Taking it slow......................

After a fantastic dinner with friends last night, where a spectacularly flavoursome lamb dish was served, I have finally purchased a slow cooker.  We were given one as a present yonks ago,  however it was only a 'for one' size.  It slowly rusted out at the back of the cupboard through lack of use and was relegated to the bin.

Last night's gorgeous flavours made me get off my arse (well, my fingers to the keyboard) and buy a 6.5l slow cooker on-line.  I took advantage of Tesco's clubcard vouchers and exchanged them for double their value to use against purchases online.  Nothing, if not thrifty!!!

So, my gorgeous little shiny parcel will arrive early next week and I can't wait to play!!!!  My favourite way of cooking is 'slow' and the boys are eagerly anticipating the churning out of new recipes.

So thank you friends....you made my hubby part with money.......well kind of!!!!  I apologise in advance if I bore you all senseless with slow cooker blogs over the next few weeks!!!!

Pulling my leg????? (well, shoulder actually!)

At the request of Jacob, last night's dinner was a simple pulled pork dish.  Super-easy to make.  Super-delicious!!!  Always a favourite, taking minimum effort, this is a comforting dish that can be easily jazzed up to more than satisfy those dinner guests.  Again, experiment with flavourings and do it YOUR way - there is no right or wrong here.  Oooh, except for the cut of pork.  Please use shoulder - the fat throughout the meat will melt deliciously into the joint and give it moisture and unbelievable flavour.  Leg or loin will not produce the same mouth-watering delectibility. 

Simple Method:

1 Shoulder of Pork - size doesn't matter, unless REALLY small, I always cook for more or less the same amount of time - remember, you can always turn the oven down.

A medley of flavour producing veg:  carrots, onions, fennel is stunning in this!!  A whole head of garlic, parnsips even.  Just a couple of each, chopped roughly into large pieces.  Leave the garlic whole - you don't even need to peel it. 

Your favourite herbs:  Sage is great.  Rosemary works just as well and holds up satisfyingly in the cooking process.  Fresh if possible, whatever is in your garden pots.  Dry will work too.

Set your oven to at least 200 degrees centigrade.

1. Now, I could bleat on about buying the most organic piece of pork you can find in your budget.  However, the real beauty of this meal is that you can just grab a joint from the fridge and go.  As long as pork is British, I wouldn't be sniffy about it.  It is a cost-effective, great family meal - you can visit the most expensive butcher in town when trying to impress guests if you like!!!
2. If your pork is packaged in plastic, try to remove it the night before you need it and put the pork back into the fridge to dry out.  However, this isn't overly necessary and let's face it - our busy lives get in the way of remembering such things!!  I can sometimes just decide to do this dish at the last minute and it still produces amazing crackling.  Just make sure you dry it off with some kitchen roll first before you cook it.  Make sure there are some decent slits in the rind, if not just create a couple more (stanley knife is perfect for this!).  Then sprinkle the rind with a generous amount of salt.  Again, common or garden table salt will do!
3. Place the meat in a roasting dish - doesn't matter if metal, glass, ceramic - whatever will hold the joint comfortably without being over-large so that too much air circulates and it dries out.  But not too small that the rind will be drowning in the juices as it cooks.  Put the pork in the oven for about an hour at the high temperature. 
4. After about an hour or so you should be able to see the crackling start to form - it will be a little bubbly but obviously not over-crunchy at this point.  Now, take the pork out of the oven and turn the temperature down to around 140 degrees centigrate.  Carefully cover the dish with about three layers of tin foil and put back into the cooler oven.  Now, go and enjoy yourself!!  This dish will sit comfortably for four hours - if it looks as if is is running away with itself, just reduce the temperature to 130.  It is going to sit there for ages, so it WILL cook.  I usually cook the joint for around 6/8hrs in total, depending on the size.
5. About 2hrs before you will be ready to serve, put the vegetables and herbs in the bottom of the dish and sit the pork on top.  Return to the oven for an hour.  You can drizzle the pork juices over the joint at this point too.
6. 1hr before you're ready to serve, remove the foil, whack the oven up to around 180/190 degrees and let the crackling crunch.
7. The pork underneath and edges will be caramelising with the veg - give the veg a good stir around.  I don't ever put the veg in this dish intending to serve it.  Rather just let it gently permeate the flesh and flavour it.  You can mash the veg at the end and make a gravy out of it - delicious; but remember to drain the fat out of the pan if you do this - fatty gravy, not nice!
8. When the crackling is crunchy, remove pork from the oven.  Remove the crackling carefully and put to one side.  Cover the pork with tin foil for about 1/2hr if possible to let it rest.  Then with a knife and fork, shred the meat and serve!!!  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmn!!!

Tip:  Crackling.  Don't stress if your crackling doesn't crackle!!  Once you've removed it from the joint, you can pop it back into the oven to crisp up.  There are so many 'methods' I've heard about for crisping your crackling - however I never end up with soggy offerings!!  Don't stress about it, it will crunch up one way or another!

