AnnMarie's Blog

A tasty and somewhat luxurious use of Pork steaks.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 3 Pork Steaks or boneless Pork Chops
• 1 large Onion – sliced
• 2 handfuls of fresh sliced Mushrooms
• 1 can of Woodland Mushroom Potage (I use Baxters but homemade or any good brand is fine)
• 100ml Double Cream
• Double Measure of Orange Liqueur (eg. Southern Comfort)
• 3 tomatoes – sliced
• Large handful of your favourite hard cheese – grated (I use mature cheddar)
• Italian Herbs to taste
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp Coriander
• Butter & Groundnut Oil for cooking

Method:

1. In a heavy frying pan or wok heat butter and groundnut oil
2. Evenly brown the Pork Steaks in the wok and them reserve to one side, in a casserole dish
3. Now sweat the onion until it just starts to brown
4. Add the sliced Tomato
5. And shortly afterwards add the mushroom soup and liqueur
6. Heat through gently, but do not boil. Keep stirring.
7. Now add mushrooms followed by cream and then the herbs & spices
8. Finally add the grated cheese and melt in
9. Ensure that the sauce has come together,
10. Then pour the sauce over the Pork Steaks, filling the casserole dish in the process
11. Put lid on casserole dish and place in oven at 180 Celsius for about 1 hour

Serve with creamed Potato and enjoy.

I’ve just been experimenting in the kitchen. I was looking for a quick sauce to spice up some Roast Chicken in sandwiches; so came up with this:

• 150 ml double cream
• a small knob of butter
• 200ml coconut milk
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 sprigs parsley – chopped
• 1/3 lemon
• 1.5 tsp Garam Masala
• 1tsp Coriander
• 1tsp Paprika
• 1tsp ground Ginger
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Hot Curry Powder
• 1/2 tsp Cornflour (optional)
• 1tbsp Tomato Ketchup (optional)

Method:

Finely chop the garlic and then lightly fry it in hot butter. Next add chopped parsley & most of the coconut milk, stir over a low heat allowing no more than a slow bubbling to develop. Mix the remaining coconut milk in to a paste with all the spices. Add cream and then spice paste, taking care to mix the paste in thoroughly. Now squeeze the juice from the lemon in to the mix too. Add  the ketchup and heat through without boiling and whilst stirring. Finally add some cornflour & water paste to thicken to the required consistency.

Can be served hot or cold. Makes sufficient for sandwiches for 4.

This could be quite a versatile base for adding to a variety of dishes, Roast Pheasant would be lovely coated in this & accompanied with a side salad. If you’d like a bit more heat in the mix then the addition of some Cayenne pepper should suffice.

A tasty slow cooked meal …

A temporary change from my normal posting topics; cooking time. I have various favourite meals to make and to eat, but an easy everyday one is quick curry in the wok. This is just what I made the other night and coupled with a cocktail that I put together on a whim, it went down really nicely. So without further ado, here it is:

• one small pack of pork sausages
• left over roast chicken
• 1 large onion
• 1 large sweet pepper
• 4 sticks of celery
• 6 large mushrooms
• 10 baby corn
• 1 can of sweetcorn
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 can of pineapple segments in own juice
• 1 can of baked beans
• 1 can of coconut milk
• Spices – 3-4 tsp Curry powder, 2 tsp Coriander, 3 tsp Turmeric, 2 tsp Gara Masala, 2 tsp Paprika, 1 tsp Ground Ginger, 1tsp Cumin,
• Herbs – Coriander Leaf & Thai Lime leaf to taste

Note my teaspoons tend to be generous heaped ones.

Cut the sausages into bite sized pieces, cook thoroughly in Groundnut Oil (in Wok). Add roast chicken and cook until just browning.

Toss sliced fresh vegetables in extra virgin olive oil, add to wok and stir fry for a few minutes, now add all tinned ingredients except for coconut milk. Cook for a further 2 minutes then add coconut milk, rapidly followed by all herbs & spices. Allow to simmer for at least 15 minutes for all flavours to blend together. Serve with your favourite accompaniment, rice or chips for us. This will also keep well in the fridge, the flavours mature over 24 hours and it reheats well.

The cocktail:

Take a hi-ball glass add an inch (2-3 cm) of Vodka to the bottom, now add an almost equal amount of Peach Schnapps (adjust for sweetness to your liking). Top the glass up with equal parts of Cranberry, Raspberry & Blueberry juices. Stir thoroughly and enjoy. Anyone like to suggest a name for this?