Project Pig's Head

Living in the country side and calling some farmers your friends can result in the most amazing moments. Especially if you meet said farmer in the local pub after a few glasses of delicious red ale. The result of such a meeting was a knock on the door one evening and I was given a pig's head. Yes, I did mention in the pub that I would like to cook a pig's head because Paul Flynn served whole pig heads at a gala dinner in Dungarvan during a food festival 2 years ago.

Te poor head looked at me and I thought - do I have a pot big enough. I had. So off I went into my library (see photo) to search through
cookbooks. And I discovered that not many food writers have a recipe for a whole head. The legendary Thomas Keller of The French Laundry has one but my butchery skills are limited (he is asking to remove the meat in one piece from the head) - it looked delicious finished but didn't fit my purpose. Fergus Henderson's book Nose to Tail Eating gave nice instructions but didn't include roasting the little fella. The 1938 edition of Economical Cookery by Mrs D.D. Cottington Taylor had a recipe for a sheep's head but I wasn't too sure how that could be translated to a pig. So I went to the source of my inspiration and asked Paul Flynn himself.

A few tweets later

With a few tweets, I felt comfortable to go ahead in my project. The head was already brined, so I simply set a pot of stock & cider with some vegetables on the stove and cooked the head for about 30 mins just to make sure that all scum has left the head. Then chopping some more vegetables (carrots, leeks and onions), putting them in the roasting tin and placed the head on top. Continuing with the cider, pouring it over the head. Covering the roasting pan with tin foil, I baked the head for 4 hours on a low/medium heat.

Towards the end of the baking time, I mixed some honey, brown sugar with salt & pepper and removed the pan from the oven. Taking off the tin foil, I smeared the honey mix all over the head and returned it to the oven. I increased the heat a bit to make sure that we get a nice colour.

The head isn't burned, my camera seems to darken it

The result was great. The meat was cooked through without being dry and tough. The meat of the cheeks was tender and juicy. Mr T loved that he could just pick away at the meat and served with mashed potato and delicious spiced red cabbage was a Sunday feast.

My next project might really be to re
-cook Thomas Keller's recipe of Pig's Head roulade. But in the meantime, said Pig Farmer has challenged me to a pizza cook-off. So back to the kitchen, practicing my pizza skills....... 

Slow cooked Pork - 3 meals in 1

Wonderful pork sandwich on homemade onion bread

Sunday Dinners are still the best way of spending time with family and last Sunday was such a day. The wind was throwing itself around the cottage and we lit the fire quite early in the day - the perfect day for a warming slow cooked dinner. A butcher in Douglas had pork neck on offer and although it was a big piece of meat, I planned ahead and was already seeing three different dishes developing in front of my eyes.

Pork neck has a lot of flavour but needs to be cooked on a slow to medium heat for several hours to make sure it is tender. I marinated the meat with a nice mix of lemon, sage, thyme and garlic - massaged it  into the meat to ensure that the different flavours mingled nicely with the meat. This marinate combined with the slow cooking resulted in a lovely rich winter dish that made the people around the table very happy indeed.

As I wanted a traditional Sunday Dinner feel to the occasion, I served the meat with roasted potatoes, yorkshire puddings, honey roasted carrots & parsnip, steamed cauliflower & broccoli and made a hearty gravy from the juice, enriched with stout. The kitchen was warmed just from the cooking (ok, I also made a bread, dessert and baked a Christmas Cake - I have several ovens). In the end, I had my Sunday Dinner Day and everyone was enjoying the meal and we had time to catch up properly on the week - Little Miss Sophie thought she was eating chicken and who was I to tell her differently especially as she was asking for seconds (she is almost 3).

The other 2 dishes???? Very simple, with the leftovers we had lovely pulled pork sandwiches the next day (filled with lettuce, brie and spiced plum chutney) and another hearty dish of casserole with carrots, parsnip, onion, garlic, stock and of course the leftovers of the meat...... as I still had some of the stout left, I added it for good measure. The sandwich had the 'gourmet' feel to it that you are so often missing when buying an overpriced 'Gourmet Sandwich' and the casserole warmed the heart and belly on an even wetter Monday night..... so for €14 I fed 4 people on a Sunday, 2 people for Monday lunch and 2 hungry eaters on Monday evening - oh and yes, we gave a large piece of cooked meat to Noel & Andrea to take home with them.... I call that a bargain.

