Sunshine pig stew

A few items had caught my eye on the most recent shopping trip - streaked pork shoulder, sweet dried pears and the oddly bright green of pistachio nuts. This evening they met again as they were put together for a serendipitous sweet pork stew. That name didn't quite stick when I heard a particular suggested alternative - I present to you, Sunshine Pig Stew!

Olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 pieces pork shoulder, diced

2 - 3 splashes white wine (approx. 3 tbsp)

1 bay leaf

1 tsp paprika

6 dried apricots, soaked and sliced

4 dried pear halves, soaked and sliced

Soaking water from the apricots and pears

Hot water

1 tsp tomato purée

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Salt

Black pepper

Sweet potato, cubed

Brown basmati rice, 1/2 cup per person

Peas or petits pois, 1/8 cup per person

12 pistachios, roughly chopped

Cilantro, roughly chopped

Sauté onion in olive oil until nicely browned. Remove to a dish, add a little more oil to the pan, and seal meat over a medium heat.

Return onions to pan, and add a few splashes of white wine. Let the alcohol burn off, and then stir in the bay leaf and paprika.

Add water to cover the pork and onions and bring to a simmer. (Omit using soaking water here if you care to reduce eventual overall sweetness.)

When bubbling gently, season the stewing meat with the tomato purée, mustard and the vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste, then let simmer gently for 30mins.

Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to the boil, and add brown rice. Cook until just done (approx. 25mins), drain, then stir in the peas and set aside to rest. (Note: if using frozen peas, defrost in some cold water first.)

Add cubed sweet potato to the stew, and simmer it until just cooked. (It should have developed a rich coloured sauce, courtesy of the slightly caramelised onion, paprika and tomato. With the added sweet potato the glimmers of sunshine should be showing through!)

Serve up over the rice and peas, and sprinkle on some chopped pistachios and cilantro to taste.

Enjoy your Sunshine Pig Stew - good alongside a fruity Sauvignon Blanc!

A brunch with peppers and basil

The herb, that is. I'm quite fond of brunch as it usually means I've been up doing something that's left me hungry and lively, and that I have an appetite for putting several of my favourite foods together. Perhaps there should be more dinner-brunches. (Brunchins? Oh dear.)

1 slice rye bread

Extra virgin olive oil

1/2 red pepper, diced (orange and yellow would work nicely too)

Handful cherry tomatoes, halved

Few basil leaves, shredded

1/2 avocado, cubed

1/2" by 4" piece of feta

Few slices salami (German peppered is good with rye)

1 - 2 eggs (beaten if you prefer, I just scramble them in the pan)

Put the rye bread on to toast. (It takes a little while if using a grill (broiler) - if using a normal toaster, put the bread in after cooking the pepper/tomato bit, just before you start the eggs.) Meanwhile, heat up a little olive oil to a medium temperature in a frying pan.

Add the red pepper to the pan, and fry for a minute or two, keeping it tender and juicy. Stir in the tomatoes, mix in for 30 seconds or until warmed through and just softening up, then turn off the heat and add the basil. Mix and remove to a bowl.

Keep an eye on your rye bread if it's under the grill, turning when necessary. It should be about done by now, so to the plate with it, buttering where required.

Add a little extra oil to the frying pan, having not cleaned it if you want to keep the pepper/basil flavours. On a gentle heat add in the eggs. Scramble until just cooked, keeping them soft.

Serve eggs up immediately, so they don't overcook in the pan. Add the red pepper and tomato alongside it on the plate.

Then arrange the avocado and salami too, before crumbling the feta on to it. Dress the avocado with a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some black pepper.

Enjoy! Good with a cup of coffee and some orange juice.

Coriander and coconut carrot soup

Sometimes a few simple ingredients fall together under one's fingertips and a magical type of gathering occurs. I had carrots, the homegrown-flavoured almost musky sort. A colleague had a while ago mentioned making coriander and carrot soup. What pricked my culinary ears was the realisation that I also had a bit of coconut milk in the fridge. Oh my.

Olive oil
1/2 small onion, minced
1" piece of ginger, peeled and minced
2 - 3 fine slices of red chilli, minced
4 - 5 medium sized carrots, peeled and sliced
1 tsp paprika
1/8th cup coconut milk
1/8th of a lemon
3 - 4 cups good vegetable stock
Bundle of coriander leaves, chopped

Heat up the olive oil in a pan over a gentle heat. Add in the onion, ginger and chilli, stir, and leave to softly sizzle. Cover pan with lid.

