Passion for Pork Meaty Mixed Grill Feast

Mixed grills are probably more often comprised from not only different cuts of meat but different types of meat. Beef and pork may be the most common but we could equally have chicken, lamb, turkey or more thrown in to the mix. If you have a passion for a particular type of meat, however, such as pork, why not have a go at this recipe or an equivalent creation with such as beef? It definitely makes for a satisfying and interesting change.
 

Pork Mixed Grill Ingredients per Person

1 4oz leg of pork steak
2 pork sausages
2 large middle bacon rashers (or bacon as available)
1 slice of black pudding
2oz minced/ground pork
Generous pinch of dried sage
Salt and white pepper
Vegetable oil for frying
5 cherry tomatoes on the vine
2 small to medium mushrooms
2 slices of onion
1 slice of bread
1 egg
2 tbsp baked beans in tomato sauce

Directions

This mixed grill only takes about half an hour or so to make from start to finish but it is all pretty much hands on cooking. This means you should take care to have everything laid out and ready before starting to cook.

First of all, heat up some oil in a large, non-stick frying pan. Season the leg of pork steak on both sides with salt and white pepper and put it in the pan. Add the un-pricked sausages and cook on a low heat for a total of twenty minutes, turning the sausages frequently and the steak half way through.

Put the minced/ground pork in a bowl, season and add the sage. Mix thoroughly by hand, roll in to a ball and flatten in to a mini burger patty.

Remove the pork leg steak from the pan to a preheated plate and replace with the burger and black pudding. Add the tomatoes on the vine and the mushrooms. Remove the sausages to the plate with the steak and cover with foil to keep warm. Fry the black pudding and burger for five minutes each side, adding the onion rings when they are turned.

Cut a hole in the centre of the bread with an egg cup. Break the egg in to a small bowl and season with salt and white pepper.

Pour some more oil in to a second frying pan and heat. Just before the burger and black pudding are ready, add the bread and carefully pour on the egg, ensuring that the yolk slips in to the hole.

Take the black pudding and burger from the first pan and tuck them under the foil beside the sausages and steak. Replace with the bacon to fry for about a minute and a half each side, moving the onion on top of the mushrooms if you are short of space.

Carefully turn the eggy bread after about three minutes' frying, to fry for about a minute on the second side. Put the baked beans in to a small saucepan and on to a gentle heat to warm through.

Plate the eggy bread with the bacon alongside.

Lay the burger and the black pudding on top of the bacon, the steak on top of the bread and the sausages along either side.

Lay the tomatoes (still on the vine) on top of the steak. Spoon the beans in to the centre of the plate and add the mushrooms and onion on top of the black pudding and pork burger.

As usual, the HP Sauce is optional...

Big British Pasty with Northern Irish Champ (Food for Diamond Jubilee Celebrations)

It can scarcely have failed to escape the attention of anyone in the United Kingdom - and many far beyond - that 2012 is the year in which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee. Celebrations have been taking place, are taking place and will continue to take place throughout the year but it is on Tuesday 5th June that the United Kingdom formally celebrates the occasion with a special national holiday.

A big part of any celebration is of course the food we eat. While most of us can only dream of sitting at the table to partake of one of the many lush state banquets which will take place, this does not mean that we cannot create and enjoy meals appropriate to the occasion. Bearing this in mind, I wanted in the run up to the big day to look at some simple food creations that anyone can prepare at home, symbolic of the Queen, the occasion, or simply of the United Kingdom.  Where better to start in this respect than with a simple, inexpensive dish, the principal ingredients of which represent the four component parts of Her Majesty's Kingdom.

The beef in this pasty is Scottish, the pork is English and the cheese is Welsh cheddar. The prepared pasty is then served with that delicious, creamy comfort food from Northern Ireland, champ, and a glass of Victory Ale, created to commemorate the achievements of the great British naval hero, Admiral Lord Nelson.

Full Ingredients List for Two Servings

4oz Scottish minced beef
4oz English minced pork
2oz Welsh cheddar cheese
8oz puff pastry
Salt and black pepper
Flour for rolling pastry
Beaten egg for glazing
1lb floury/starchy potatoes
3 scallions/spring onions
2oz butter, plus extra for greasing baking tray
2 fl oz milk
White pepper

Directions

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F and grease a baking tray with some butter.

Dust a clean, dry surface with flour and roll out the pastry to a square of slightly more than 13". Use a 13" dinner plate as a template to cut a circle in the pastry. Mix the beef and the pork together and season with salt and black pepper before laying on one half of the pastry - leaving a 1" border - as shown in the photograph below.

The cheese should then be coarsely grated and carefully laid on top of the meat.

Glaze the border of the pasty around the meat and cheese with a little beaten egg. Fold the empty half of the pastry over the filling and carefully crimp the edge to seal. Be wary of stretching the pastry too much - you don't want it bursting in the oven!

A spatula or fish slice is ideal for carefully lifting the pasty on to the baking tray. Glaze it fairly liberally all over with more beaten egg and be sure to make a 1" slit in the top with a sharp knife. This is imperative to allow steam to vent during cooking. Otherwise, the pasty will burst. Put the tray in to the oven and cook the pasty for about thirty-five minutes, until the pastry is beautifully crisp and golden.