Slow cooked Pork Neck

 

• 3kg Pork Neck (if you like to follow the 3-1 meals)
• 1/2 lemon
• Handful sage & thyme, finely chopped
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, slightly crushed
• 3 onions, peeled and quartered
• 3 bay leaves
• 500ml chicken stock, hot
• 250ml stout
• 1 tbsp butter

Marinating the meat adds a different dimension of flavour

Preheat the oven to 200C. 

Mix the herbs, garlic and a teaspoon of lemon juice well, if you have a mortar and pestle, pound it to a paste. Rub the mix nicely all over the meat and massage it nicely in. Place the quartered onions in a roasting tray. Quarter the half lemon and add to the onions together with the bay leaves. Place the meat on top of the onions. Now pour in a cup of water, cover the roasting tin with tin foil and place in the hot oven for about 10-15 mins. After that, reduce the heat to 140C and leave to cook for 5 hours. From time to time, check if there is still enough liquid in the roasting pan and baste the meat with the juices. 

30 mins before end of roasting time, remove the tin foil and return to the oven to get a bit of colour on the meat - you might need to baste a few times to keep the meat moist. 

Succulent pork - perfect Sunday Roast

The result should be a succulent piece of meat that almost falls apart when handling it...... remove from the roasting tin, place on a warmed plate and cover with tin foil and set aside to rest. Pour the juices from the roasting tin into a clean saucepan, making sure to get all the tasty bits from the meat. Bring to the boil (if there is just a bit left, add chicken stock) and reduce by half. Add the stout and let reduce by half again. Add the butter and swirl until melted and well combined with the sauce. Strain through a sieve and keep warm until needed. Slice the meat - you might even want to shred it with the fork - it will be tender and soft. Serve with potatoes, veggies and and the gravy.



Bon Apetit

Easy Porky Dinner

My friend Sabrina shared her pear harvest with me so I invited her over for a little easy dinner. It was Monday evening, everyone is tired on a Monday and I knew that she wouldn't want to stay too long either but I wanted to treat her to something that she might not have cooked herself.

Pork is much underrated these days - although we have the most amazing pork in Ireland - so I thought it was time to put it back on the food map. I went through my storecupboard and found mushrooms, lemons, cider - I my mind a perfect match for the lovely lean pork chops I bought  earlier. 

I love slow cooking meat, I believe it brings out the best in most meats and here I wanted the lemon to do a bit of a trick as well in infusing the meat while it was braising away in the oven. The result was lovely tender meat with a nice hint of lemon and the cider gave the whole dish a nice lift. Serve it either with roasted potatoes or mash. The recipe works for 4 portions if you count 1 chop per person.


Pork Chops with Lemon & Mushrooms

• 4 pork chops
• 1 heaped tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• olive oil
• 3 small onions (red or white), sliced
• 1 can of dry cider (don't use the sweet Bulmers)
• pinch of sugar
• 1-2 lemon, thinly sliced (you need enough slices to place the chops on)
• 300g mixed mushrooms (halved or quartered depending on size)
• Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C


If the chops have a thick layer of fat on the outside, try to trim it a bit. Then mix the flour with cumin and coriander (you can add some salt to the flour if you like) and turn the chops in the flour to coat both sides. Dab off the excess flour. Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the chops  on both sides. Remove from the pan and add the sliced onions to the same pan. Stir the onions until slightly caramelised but not too browned. Do this on a medium heat to ensure that the sweetness of the onions comes through. Add the cider and sugar and bring to a boil. Rapid boil until the cider has reduced by half, it should be slightly syrupy. 

In an ovenproof dish, place a layer of lemon slices, pour over the onion mix with the cider and place the pork chops on top. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for about 20 mins. Remove the foil, add the mushrooms (make sure to coat the mushrooms with the sauce to ensure that they won't dry out while cooking). Return the dish, uncovered, to the oven and cook for a further 15 mins. The meat should be moist and tender.

