Best recipes for leftovers: Quick and easy pork and summery vegetable risotto recipe
I always used to choose risotto in Italian restaurants as I imagined that it was a complicated dish to cook. “Let them do all the stirring and sweating.” I’d think as I pointed to my choice on the menu. Recently I discovered that risotto is easy and quick to make. And a great way to transform the leftovers from the Sunday joint into something delicious. You can use uncooked meat and fish in a risotto but this recipe is designed to breathe life into pork or chicken that you find kicking about in the fridge. There are two...
read moreThe ultimate soft pork meatballs recipe
Years ago when so called witches were awaiting trial, they were fed mouldy bread and water. Mouldy bread, in excess, causes hallucinations. And in the case of the witches probably sealed their fate. So I tend to avoid mouldy bread. We have been working on the ultimate pork meatball recipe. We now have a recipe for the softest melt in the mouth meatballs with the addition of a beaten egg. I decided to give Magimix her first run chez Cottage Smallholder. I oohed and aahed so much that Danny rushed into the kitchen to check what was going on....
read moreSpecial pork chops with herbs and white wine recipe
When I started buying my meat from Fred Fitzpatrick (Butcher, Exning Road, Newmarket) we began to eat chops regularly. His pork chops are chunky and cheap and his lamb chops are an absolute bargain compared wth supermarkets. All his meat has much more flavour. Fred clearly has a great eye for selecting the best. We discovered a good recipe in Nigel Slater’s The 30 minute Cook. Pork chops with tarragon and white wine. Danny is a creative cook and his recipe has evolved over the past few years. It is also quite a handy recipe for me as it...
read moreCheat’s pork meatballs with tagliatelle
A few years ago, one of the Sunday papers had a weekly column “How to Cheat at Cooking”. Canny recipes created by Delia Smith. Danny and I loved trying these. They introduced us to new ingredients and showed us how to cut corners. They encouraged us to experiment and become a bit more relaxed about all our cooking. After a while we lost interest as we were striving to cook everything from scratch. Great if you are home early. If you totter in at eight, scratch cooking means that you could well be eating at ten. As we have found to...
read moreSlow roast belly of pork on a nest of Victoria plums recipe
Last night we were at a super party where the hostess had cooked a wonderful lamb tagine with squash, chick peas and spinach. It was intense, rich and delicious. She mentioned later that she hated the combination of fruit and meat. “Apricots in a tagine will lift it and not overpower the dish.” “I know that you can use anything seasonal but I just don’t want fruit.” “Have you tried dried fruit?” I love fruit and meat. Coincidentally, we had decided to try cooking belly of pork on a nest of plums the...
read moreComforting summer sausage casserole recipe
Sometimes it’s chilly on a summer’s evening and we want to eat something comforting. In the winter we eat a superb heart warming sausage casserole so I decided to make a summer version with loads of fresh tomatoes and long red peppers. We had some sweet and hot pickled peppers (American) in the larder so I chopped and deseeded them and popped them in too to give the dish a bit of a zing. As you can see from the photo, the overall colour scheme was red. I peered into the pot as it simmered away and considered a fresh coriander...
read moreDanny’s slow roast belly of pork to die for recipe
We have Sunday Lunch in the evening and Danny usually cooks it. If I have the day off, I can spend hours in the garden and totter in at dusk to a great meal. Perfect. Last week he cooked the best pork that I have ever tasted. I had bought belly of pork from Fred Fitzpatrick on a whim. Danny was polite and definitely suspicious when I showed him the thin joint. Belly of pork is a slim, boy racer sort of cut. A rib of small bones and meat that appears to be stingy. Wrong. BOP has loads of meat. I was working last weekend and arrived home to...
read moreArancini rolled in crouton crumbs
Having made the mushroom risotto, I finally read Richard’s arancini recipe properly. I discovered that last time I had missed two vital ingredients: the beaten eggs and bread crumbs. I had merely rolled the balls in flour and attempted to fry them. No wonder they fell apart in the pan. Danny ate a strange mongrel cross that lurked somewhere between arancini, fried risotto and the bin. Richard had been so enthusiastic about his arancini I just had to try them again. The discovery of beaten egg wasn’t a problem but bread crumbs would...
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