Pork

Sausage Stew

Serves 2-3, double for 4.

• 4 rashers streaky bacon chopped

• 400g herby sausages cut into chunks

• 1 medium onion cut into chunks

• 2 field mushrooms cut into chucks

• 250 ml red wine

• 500ml  250 ml chicken stock

• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

• 1 tbsp lose thyme leaves

• 1 teaspoon Dion mustard

• 1 tbsp tomato puree

• Salt & black pepper

Using a wok or large frying pan, heat bacon over low heat until fat starts to run before adding onion.  Turn up heat so that they fry together, adding olive oil if necessary.  Add sausage pieces frying until sausages brown.  Add Mushrooms, cook for 5 minutes stirring regularly, add thyme, tomatoes stock and wine with a generous amount of seasoning.  Stir in mustard and tomato puree, cover with lid or foil, summer 30 minutes or so.  Stir from time to time prevent sticking.

Baker's Porkpot

Serves 4

• 680g (1½ lb) spare rib or shoulder of pork, cut in 1-in cubes

• 225g (½ Ib) large pork sausages

• 1 onion, chopped

• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced

• 3 sticks celery, chopped

• 1 level teaspoon flour

• 1 pint chicken stock

• ½ level teaspoon dried rosemary

• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

• Salt and pepper

Topping:

• 7 or 8 slices French bread about ½in thick

• French mustard

Fry pork and sausages together gently in their own fat until sausages are lightly browned. Remove to 4 pint shallow casserole, cutting sausages into 1-in. long pieces.  Fry onion, carrot and celery together for 5 minutes in remaining pork fat. Stir in flour and blend in stock.

Bring to boil, stirring, and add remaining ingredients.  Pour over meat, cover and cook at 180C, 350 deg F, Gas Mark 4, for 45 minutes.

Spread bread liberally with mustard and place on the casserole, with mustard side uppermost. Press bread down into casserole and return to oven, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Mum note:  Wonderful.  Paul’s favourite dish often requested. 

Tartiflette

Serves 6  

Traditionalists would insist that the dish contains just cheese, potatoes and bacon, but I like to add a good glug of cream

• 1kg large waxy potatoes, unpeeled

• Sea salt and ground black pepper

• A knob of unsalted butter

• 200g smoked bacon lardons

• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

• 75ml dry white wine

• 200ml double cream

• 300g reblochon cheese  (or available alternative),  thickly sliced  

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (190C non-fan).  Cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water for 10-12 minutes until just tender. Drain, thickly slice and set aside.

2. Heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the lardons until starting to crisp.  Add the garlic and wine and bubble until the wine is almost gone. Season, remove from the heat and stir through the cream and potato slices.

3. Layer the potato mixture with most of the cheese slices in a large ovenproof dish, pouring over any remaining cream from the pan at the end before topping with a final layer of cheese.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and bubbling.

Pork Casserole

Mums’ own invention

• Tenderloin cut into cubes floured in seasoned flour.

• Tin chestnuts

• Grainy mustard

• Bottle (small) cider – beer bottle size

• Parsley

• Onions (shallots)

• Agen prunes

160 C for two hours.

Try with sausages.

Mum’s note:  Paul loved this, either with the tenderloin or sausages and sometimes both!  He would even eat some broccoli alongside - a bit of a mealtime triumph.

Ham cooked in beer with spiced cherries

• 2 fl oz tins cherries

• 7fl oz wine vinegar

• 4tbs sugar per ½ pint of liquid

• 4 cardamom pods – seeds

• 4 cloves

• Stick of cinnamon

• Allspice

• Salt

Drain and reserve cherries.  Boil liquid with vinegar.   Add sugar, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, allspice and salt.  Reduce until sticky.  Pour over cherries, store in jar.

Ham:  Soak overnight.

• 2 bottles or cans Guinness type beer

• 1 onion

• 1 carrot

• 1 stick celery

• 5oz brown sugar or treacle

• 1 tbsp whole peppercorns

• ½ cinnamon stick

• 1 tbs cloves

Put above in pan of cold water with ham.  Bring to boil.  Cover, reduce to low heat.  Cook 3 hours and turn.  Allow to cool in the liquid.

Preheat oven to 200c (425F).  Trim skin from ham.  Score fat and pattern with cloves (stud diamonds of fat).  Brush on cherries.  Bake 10-12 minutes until glazed and blackened.  Serve with spiced cherries and chestnut puree beaten into sour cream.