Crispy Pork

Someone sent me a YouTube link of myself cooking crispy pork in 2002. I am shocked at what a young, care-free person I looked like, just six years ago.
Here's the recipe, it hasn't changed much in six years.

Lazy Steak & Pickled Onion Pie

I met a friend for lunch at surely London's best pub, The Anchor & Hope, on Friday. It all went a bit wrong as she was an hour late and I drank the two glasses of Prosecco I'd allowed myself in the first half an hour. And I was really hungry which didn't help. Anyway, we ended up drinking way too much including some excellent dessert wine with our excellent Damson Bakewell Tart. But best of all was the steak pie for two which had cooked-for-hours, fall-apart-meat with a few little pieces of kidney, a dark gravy and a proper 'pork-pie-style' hot-water crust. My current favourite blog Old Foodie says it's pie week this week and so here's my favourite cheat's recipe - it can't compare to the A&H pie but it's quick and easy and uses jars and packets so I am sure Delia would approve.

Serves 4
1 tbsp olive oil
4 rashers smoked streaky bacon
750g cubed casserole or braising steak
4 tbsp plain flour
75cl bottle red wine
1x 450g jar silverskin pickled onions drained and rinsed (250g drained
weight)
3 tbsp redcurrant jelly
2 fresh thyme sprigs
375g pack ready-rolled puff pastry
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Heat the oil in a large casserole pan cut the bacon into 1 cm wide strips, and add to the pan.

2 Season the flour with salt and pepper then toss the steak in the mixture. Shake off any excess flour then add to the pan and cook for 7-8 minutes, turning from time to time until nicely browned.

3 Add the wine, pickled onions, recurrent jelly and thyme. Bring to the boil, partially cover and simmer for 1 hour.

4 Preheat the oven to 200c / gas 6. Open out the pastry and cut to about
2cm larger than the pan, rolling out slightly thinner if necessary. Place on top of the steak, tucking in the edges to enclose the filling. Brush with milk then bake for 20 minutes until golden and puffed.

Local Food Heroes

The new series starts tonight, 9pm UKTV Food. My episode, the Midlands, is on Wednesday at 9pm. Can anyone Sky+ it for me as we've only got rubbish Freeview?

Catastrophe!

Landcroft House has gone into meltdown. The remote control has been missing for 36 hours. I have learned that since we bought our Topfield box it's not good enough just to watch telly but we now have to watch exactly what we want whenever we want. Robert cracked first but now Scrap too, has lost it. "Here Scrap" I said after crouching flat on the floor and pressing a tiny button 112 times. "It's Cbeebies".
"No!" He shouted "No more Big Cook Little Cook!@!!!" Kind of know what he means.
I cannot spend any more precious time looking under the sofa or behind the radiator. What we really need is a bigger, better tv with in-built, recordable freeview!

We're Home!

And how happy was I as the key turned in the door. Cardigan on, heating on, "Is it bed time?" asks Scrap as he gets into his pyjamas by himself and shuts his door behind him. Real Cheddar cheese on toast, glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc and the funniest episode of Coronation Street ever, ever broadcast. Thank you England.

Pictures Off The Telly

I love photos taken from the telly, they have a very nice quality. And if you look closely you can usually see something of the room or a faint reflection of the person crouching in front of the screen with their camera so you sort of get two stories in one.


This first picture is from Euro 2004 when our Scrap was just a newborn and we really thought England were going to win. They were playing Portugal and lost the penalty shoot out. The second picture was taken tonight off the telly in my Plymouth hotel room. If anyone wants to email us a photo off the telly, I’ll post it up.

But while we’re on telly, I’ve just seen an advert for Peter Grant. It’s a spoof, right?

Monday Night Roast

Rob was disappointed not to get a Sunday roast at his Mum's yesterday so once the day was done I made a half-arsed, one-pot roast and it was easy and tasty. I put a small joint of pork (yes, from Sainsbury's but the butchers are shut on Mondays and least it wasTaste the Difference, Outdoor Reared) in the oven on highest for 30 minutes. Turned down the heat and added par-boiled potatoes and parsnips, some baby carrots and a splash of olive oil and cooked for another 30 minutes. Then I added a handful of unpeeled garlic cloves and some of mum's dried oregano and finished it off for another 30 minutes and got good crackling and potatoes that were part-crunchy, part-sticky.

A quick red wine gravy and dinner was on the table just in time for the second part of Corrie. And blimey, how exciting was it! Poor Clare!

Out and A Scout

I’ve been out in the countryside this week as a ‘scout’, interview-ing Local Food Heroes for UKTV food. As a Derbeian, I was given The Midlands as my region. I met farmers, day-old piglets, pure breed Hereford cattle, a woman who made chutney and the best butcher in the world ever (got his own smoke house).

