Pork Chop & Black Bean Casserole

A slightly uneven rice mountain!

I seem congenitally incapable of following recipes – except if I’m baking. On one of my foodie groups (at breakfast-time yesterday) I read a mouth-watering post by Alicia Kwok for baby ribs in black bean sauce, cooked in a lidded wok – I ended up casseroling a huge spare-rib chop, but retaining all the other ingredients.

INGREDIENTS & METHOD

Soften a big handful of chopped onion - I used white and red – in a wok with 2 tsp chopped garlic puree. Add the spare-rib chop (though any cut of pork will suffice), colour the meat on both sides and stir in 4 dstsp black bean sauce, 1 dstsp soy sauce,1 tsp sesame oil and 50ml water. Bring to boil and then transfer to closed casserole dish. Place in a med-hot oven for 20 mins, and then add 4 florets of broccoli and cook for a further 10 mins. Serve with basmati rice.

Dinner for Lovely Linda

I hadn't seen my mate Linda for ages - like almost every other woman in the northern hemisphere, she's been trying to diet. But I texted her anyway and asked if there was any point inviting her over - even offered her 'healthy'! "Steak & Salad?" I asked. "Steak & Chips!" came the reply. The diet was out the window (for the night, anyway), so she'd bring wine & cheese. If Marco Pierre White can re-invent the classic Berni Inn, so can I! 

The Berni classic Van Dyke Tomatoes

Instead of a bog-standard Prawn Cocktail I added mussels and diced melon (4 handfuls of prawns, 2 handfuls shelled mussels,  2 handfuls diced melon); my Thoroughly Modern Marie Rose used 4 dstsp Mayo, 1 tsp tomato ketchup, 1 tsp lime cordial, 3 shakes Worcester sauce, 1 tsp ginger puree and a pinch of cayenne pepper. I'd run out of brown bread so I sliced up a dinky little granary roll, slathered with real butter!

Prawn, Mussel & Melon Cocktail

Main course was Sirloin steak with a Van Dyke tomato and a field mushroom each; spicy, roasted wedges (olive oil, paprika, S+P, a pinch of cayenne pepper and cracked black pepper), freshly-podded peas, mixed salad and a tomato, basil & garlic sauce. Washed down with a cheeky little South African Cape.

 I could do with a bigger dinner table!

Perfect quadrillage (even if the tomato is not)!

We adjourned then to Tallula's to see The Undertakers (think Merseybeat c.1963) and then back for cheese & bickies and a start on the next bottle of vino. Great night!

Seafood Pie

INGREDIENTS & METHOD:

Peel 2 large potatoes, cut into small dice, cover with hot water and boil to make the mash topping.
In another pan soften 2 handfuls of chopped onions in a little oil and butter; add a good handful (about 100g) of diced white fish - I used Pollock - and cook until fish begins to colour. Add 2 handfuls of prawns and 1 handful of shelled mussels. Mix together gently and then make a roux with 1 tsp of plain flour before whisking in half a cup of milk. Stir in 1tsp (dried) chives, half a tsp of English mustard, 1tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper. Cook through for a few minutes and then transfer to an oven-proof pie dish. Top with the mashed potato - I forgot to glaze mine with egg-wash - and bake in a hot oven for approx 15 mins.

 

 

After-pub Snackette

The burgers may have been junk 

but the tomato & olive bread was gorgeous!

Curry-crusted Chicken Breast

A chicken breast slathered with a curry paste made from yoghurt mixed with Madras curry powder, garlic puree, ground coriander and cumin, and then sprinkled with a top-crust of salt and Madras curry powder. The spicy wedges are seasoned with S+P, paprika and some Arrabbiata grill shake I've had lying around for years: cracked black pepper and a touch of chilli would serve just as well. Roasted veg I used were courgettes, red onions, red and yellow peppers, seasoned with garlic puree. Easy-peasy meal to cook as everything took 45 minutes to bake/roast in a hot oven.

Docker's Fried Egg Butty

YUM!!!

