its shape and structure, most supermarkets stock decent Italian brand pasta otherwise go with the luxury own brand range. It may seem like an unnecessary expense but I promise it’s worth it. 

Next, the tomatoes must be decent too. I used ripe cherry tomatoes from my little Turkish shop down the road but you could use really good quality tinned tomatoes too (just one tin would do, though you may need to add some water). Lastly, the olive oil you use really does make a difference. I use an Italian one, I personally prefer the flavour to some of the Greek oils I’ve tried, but it’s up to you. This fed three very hungry people, but I’d say it’s enough for 4 and great as leftovers the next day.

Ingredients

400g Torteglioni

500g cherry tomatoes

200g mozzarella

2 cloves garlic

2 sweet pointed peppers

1 onion

1 chilli

Large handful fresh basil

½ teaspoon dried oregano

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Brown Sugar (optional)

1 slice (stale) bread

Preheat the oven to 180.

Cut the peppers into long strips, place in an ovenproof dish that you will use for the pasta bake, drizzle with olive oil and put in the oven.

Dice the garlic and chilli finely, dice the onion and halve the tomatoes (if using large tomatoes cut into chunks).Heat a heavy based frying pan and add a good tablespoon of oil, let the oil heat and add the garlic, chilli and onion and turn the heat down low. Cook the onions on a low heat, stirring to ensure they don’t colour, for around 10 minutes and until translucent. 

Add the tomatoes and a teaspoon of brown sugar and continue to cook on a medium heat. After about 5 minutes add the oregano, salt and pepper and allow to simmer for at least another ten minutes. Check the peppers and turn over.

Get a pan of boiling water on the go and add the pasta, cooking for 2 minutes less than the packet instructions. Whilst the pasta is cooking, tear up half the basil and add to the sauce. Take the peppers out the oven, they should have a nice amount of blackening. 

Add a ladleful of the water from the pasta to loosen up the sauce a little, mix around and taste for seasoning and sweetness, if its a bit sharp add some more sugar. Whilst the pasta is cooking and the sauce is bubbling, make your breadcrumbs. I use my mini chopper for this (an amazing piece of equipment) but other methods include crumbling by hand (must be stale/dry for this, if using fresh bread put it in the oven to dry out) or grating. 

Once the pasta is ready, drain and mix with all but 2 ladlefulls of sauce. Remove the peppers from the dish and add a layer of pasta, then a layer of torn mozzarella and half the rest of the basil. Lay the peppers over the top and add the rest of the pasta. Pour over the last bit of sauce then tear over the rest of the mozzerlla and basil before adding the breadcrumbs and drizzling olive oil all over. Put in the oven until breadcrumbs are turning golden and cheese is melting, about 20 minutes. 

A Rather Sad Week

It has been a rather sombre week for my family as sadly my grandfather passed away last Wednesday. And for Jews, death means one thing – all systems go! With a funeral usually held within 24 hours and traditionally a week of prayers and mourning afterwards there’s lots to do. Although we are certainly a very Jewish family, we are not too religious and with an Aunt in Spain the funeral was held on Friday and there was only one night of prayers. However, where we kept (and always do keep) very much in line with tradition was the food. It’s funny isn’t it, at times of crises it’s so often food that is the familiar and comfortable. No matter how exotic our tastes and culinary skills we return to time honoured tradition in times like this.

So for us this meant a few things; After the service it was bridge rolls topped with smoked salmon, cream cheese, egg mayo and chopped herring (separately!), platters of herring, piles of fish balls and of course, olives and pickled cucumbers (all fish so there’s no problem with Kashrut). For dinner that night we ate chicken soup with kneidlach and lochschen and a casserole, none of which was prepared by a family member as where some might serve tea for comfort, Jews bring food. And for lunch before prayers we had viennas and potato salad (see here for explanation of food and terms). And yet, so often throughout this weekend I’ve had no appetite, now that’s not to say I haven’t eaten, for as my mum says ‘if you don’t eat, you die’ and we really couldn’t have any more of that right now.

But of course, G-d forbid we don’t have anything to serve at prayers. So along with the pear tart that my grandmother’s friend so kindly brought her, the Danish pastries (also ordered from the deli) and the apricot cake brought to my mother (along with a fridge full of food) I decided that I needed something to do, so I got in the kitchen and made some cakes. I’m afraid I won’t include a recipe here, not because I want to keep it for myself, but because for once a post isn't about my food. Though they were truly delightful and nobody knew they were gluten free! I like to think Grandpa would have been happily munching on them (despite their sugar content and his diabetes!).

Whipped cream icing, fresh strawberries and dark chocolate shavings

Then it was all over. We had some good hugs, people left and it was time for me to come home, but not before a quick smoked salmon sandwich on rye bread.

So to all the wonderful people that have brought food, kind words or a shoulder to cry on I can only thank you for all your generosity. And to Grandpa, a man who truly loved his food, this one’s for you.