Once the onion has turned a little translucent, add the carrot. Sauté gently for a bit, then add the paprika and leave for a minute or two. (This spice works really quite well here.)

The carrot should now be a little softened. Pour in the vegetable stock (reserve some if you're not sure how thin you may want the soup to be), and bring to a simmer. Gently cook for a few more minutes, taking care not to overcook the carrot to mush.

Pour in coconut milk, and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Stir in fresh coriander.

Now remove the pan from the heat, let cool a bit, and then whip out your handy immersion blender. Purée the contents of the pan to soup, adding more vegetable stock if required to desired consistency and carrottyness.

Adjust lemon juice to taste now that everything's been mixed up together. This should be offsetting the sweetness of the carrot and onion rather nicely, and giving the dish a hint of Thai flavour.

Serve up with a little drizzle of coconut milk and a few coriander leaves to make it pretty. Or forget, and just tuck in and enjoy.

Garlic beef, mushrooms and peppers

It seems that no matter the effort put into using a wok on a flat electric hotplate, it is outdone by the feeblest of efforts over a gas flame. (Admittedly my preferred wok has had a concavedly curved base for years, which didn't help matters.) To gas, and the deliciousness it can so easily bring about!

There was some beef remaining, and my stir frying seemed almost a half-forgotten skill. I remembered red pepper, and pulled out the rest of the still perfectly silken mushrooms. Garlic and oyster sauce, I thought, and then the rest sort of fell together.

Grapeseed oil

1 small onion, sliced into 1/16ths

2" piece red chilli, finely sliced

4 - 5 chestnut mushrooms, quartered

Half a red pepper, diced

1 piece of tender steak, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

Dozen or so chives, chopped

2 - 3 tsp oyster sauce

1 - 2 tsp shaosin rice wine

1 - 2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp cornflour made to a thin paste with cold water

Beni shoga (salty pickled ginger - the fluorescent red strands)

Jasmine rice

Rinse and drain the rice (repeating 'til clear.) Bring equal parts rice and water to the boil, then cover with a lid and set onto the lowest heat possible to cook and steam.

Heat up some grapeseed oil in the wok, and on medium-high heat stir fry onion until it colours to your liking. (2 - 3 mins gives a bit of char.)

Add chilli, blacken a bit before stirring in red pepper. Soften for 30 seconds or so, then add in the mushrooms. Cook for a minute.

Stir in the garlic for 10 seconds or so to heat it through, and then add the steak. Cook meat until it's taken on a little colour.

Splash in the rice wine, and let the alcohol evaporate. Turn the heat to medium-low and then add chives, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. Stir through, then add a few teaspoons of the cornflour mixture to thicken. Ensure this is heated through to a simmer and that all ingredients are cooked to your liking.

Serve up a heap of steaming jasmine rice, pile on the beef, onion, mushroom and pepper, and top with a little beni shoga if you wish for it. Enjoy! And realise your sad fate - you'll never quite enjoy the local Chinese takeaway ever again.

Stroganoff of a sort

Despite a few technical hitches, cooking continued. Now on with the recording of such.

I've been trying out "vegetable boxes", whereby a box of delicious, locally farmed organic produce is dropped off on one's doorstep upon request. So far I'm rather liking it, and an abundance of an ingredient or three seems to make for the better sort of cooking inspiration. Chestnut mushrooms, silky-skinned and plump, reminded me of stroganoff. Fixings were duly acquired. As I'm not fond of stewed meat I came up with a somewhat speedier variation. It also uses a white wine and coconut milk trick for the sauce base, and I'd picked up some fresh thyme which seemed like a good thing to add in.

Grapeseed oil, for frying

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 piece of good steak

6 - 7 chestnut mushrooms, quartered

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1 clove garlic, minced

1/8th cup white wine

1/8th cup coconut milk

Salt (Herbamare is good seasoning)

Black pepper

Heat up the oil in a saucepan, and add the onion. Cover and saute gently until softened.

Push onion to one side of the pan, up the heat a little and sear either side of steak. Remove meat to a separate bowl.

Add mushrooms, garlic and thyme to the onions and mix it all up. Cook for a minute or two on medium heat.

When mushrooms have softened a little, add in the splash of white wine. Let alcohol boil off, and then stir in coconut milk. Let this heat through to a simmer.

Meanwhile thinly slice the steak, and reserve any juices. Mix in to the pan, and turn off the heat. The meat should retain some pinkness - if too pink for your liking, cook it a little more in the sauce.

When ready, serve up over some sautéd potatoes and spinach. Marvel at the concoction that is now quite a long way from the stroganoff most would recognise.