Well its been a funny old week with the weather, i've gone from flouncing around in flip flops & a summer dress to wobbling against the wind on my bike in a scarf & raincoat. The change in a season is always exciting (in my book anyway) & i love that fact it brings along a whole new selection of foods to cook. It's amazing how much better food tastes when it's season, lots of celebrity chefs are pretty vocal about using seasonal produce - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall being the biggest champion. It's sometimes tricky to work out whats actually in season when, but there are lots of websites - i find this one pretty conclusive: www.eattheseasons.co.uk. Seasonal produce can also be cheap as it will be (hopefully) in abundance, so you can eat delicious dishes without breaking the bank. This will make the Houseboy happy, he recently described our relationship to Miss Shannon as 'a bit like Germany & Greece' (i'll give you a hint - i'm not Germany) i take mild affront to that comment but the little bugger is still sticking by it.
Last Saturday night i headed up to North London to spending the evening with Miss Stevenson doppelganger & her lovely other half Mr T. A couples collaboration they served up Chorizo & Squid Casserole, Butternut Squash Risotto & the most amazing Courgette Salad (packed with yummy garlic-ness) i wobbled all the home way home & very nearly fell asleep on the tube. It was a great end to the day especially after Miss Stevenson & i had to suffer seeing Scotland lose to England at the rugby... (never fear-all Scots have an inbuilt buoyancy when it comes to sporting defeats. We've had enough practice) Sunday was long lies, pottering around the flat & celebrating Miss Stewart's birthday in Parsons Green. Since the aforementioned dinner party i have relinquished alcohol (not forever - that's a little drastic, just for a few couple of months) I will admit now there will be some exceptions (could be called premeditated slip ups) with various nights already booked in. Can't say that i'm too fussed to avoiding booze. Primarily due to the vat full i had last weekend. Roll on Friday night drinks where i will be knocking back the lemon, lime & bitters.
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| Cheese. Just because. |
It is a great dish, i made it purely because i had all the ingredients in the fridge & pretty much made it up as i went along - but it worked & the Houseboy ate it, although not a particularly special note - it's very rare he says no to my cooking-he knows me well enough to know i can not take culinary criticism.
Serves 4.
Ingredients:
- 4 pork steaks
- 240g sun blushed tomatoes (they work better than sun dried although you can use them)
- 400g black olives (de-stoned)
- 1 large onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- small glass of red wine
- 1 tsp paprika
- 4 tblsp of creme fraiche
- s&p
Method:
Start proceedings by popping on the oven to 160C. Then slice the pork into thin pieces, finely slice the onion, crush the garlic -place in an oven proof pot. Add the sun blushed tomatoes, olives, paprika, wine. Season. Place in the oven & cook with a lid on until the pork is tender - this can take anything from 50-90minutes depending on your oven & quality of the pork. Once it's ready gently stir in the creme fraiche. I served this with couscous which had lots of parsley through it.
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| Lovely flowers from Nerida |
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