Toad in the Hole without the Toad

This is a vegetarian version of Toad in the Hole and a great standby recipe if you have lots of people coming over or want to use up the garden produce from your kitchen garden. You can use almost any vegetables - the more colours you are using the more attractive the dish looks. You can do the same with apples as a dessert version, add a bit of cinnamon then. I like the batter to be soft but it is up to you how browned you like this. I served this dish at the last Kitchen Garden Workshop I was hosting @ The Cottage with Kitty Scully and it went down a treat - not a crumb was left over. Fresh salad with a light dressing is the perfect partner for these slices.

• Mixed vegetables, like peppers, onions, courgettes, mushrooms - sliced or chopped (big chunks)
• 1 egg
• 100g plain flour
• 180 - 200ml milk
• 1-2 tbsp Thyme, leaves
• 1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
• salt & pepper
• 5 tbsp Sunflower Oil

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Prepare the vegetables - slice the courgettes in 4mm slices, half the mushrooms if they are big otherwise keep them whole, remove the seeds from the peppers and cut into large strips, peel the onions and cut into large chunks. Place the vegetables into a roasting tin with the sunflower oil and toss the vegetables so that they are nicely coated with the oil. Roast for about 15 mins, turning once. In the meantime, combine the egg, flour and milk and whisk until smooth and has the consistency of thick cream. Add the herbs and stir through and season to taste. Remove the roasting tin from the oven -  make sure that the oil is really hot, pour over the batter and return immediately to the oven. Bake for about 30 - 40 mins until the batter has puffed up and is baked through. Sprinkle some fresh herbs over, cut into nice handy slices and enjoy. This is also handy for lunchboxes as it tastes also great at room temperature.

Mr T. called this Elkelicious :-) 

Chicken & Rice One Pot

Sometimes you just need some comfort food without any hassle. One pot wonders are the best if you don't have much time and don't want the hassle of preparing and cleaning afterwards. This recipe is really easy - and even easier to adapt to your own taste. Add chopped carrots, coriander and more to create an individual dish. It bubbles away in the oven while you can relax with a nice glass of wine ...

Chicken & rice one pot

• Olive oil
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 8 chicken thighs (boned)
• 1 cup of peas,
• 350g easy cook rice
• 1.5 l chicken stock
• Parsley

Preheat oven to 180C.

In an ovenproof casserole dish, heat the olive oil and fry the onions until soft, adding the turmeric halfway through. Add the chicken pieces and cook for about 4 mins, browning all them all over. Add the rice and stock and bring to a boil. Add the peas and cover and place in the oven and bake for about 20 mins, check halfway through if you need more stock. Cook until the chicken is done and the rice is tender while the liquid has been absorbed.  Add the parsley and season to taste

Lambs Heart - Stingy Dinner

Mr T and I have sometimes the weirdest conversations, eg.

Mr T: Have you ever cooked lambs heart?
Me: Nope!
Mr T: Do you think you could make it tasty?
Me: Is that a challenge?
Mr T: hmmm yeap.
Me: Accepted!

And here is the result.

I went to my butcher (O'Flynns in Marboro Street) and true and behold, they stock lambs heart. The hearts are quite small so I got 2 and then the shock...... €1.20 for both..... not each, both..... Challenge to get a stingy dinner on the table was already won.... Mr O'Flynn cut the cavities for me to make one opening and off I went home to make a tasty meal out of these lovely hearts.

Obviously I was going to stuff the hearts but wanted something different from breadcrumbs and sausage meat... thanks God for my nicely filled pantry, I decided to make a stuffing out of breadcrumbs (you really do need them in a stuffing, right??), walnuts, slow roasted onions and mushrooms with Parmesan cheese and parsley. I served the hearts with steamed potatoes and roasted root vegetables.... and yeap, you guessed correctly - the challenge was won :-)

Little tip - if you want to serve this dish, just say it is lamb..... don't mention it is a heart :-)

This dish serves 2 people

Lambs Heart

• 2 lamb hearts, cleaned and cavity opened
• handful of fresh breadcrumbs
• knob of butter
• olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 100g mushrooms, finely chopped
• handful walnuts, chopped
• 50g Parmesan, grated
• 3 tbsp parsley, chopped
•  Mix of root vegetables

Preheat oven to 160C

In a frying pan, heat the butter and oil and add the chopped onions and mushrooms and slow cook until the water of the mushrooms has evaporated. Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl, add the onion/mushroom mix as well as the chopped walnuts, Parmesan and parsley. Season but keep in mind that the Parmesan is already salty. 