I started my journey in Much Marcle near Ledbury at a great place called the The Scrumpy House which is on the site of a cider mill. I drank 7 different ciders and a delicious perry at 9.30am and got fed fantastic local ham, egg and chips for my lunch. Ledbury is a beautiful place to visit. The Midlands has got a lot: scenery and fresh air, my parents and lots of other family, Stilton, Melton Mowbray Pork Pies, Buxton Water and Bakewell Pudding but still, I felt my pulse settle and life feel right again as my train pulled into dirty old Kings Cross just in time for the rush hour.

Jamie Oliver & His Sexy Salad

It seems 'indifferent' is the best way to explain the results of our latest visitor poll.
Jamie Oliver: Yes or No?
Not many votes but the yeses just about have it. Personally, I like Jamie but I am a bit confused by his sudden swing from Dinner Lady to Lord of the Manor on his latest and let's face it, a bit boring, new tv show. The new book of the series, Jamie at Home however, is very, very lovely. I did hope to steal a recipe from it for Landcroft House but it's not out until next month so I'd probably get sent to prison. Here's a modest old salad of his instead.

The Easiest, Sexiest Salad in The World
"... I love this salad. Apart from being a great combination, it always seems unbelievably effortless, which is the kind of recipe I like. The constant success of this is due to the common-sense marriage of salty Parma ham, milky buffalo mozzarella and sweet figs, which obviously need to be of a good quality. The best figs to use are Italian and the best time to buy them is June to August when they are in season. Greek figs are a good second-best and are in season from September to November. The best figs always seem to be those that are about to split their skins. Use green or black figs - it doesn't really matter.

One thing I do is to criss-cross the figs but not quite to the bottom - 1 fig per person is always a good start. Then, using your thumbs and forefingers, squeeze the base of the fig to expose the inside. At this point you'll think, 'Oooh, that looks nice, I think I'm quite clever ...' or at least I do. More importantly, it allows your dressing to get right into the middle of the fig. All these little things really help to make a salad special. Simply place the figs in a dish, weave around 1 slice of Parma ham or prosciutto per fig, throw in some slices of buffalo mozzarella and rip over some green or purple basil. Mix 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, a tablespoon of good honey and some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper together in a bowl and drizzle everything with this dressing. As far as salads go, it's pretty damn sexy.

PS It's a good idea to have some spare bread on the table to mop up the juices - always a treat..."

Happy Ever Laughter

Have you noticed how many really properly funny programmes are on the BBC at the moment? There's not been anything good on since Catherine Tate turned rubbish so I say hurrah!

Top 3
The Visit
Gavin & Stacey
Still Game

Doctor Who

David Tennant?
OR
John Simm?

Ahhhh

Have you seen that advert for ipod+itunes with Paul McCartney playing his mandolin?
How sweet and happy is he?
That Heather Mills is a damn fool if you ask me.

Eastenders! What's Going On?

I don't watch Eastenders that often being a Corrie girl but I have a mountain of ironing to do tonight so I got suckered in. Thing is, I don't know what the hell is going on! Are all the characters proper mentalists now then? That mad Dr May about to take an unborn baby from that girl? And that child-terrorising girlfriend of Phil's? And the woman that's stalking Crazy Clare Peacock - oh, sorry I'm getting mixed up. So basically after a spate of murders, the soaps have now been taken over by nutters - all of whom appear to be women? Have I got that right?

Trinny and Susannah Undress

Look, I've never been a fan of theirs, never watched their shows but it was on in the kitchen tonight. Did you watch it? Jesus, I cried from start to finish. And what a happy ending. I am a convert. And hey, at least it's not Big Brother!

Well?

It's started on the other side right now.
Shall I turn over?
Are we watching it or are we avoiding it?

Skoda Cake

The Fabia, nice name - brilliant advert! How long did it take to make a full-sized car with an engine out of cake and icing? Did they eat it?

Addicted to Chips

Did you see that programme Freaky Eaters - Addicted to Chips on BBC3 last night?
The brat of a 20 year old girl who would only eat beige carbohydrates – white bread, chips, crisps, oh and butter. The thought of eating any other food made her feel sick. Of course, it soon became clear that it was indeed all her parents fault. The psychologist and nutritionist did their best but in the end they couldn't fix her. I thought she was so lazy and unappreciative, they shouldn't have bothered. Next week – addicted to cheese – can’t wait!

Christmas telly

How bad has Christmas telly been this year? ITV really excelled themselves - a two hour special of Doc Martin on Christmas night! And right now, on Boxing Day, the best they can offer is flipping Pretty Woman. Who hasn't seen it eight times before? It came out 16 years ago for goodness sake. I suppose I'd better watch it again then but I won't enjoy it.

I can't wait for Corrie tonight