SERVING:  Now, this dish can be served with gorgeous roasties, braised red cabbage, roasted veg, gravy etc.  Or just simply, as we had it last night, with toasted pitta bread and coleslaw!!  Delicious!!!!

This was a smaller joint than normal.  The bottom has caramelised beautifully!  My fave bits!

Pulled Pork, beautifully succulent! The garlic, fennel & carrots are my hubbies fave bits to nibble on before the main deal!

Fruits of our Labour!

Just quickly sharing a piccie of our picking efforts over the weekend!!!  The kids are almost as big foodies as we are and my two sons adore spending time in the kitchen!!!

So, off we went to the local fruit farm.  Yes, I know, I know!!  I should have had an abundance of the berries in our garden, but I didn't!!  A small plant has produced a handful of fruit - but that is it!!!  So on a lovely sunny afternoon we trundled out to pick.

The boys had a great time, only the hubby ate enough to warrant a tummy ache!!  I almost didn't think we were going to emerge from the raspberry canes at one point - VERY triffidlike!!

Anyway, here is what we picked!!

The keen-eyed of you will spot my other love - red wine!!!

Jacob, my eldest made this:

We also made some custard based ice-cream, milkshakes (of course!) - plus a scrummy balsamic strawberry sauce to go with some chicken!

Yummy!!!!

Can't wait for the blackberries!!!  Watch this space for the blackberry vodka!!!

Marvellous Marrow!

Well, it had been a good few years since I last cooked with the humble marrow.  However, on a country walk out with the kids we came across a produce stall that was selling flowers (I bought some!) & veg.  A medium sized marrow was sitting on the bench begging for me to pick it up!!  My youngest proudly sported the marrow home on the walk as if it were a trophy!!!
Size really does matter with the marrow.  Too big and you won't get that delicious summery flavour coming through and it will take too long to cook, with a rough texture.  Don't think "big is better"!!!  I stuffed ours with a delicious spicy minced beef mixture.  It went down a treat and I shan't wait as long next time to make it again!!  Quick guide to stuffed marrow below:

Serves 4

1 Marrow - not too big, not too small ;-)
500g Minced Beef or Lamb
3 Cloves Garlic (I used five, 'cos we're garlic freaks!!)
2 Onions - sliced
1 Box Passatta or Can of Chopped Tomatoes 14oz - whichever you prefer
Squidge of Tomato Puree or chef's secret, tomato ketchup (the sugar lifts the tomatoes)
350ml of Stock - just make up a good pint tho and use what you need
Create your own spice mixture:  I used chilli flakes, cumin, coriander, Spanish hot paprika and fresh ginger.  Use whatever you like in whatever amounts you prefer.  A squeeze of lime or lemon will also lift the flavours. I used a good couple of teaspoons each of the milder spices and a shake or so of chilli flakes...I just guess on the spices!
Olive Oil
Grated Cheese of your choice

1. Start first by making your spiced meat mixture.  I always let a ragu or minced meat mixture cook out for at least 1.5hrs - 4 is perfect, but we don't always have that much time on our hands!!!
2. Shallow fry the onions in a little olive oil until softened and slightly coloured.  Turn the heat low and throw in the garlic (chopped or crushed) and fry for a minute or two - don't burn as it will become bitter.  Chuck in the rest of your spices and stir-fry out for two minutes.  Add minced beef and turn up heat until browned.
3. Once browned, add your wet ingredients.  Stir in tomato puree/ketchup, tomatoes and stir well.  Some salt, pepper and then lastly the stock.  Add about half the stock and just top up as and when you need it.  You need to aim for a thick mixture, but with some moisture.  Leave to simmer gently for as long as you can.  At lease 1.5hrs to get the flavours through.
4. Just before you are an hour away from being ready to serve dinner, take your gorgeously plump marrow and slice it lengthways in half.  Remove seeds and stringy pulp so that you have lovely hollows for your meat and place it into a pan of boiling water (if you don't have a pan large enough, cut into four pieces instead of two).  Turn off heat and let it sit there for 10 minutes or so until you are ready to stuff - this just helps soften.
5. Next line a roasting dish with enough foil so that you can parcel your marrow for oven baking.  Sit the marrow halves or quarters in the dish and spoon the meat mixture into the hollows.  Spoon any extra into the bottom of the dish around marrow...I like the succulence this gives the marrow, rather than a dry mixture.  Sprinkle some grated cheese onto the top of the marrow portions and parcel up.  Place into the oven for around 45 minutes, or until marrow soft.  Undo the foil and allow the cheese to brown in the oven for a few minutes.

Tip:  Don't worry if the mixture oozes out all over the place, really doesn't matter - this dish is about flavour, not elegance!!!

Serve with some fresh summery salad leaves or maybe boulangere potatoes (I had leftovers from the night before, so this is what I did!!!)

Delicious - a perfect way to champion the marrow which is so undervalued.....