When the pasty has been in the oven for about fifteen minutes, it is time to start preparing the champ. The potatoes should be peeled and chopped in to fairly large chunks before being added to a pot of cold, salted water. Bring the water to a boil before reducing the heat to achieve a simmer for about twenty-five minutes until the potatoes are soft.

When the pasty is ready, remove it from the oven and leave it to rest for about ten to fifteen minutes while the champ is completed.

Just before you drain the potatoes, chop the scallions/spring onions and add them to a small saucepan with the milk. Gently heat to bring to a simmer.

Drain the potatoes through a colander and return them to the empty pot. Leave them in the hot pot for a couple of minutes to help them dry out before mashing them with 1oz of the butter. Stir in the milk mix and season to taste with some more salt and white pepper.

Carefully cut the rested pasty in half before transferring to two serving plates with a spatula.

The champ can now be spooned on to the plates beside the pasty halves and half the remaining ounce of butter added to the top of each pile for some extra creaminess and Northern Irish authenticity.

I hope this is a dish you will try at home, whether to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee or simply to enjoy a tasty and nourishing meal. Please also come back soon to find more food ideas relevant to the big occasion in the run up to 5th June, all interspersed between the more usual and universal postings to this blog.

Pan Fried Herring Fillets on Bruschetta with Summer Salad

Herring are a late spring and summer fish here in the UK and with summer (hopefully) on its way, herring are starting to appear more frequently in supermarkets and fishmongers, albeit very much the smaller ones for now. This recipe for one includes two small herring, from which the two side loin fillets have been cut and pan fried.
 

Ingredients per Serving

4 small herring loin fillets
1 small tomato
2" piece of cucumber
2 garlic cloves (1 for salad, 1 for bruschetta)
8 to 10 pitted black olives
Handful of fresh rocket/arugula
1" thick slice of farmhouse bread
Extra virgin olive oil
Flour for dusting fillets
1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 or 3 basil leaves to garnish

Directions

It is advisable to begin by preparing the salad. Chop the tomato in to six wedges and the cucumber in to six even sized pieces. Peel the garlic clove. Add the tomato and cucumber to a small bowl with the olives and grate in the garlic clove. Pour in some extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper and stir well. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until required.

Use a proper filleting knife to take the fillets off each side of the two herring. If you wish, you could ask your supermarket assistant/fishmonger to do this for you.

Scatter some flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper. Wash any blood and innards from the fillets in cold water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Pat the skin side only in the flour and shake off the excess.

Add some vegetable oil to a frying pan and fry the herring fillets on the skin side until you can see they are almost done. This will only take a couple of minutes. Turn off the heat and turn the fillets over to complete cooking while you toast the bread.

Toast the bread on both sides until nicely golden. Peel and crush the second garlic clove and rub it over what will be the top side of the toast. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Lay the bruschetta on a serving plate. Arrange the rocket/arugula alongside and spoon on the salad mixture.

Carefully place the herring fillets on top of the bruschetta and garnish with some freshly torn basil leaves before serving.

Roast Chicken Portions on Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables

This roast chicken recipe on Mediterranean vegetables is a little bit different to those similar recipes featured previously on this blog in that rather than being roasted with the chicken, the vegetables are roasted in the juices only when the chicken has been set aside to rest. As the vegetables used in this instance are fairly delicate, requiring only minimal cooking, this prevents them from being overcooked and served a little bit less than at their best.

The ingredients quoted here will make for two large or up to four medium portions.

Ingredients

1 4lb chicken
Olive oil
Salt and white pepper
1 large aubergine/eggplant
1 large courgette/zucchini
1 large red onion
4 to 6 medium chestnut mushrooms
Chopped coriander leaf/cilantro to garnish

Method

Wash the chicken and pat it dry with kitchen paper. Season the cavity with salt and white pepper. Lightly grease a roasting tray with olive oil and sit the chicken on it, breasts side up. Drizzle more olive oil over the chicken and rub it in evenly with your hands. Pay particular attention to the breasts and thighs. Season with more salt before placing the tray in to the oven - preheated to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6 - for one hour and twenty minutes. This is equivalent to twenty minutes per pound in weight plus twenty minutes over.

After this time, remove the chicken from the oven and pierce the thickest parts of the thigh and breast with a skewer to check the juices run clear. Transfer the chicken to a large serving platter and leave uncovered to rest while the vegetables are prepared.

Wash, dry, top and tail the aubergine (eggplant) and courgette (zucchini). Chop to approximately one inch chunks. Peel and quarter the red onion and wipe and half the mushrooms. Add the vegetables to the roasting tray, season with more salt and white pepper and stir carefully to evenly coat with the juices of the chicken. Put the tray back in to the oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes, stirring carefully again half way through cooking.

The chicken should be carved just before the vegetables are ready. Begin by pulling the leg portions gently out from the carcass, slicing through the skin and flesh and popping the bone free. Remove the wings in a similar way.

Slice either side of the breast bone, cutting in one direction only and following the bones in the ribcage, to remove the two breast fillets.

