Italianate Pork 'n' Beans

This is really just a pork chop baked in a Napoli-style sauce - with a few additions.

For the sauce: small handful chopped onion, softened;  add 1 heaped dstsp garlic puree, half a tin of tomatoes, 1 heaped tsp tomato puree, 1 heaped tsp oregano, 1 heaped tsp basil; S+P (generous), 1 scant tsp Worcestershire sauce and 1 scant tsp sugar. Break the tomatoes up with the back of a spoon and cook through.

Dry-fry 1 pork chop to seal in hot wok and transfer to a closed casserole on top of a bed of sliced peppers and courgettes. Sprinkle over a third of a tin of cannellini beans and pour on sauce. Bake in a hot oven for 25-30 minutes. Probably better with rice but I fancied spuds......

Cheat's Stroganoff

I messaged my foodie-friend Sarah recently for inspiration when I was stuck for dinner ideas. She suggested Strog - so I had something completely different! But on Friday I bought some reduced-price frying steak cut in very thin slices........

 I didn't have any sour cream - or indeed any cream in the fridge - so I cheated. Soften sliced onions in butter/oil, add sliced mushrooms and strips of steak, together with a little garlic puree and paprika. Fry gently for no more than a couple of minutes, add a little flour, cook through and add milk, stirring constantly. Season with chicken bouillon powder and serve with rice or noodles. I had sprouts, baton carrots and parsnips.......

It's a wrap! (as film-folk say)

Hard boil an egg (not too hard!) and slice. Fry a couple of sliced button mushrooms and some thin slices of gammon/bacon.

Put on a tortilla pancake, with half a grilled tomato.

Cover with grated cheese - I used a mixture of Cheddar, hard goat's and double Gloucester...

Wrap up well - just like your beloved's Chrissie present!

And toast for a few minutes in a sandwich press/George Foreman etc

Delicious brunch......

Griddled Chicken in Thai marinade, fragrant rice

I recently bought a load of reduced-price chicken thighs, boned and froze them with the skin on. Lovely stock from the bones and other trimmings.

For the marinade: 50ml veg oil, 1dstsp Thai green curry paste, 1tsp ginger puree and 1dstsp lime cordial. Mix together and put in 1 large or 2 small flattened thighs per person. Leave for at least an hour. Griddle on a smoking ridged pan each side until the skin is crisp but the meat is still moist and cooked through.

For the rice: half a cup of basmati rice in salted water with 1dstsp dessicated coconut, 1 dstsp tarragon, 1 dstsp lime cordial and 1 scant tsp cinnamon. If I'd had some coconut milk in the house I probably have added a dash too. I find the best results for rice - however unorthodox - is to boil in plenty of salted water in advance until al dente; drain and under rinse under cold water. For service, microwave in a closed casserole dish. Perfect every time.

For the carrot & parsnip patty: a small handful each of of chopped parsnip and carrot cooked
in salted water. Drain & mash; check seasoning, form into a tightly-packed cake and chill for at least an hour. Dip in sesame oil and then into flour. Fry on each side in a lightly-oiled wok. Serve with sweet chilli dipping sauce.

ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS TURKEY

Now that we're into a new year, it's safe to mention the "T" word again!

I'm normally the first to squeal, when Jamie or Gordon or Uncle Tom Cobleigh suggests something new to do with sprouts, "Stop messing with Christmas Dinner - it's meant to be a traditional roast!"...... So it's a bit rich of me to admit that I did something different with my turkey this year. And pigs-in-blankets/stuffing.......

 I'd stocked the freezer up with reduced-price turkey breast steaks when everybody else was buying whole birds or rolled crowns. This was cooked "en papillote-style" in foil on a bed of crushed cranberries - a small handful of fresh berries, broken up in pestle & mortar; add 1 scant tsp sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and leave to infuse. Spread on a sheet of foil, place turkey on top, wrap securely and bake for 15-20mins in a hot oven. Drain the excess juice from meat and  cranberries and add to gravy - I was lucky that I just happened to have a tub of turkey stock in the freezer!

Instead of  of pigs-in-blankets and stuffing I did a combination of the two!
300g sausagemeat and reconstituted sage & onion stuffing mix (50/50), 100g finely chopped bacon, 100g minced onion, 1 kitchenspoon flour, 1 dstsp breadcrumbs, 1 tsp dried chives, 1 tsp dried sage, a shake of pepper and 1 dstsp beaten egg. Mix well together and form into balls or sausages - I always fill a bowl of luke-warm water to moisten my hands. This makes approximately 20 "things". Deep-fry to seal and then bake in a medium oven for about 15 minutes.

Everything else was traditonal - I love sprouts when they're still firm with a sweet, nutty flavour. The tablecloth, as my mother would have said, was doomed!