Spicy pork on an island of crushed broccoli & garlic

INGREDIENTS & METHOD:
1 large spare rib pork chop (though any cut would do) marinated for at least an hour in 100 ml vegetable oil, 1 dstsp soy, 1 tsp garlic puree, 1 tsp ginger puree, 0.5 tsp chilli powder, 1 dstsp lime cordial, 1 tsp tomato puree and S+P to taste. I griddled mine for about 5 minutes each side but it could have been grilled or dry-fried.

For the crushed broccoli I used half a head of broccoli chopped (discard only the very bottom of the stem) in lightly-salted hot water to cover. Mash the broccoli in the pan as it cooks and add 1 tsp garlic puree and a pinch of sugar as the cooking water reduces. I deliberately didn't liquidise as I wanted some bite left. Boil on high until all the water evaporates.

Mine was served with new potatoes and poached celery.

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

Grandma Becky's

PRESENTS

SKOOL DINNERS PARTY NIGHT
ON
SATURDAY 3rd OCTOBER 1998
AT
 8.00 for 8.30pm

"For what we are about to receive
may the Lord make us truly thankful."

Dinner
Served with scoops of mashed potato, diced carrots and dead cabbage.

MINCE PIE
Some sort of lumpy grey matter (including ground bone & gristle) in a glutinous gravy, encased in a pie crust.

CHEESE PIE
Some sort of lumpy yellow matter (bearing no relation to any known dairy product) baked on a pie crust.

TOAD IN THE HOLE
The stools of  the proverbial butcher's dog, cremated inside a frangible Yorkshire Pudding batter confection.

IRISH STEW served with slices of beetroot.
Bits of gristle & everything-but-the-kitchen-sink ( but not forgetting the pigswill bucket), submerged in ectoplasm.

BATTERED FISH
As in assault & etc. Except for its size, you'd think it had been reared in an aquarium in the biology labs.

SPAM SALAD
Wilted lettuce, one slice of tomato, one of cucumber and the beetroot left over from the last Irish Stew day.


Afters
Served with globs of artificially-yellow custard substitute

MANCHESTER TART
Short-crust pie base filled with a stratum of jam and topped with a layer of set custard.

STODGE PUDDING
A wodge of home-made sponge riddled with squashed flies.

PRUNES
Unstoned sun-dried plums in a blackish syrup.

RICE PUDDING & A DOLLOP OF JAM
Speciality of the house. Some may prefer a spoonful of the commercially-produced jam.


TICKETS NOW ON SALE AT £5.00 per person.

Beetroot & Horse-radish Mayonnaise

In memory of Sarah Rebecca Supran
(3rd April 1888 - 3rd November 1966)

My yiddisher grandmother, "Grandma Becky", always used to have on the table a condiment/relish called Chrain. Made from beetroot and horse-radish, I have successfully experimented with these 2 ingredients over the years: smoked herring & beetroot pate is one of my favourites. This simple dressing was 2 parts mayo to 1 part creamed horse-radish.

Tuna, St Agur Cheese & Fresh Pea Penne

A bit posher than the average studenty pasta

INGREDIENTS & METHOD

Soften a handful of chopped onions in a little vegetable oil, add half a tin of tuna (I kept the chunks as large as possible), a handful of St Agur or similar soft blue cheese, 2 handfuls of peas (I used freshly podded ones); season with 2 tsp liquid fish bouillon or anchovy paste and 1 scant tsp cracked black pepper.

Combine with cooked penne, drizzle with olive oil and milk to moisten, and heat through.

Swede & Spring Onion Soup

Just the thing for lunch on a miserable day...

INGREDIENTS & METHOD:

1 med swede – I cooked mine in the pressure cooker.
Liquidise with 6 spring onions - white halves - and 1L cooking water.
Swill out liquidiser jug with 200ml water and return to pan. Finely chop/snip green part of onions and add. Thin with 200ml of milk and season with 1 scant tsp salt a pinch of black pepper and 1 scant tsp sugar.

Cook through for about 5 minutes and serve.