Pork Chops with Mushrooms

Sunday, 13th January 2013

Based on a Delia recipe, without wild mushrooms, just what I could get at the supermarket. Unfortunately this didn't come out so well. The sauce was very lemony and had way to much crème fraîche, which overpowered the meat juices. My chops were certainly thick and meaty but came out rather dry - I think I should have used a cut of meat with more fat in it.

Crispy Roast Duck with a Confit of Sour Cherries

Saturday, 29th January

Crispy Roast Duck with a Confit of Sour Cherries (Delia), tiny roasted new potatoes (ala Nigella), broccoli with almonds and rasberry vinegar - Sainsbury's Delicious Vegetables p12.  Salad of lambs lettuce, fennel salami and goats cheese.  Première Bulle Premium Crémant de Limoux 2007.

I like stuffing with my roast dinners, so I added a homemade sage, onion and salami stuffing to Delia recipe.  I got the duck at the local market (not from the supermarket, so it was not wrapped in cling-film) and the skin was nicely dry and came up beautifully crispy.  It was a little smaller than the recipe called for (enough for 3 probably) and I think 2 hours roasting was a little bit too long, although being stuffed it would have taken a bit longer than otherwise anyway.  It was certainly well cooked when it came out but was still lovely and moist without being too greasy.  The sour cheery confit was a delicious accompaniment to the meat.

The salad was a variation on one I did a couple of weeks ago with a different goats cheese and a different salami.  In this case the cheese was marinated in oil and thyme and is fabulous, but perhaps a little too intense for the salad.  The broccoli cooked for a little longer than I planned while I carved the duck, but turned out just right in the end.  The idea of adding flour to the potatoes to make them extra crispy was new to me, but worked very well.  I had no semolina so I used what I did have - chapati flour.

Italian Deli specialities

Saturday, 15th January

Got a few fresh made wild boar tortellini and spinach and ricotta tortelloni (a bigger variety) from the local italian deli.  Although these would certainly have been fine with just oil and herbs, we made a light sauce of softened onions, butter, oregano and a dash of white wine.  The wild boar tortellini were excellent.  Then, for a second course, a plate of meats and cheeses with ciabatta, also mostly from the same deli.  I love these selections of different delicacies to nibble while watching a film (in our case the BBC production of Shakespeare's The Tempest).