Lift the vegetables from the roasting tray with a large slotted spoon and lay them on the bottom of the serving dish. Arrange the chicken portions on top and scatter with the roughly chopped coriander/cilantro.

Take the dish to the table and allow each diner to help themselves with serving spoons.

Easy Whole Roast Duck with Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes

Recently, I was cooking a dinner away from home again and it was whole roasted duck that was on the menu. Although there are any number of different ways in which it possible to roast a duck and so many different ways in which we can prepare a duck for the oven, I decided to go for simple as simple gets. The ingredients used prior to putting the duck in to the oven were the duck itself, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Quite literally, nothing else was used at this stage and the results were so impressive, I don't think I will ever roast a duck again any other way.

If the duck which you are going to roast has been purchased frozen, it is absolutely vital that it be fully and appropriately defrosted prior to being cooked. This should be done by placing the duck (covered) in a large dish on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator. Timescales will vary depending upon the size of the duck and full instructions should be on the packaging. It is important also that you remove the duck from the fridge a few hours before you intend to roast it and allow it to come up to room temperature.

Ingredients for Four People

1 4lb duck
Duck giblets and neck
1 large carrot
1 medium onion
2 sticks of celery
Olive oil
1 pint to 1 1/4 pints of cold water
1 glass of red wine
6 medium russet potatoes, or as desired
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sweetcorn, peas, or other vegetable to serve as an accompaniment

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to an initial 425F/220C. This is the temperature at which the duck will be started cooking before it is reduced after around half an hour to 350F/180C. A duck this size should require a total of about two and a quarter hours' cooking time plus twenty minutes to half an hour to rest.

The neck, wing tips and giblets from this duck were in a vacuum sealed pack in the cavity. Remove them and set aside. Wash the duck under running cold water and carefully pat the outside dry all around with kitchen paper. Lay the duck on a large roasting tray and use a metal skewer to puncture the skin quite a few times on the breasts and thighs. Don't go too deep - you only want to allow the fat to run out and not damage the flesh of the duck. Season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the roasting tray in to your preheated oven.

Wash the carrot and celery sticks and roughly chop. Peel the onion and quarter it. Add about a tablespoon or so of olive oil to a medium sized stock pot and gently heat before adding the vegetables to sautee for two or three minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the giblets, neck and wing tips of the duck and stir around. I then added one pint of cold water (a British pint, which is equivalent to one and a quarter US pints) and heated to achieve a gentle simmer. Cover and simmer for an hour to an hour and a half, stirring occasionally and of course ensuring your liquid level doesn't get too low. You shouldn't need to but if necessary, you can add a little more boiling water.

The potatoes should be parboiled and cooled before being roasted. Peel them and chop in to large chunks before adding to a large pot of cold water. Bring the water to a boil on a high heat then reduce and simmer for about fifteen minutes until the potatoes are just softening. Drain through a colander, return to the empty pot, cover and set aside to cool.

When the duck has been roasting for about twenty-five minutes to half an hour, reduce the oven temperature to 350F/180C. Baste thereafter every twenty minutes or so.

The stock should be taken off the heat about ten minutes before the duck is due to come out of the oven. Strain it through a fine sieve over a glass or stone bowl. Discard the solids and return the liquid to the empty pot with the glass of red wine. Bring to a moderate simmer and allow to reduce (uncovered this time) by half.

Take your duck from the oven but don't switch the oven off; instead, increase the temperature to 400F/200C. Very carefully, transfer the duck to a large dish (the washed dish in which it defrosted would be ideal) and cover with foil. Leave to rest.

Put the potatoes in to the hot duck fat and very carefully stir them around to evenly coat with a wooden spoon. Put them in to the oven for a total of twenty minutes, carefully stirring again after ten.

When the potatoes are done, use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a large plate covered with several slices of kitchen paper to drain, while you attend to the duck.

You could of course carve your duck by cutting fine slices off the breast and thigh but you will get far more out of the duck and keep the meat more moist if you instead chop it in to portions.

Lay the duck on a large chopping board and take either a very sharp large knife or ideally a cleaver. Cut through the skin between each leg/thigh portion and gently pull it outwards and down until you can pop the bone from its socket. Slice through any remaining fat or meat and pull free.

The breast fillets should be removed by starting one at a time on either side of the breastbone (top of the duck) and making slit after slit in one direction only, following the shape of the bones with your cleaver. This is not difficult but do take your time and do not saw back and forwards with the blade. Cut in one direction only, letting the sharpness of your blade do the work rather than applied pressure from you. Otherwise the meat may fray and the final effect will be severely compromised.

When the four main portions of the duck have been removed, there will still be a reasonable amount of meat on the carcass. Cover it while you serve and enjoy your meal and return later to pluck it off by hand. Try refrigerating it in a plastic dish and enjoying duck sandwiches or wraps for lunch the following day.

Serve either a leg and thigh or breast portion per person, along with roast potatoes and the sundry vegetable of choice, all of it drizzled with your delicious duck and red wine gravy.

Note: If you don't want to make gravy in this way - or perhaps the giblets weren't provided with your duck - try serving the duck instead with some delicious, homemade plum sauce.