Category: Leeks

The Roast Pork challenge begins!

January 29, 2014

One thing I am very passionate about is not wasting food.  A Love/hate relationship I have.  
  Being creative and seeing what you can come up with from your leftovers is just fab!  I have written about this sort of thing before and will continue throughout my Blog. It excites me seeing the outcome of meals that you can produce.  Some of my best dishes/recipes have been created when doing this and Im sure some of you will agree too. 
  At the moment Sainsbury’s are currrently doing a campaign to Make your Roast go further, So I popped in, bought a generous sized British pork shoulder joint and this is the first dish. Obviously… The Sunday Roast… Bring on the “Porkathon”!




Roast British Pork Shoulder with spiced Cider Gravy:

Ingredients (Pork Joint):

-Pork Shoulder 
-1 onion
-1/2 a leek
-1 Carrot
-3 Bay leaves
-3-4 Garlic cloves crushed
– a scattering of Fennel seeds
-Small sprig of Rosemary
-Tspn of Dijon mustard
-Tspn of honey
-Approximately 2-300ml of dry Apple cider( drank the rest of the bottle )
-Water
-Rapeseed Oil or whatever oil/fat you prefer to roast your meats in.
– You could even put some apples at the bottom of the tray with the veg if they need using up.

Take your Pork shoulder joint out of the fridge to bring up to room temperature for no more than 30 minutes.

Preheat your Oven on 220c as you want your oven to be nice and hot to crispen the skin. This will make awesome crackling. 


Place all of the vegetables and herbs as above into a deep roasting tray. You will notice there is a little bit of red onion on the picture as it just needed using up, just like the rest of the tray veg.
 Score the pork skin with a Stanley knife and rub in sea salt keeping it dry. Before your Pork goes on, add a drizzle of rapeseed oil over the veg. Place the Pork joint on top as so…


Then pop the Pork into the oven for about 20-25 mins depending on the size of your joint. 
After that time, take out the pork and it should start to look something like this?…

Turn your oven down to 160c, add a few splashes of your Cider into the roasting tray, plus a little water. Now, also at this point I then brush around the meat only, some honey and dijon mustard. It only coats the outer meat, but makes those nice end bits tasty!  It also makes a our great gravy at the end! 
Cover with foil and roast for anything between 2-3 hours depending on the size of your meat. 
Always note: keep checking your joint adding more water to the roasting tin and the cider to keep it moist and for your Gravy at the end. This will give lots of gooey black bits (hey aren’t burnt) that add loads and loads of flavour.
Once you have checked your joint is done, take out to rest for 20-30 mins.
Whilst it is resting, you can get on with the Cider Gravy…
Take the vegetables out from the roasting tray, place over a low heat to allow a sticky, bubbling goodness to erupt. Add plain flour to thicken,whisking in and add water to a gravy thickness. You could always add more pork or chicken stock if needed.

Ya can’t beat a good ‘ol Sunday Roast! 









My warming beef stew with a hint of the med

February 12, 2013

Over The weekend in The Uk…As the “High meets the Low”, and brings in the Snow…I decided to cook a warm Hearty meal again but not too heavy.  I personally Do not mind the snow, as I have mentioned before that I love seasonal change and of course the food brought with it.  But maybe some of my readers would appreciate a bit “more warmth”. As some might have that thought of the Lovely foods abroad as we start looking at those Flights and Hotels and jetting away for summer. (I know You are out there!).

 So My perfect recipe I thought for this is…

 My Warming Beef Stew with a hint of the med.(Half English Stew and Greek Beef Stifado).


ChezJ9 © 2013.



Recipe : 

(Serves 4)

Beef Shin or Chuck diced 400g
Olive oil 
2 Onions roughly chopped
Plain flour to coat the meat
seasoning 
approx 250ml good quality Beef Stock (strong) any questions on this please comment me?
Red wine (Chianti) 250ml
2 tblsps of Tomato puree 
A good pinch of oregano I had dried but if fresh, use half at the beginning and half at the end.
2 or 3 Bay leaves dry or fresh again
Dash of Balsamic vinegar
2-3 Carrots
2-3 Parsnips
1 medium sized Leek sliced very chunky 3/4 inch thick
2 chestnut mushrooms finely chopped
Fresh Basil and Parsley to serve.


Pat Your meat with a good quality kitchen towel or Tea towel as your meat needs to be nice and dry to help it brown.  Then coat it lightly in plain flour with some salt and cracked black pepper. Not too much salt as you can always add later on.
 In a hot Deep stewing/casserole pan start to brown off the meat using the olive oil. Once it has a nice browning around the edges take out and place on Kitchen paper. 
 Start frying of half of the chopped onions until starting to brown. Add the Bay leaves, oregano, Beef, Tomato puree, dash of balsamic vinegar, Beef stock and the Red wine. Give a good stir and keep on a simmering heat. Always keep checking your stew to take off any scum from the flour also in fear of drying out. if so just keep tasting and adding water and if need be more wine and beef stock. 
 Once the meat is starting to become soft add your carrots, then after 8 minutes your parsnips and about 5 minutes after, your leeks and mushrooms go in.

If you find at any point it’s too tart, then add a touch of cinnamon.  When it is ready to serve add the chopped Basil and Parsley.

As this is such a versatile dish, you could serve with Crusty Bread, Polenta, Rice or In my case…Mashed Potato (Maris Pipers). I added Cream, Butter, seasoning and 1/2 teaspoon of Horseradish sauce (The best you can find). 

Please at any point if you feel you don’t understand somethings on this recipe? just contact me? as it sounds a long, complicated dish but once you get the hang of these sorts of dishes…they will come as a breeze to you 🙂