Stuff the hearts with the mixture. Place on a bed of mixed root vegetables, drizzle a bit of oil over it and place in the oven. Roast for approx. 45 minutes, basting in between to keep the meat moist. 

Bon Appetit

Stir Fry - A Take-In

Saturday's are very busy in The Cottage as we always treat ourselves to a lovely breakfast, reading the paper and enjoying having a leisurely morning. We both are involved in the local soccer club, so we attend most matches which are normally on a Saturday. Last Saturday was also my gig at the CorkCity Radio station on. So basically, we have been busy all day. We finally made it back home around 8ish and we were both hungry but due to the time, didn't want to stuff ourselves - what better dish than a stir fry. Mr T still had some steak leftover from the day before and for some reason, we always seem to have broccoli living in our fridge. So here is what I came up with - a perfect Saturday night stay in dinner - beats any take away :-)

Beef stir fry with walnuts

• 400g lean beef (thinly sliced)
• 200g broccoli (cleaned and separated into florets), Clove garlic, crushed Vegetable oil
• 1 tsp ginger, grated
• 100g walnut, chopped
• 1 tbsp dry sherry
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 sugar
• 2 tsp corn flour
• 2 tbsp water
• Ready to wok noodles



Beef Stir fry with broccoli & walnuts

• Salt & pepper

Season the beef with salt & pepper. Heat about 2 tbsp of the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Stir fry the broccoli for a few minutes (you still want the vibrant green and crunch), remove and set aside.

Add about 2-3 tbsp more of the vegetable oil, wait until heats up and add the garlic a d ginger. Fry until slightly cooked (be careful not to burn the garlic, otherwise you will have to start over again as garlic gets very bitter when it burns). Add the beef and cook for about 6-9 minutes. Add the walnuts.

Mix the sherry, soy sauce and sugar together. Make a paste of the water and cornflower. Then mix well with the sherry mixture. Add to the wok, stirring all the time. Bring to a light boil until the sauce thickens (that can happen quite quickly). Just before serving, add the broccoli and noodles and stir well thought the mixture until well heated.

Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry - for dark cold nights

The other day, I came home and neither me nor Mr T did any shopping. It was dark, cold and wet outside, so we weren't even in the mood for going out. Rumbling through the cupboards and fridge, we had the option of Risotto with pumpkin and goats cheese or a pumpkin and chickpea curry - Mr T thought the curry more worthy than the humble risotto so the choice was made.

Make sure that the cubes are not too small

You can make a curry almost out of any ingredients - as long as you have the base right. Most curries have a spice and tomato or coconut base. Since I had a lonely tin of coconut milk in the cupboard, I decided to go with that - added a tin of chopped tomatoes for good measure tho.

Roasting the pumpkin first reduces the cooking time later. I also find that the roasting brings out the wonderful sweetness of the pumpkin. Just make sure that the cubes are not too small as they will fall apart fast.

The result was rich, not too spicy, warming and delicious. I served it with plain rice and toasted bread (obviously naan bread would have been the better option but I was way too lazy to make some).

Pumpkin Curry

1 pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cubed

Wonderful and warming - perfect on a dark night

Olive oil

Vegetable or sunflower oil

2 onions, sliced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely diced

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

small piece of ginger, grated

1 tin of coconut milk

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tin of chickpeas, drained

To serve, rice & naan bread

Preheat the oven to 160C. Place the cubed pumpkin in a roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Toss the cubes around to make sure they are all covered with the oil. Roast the pumpkin until almost done (make sure they don't get mushy as they will fall apart during the later cooking stage).

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the sunflower oil over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly browned. Add the ginger and chili and cook for a further 2 minutes. Now add the turmeric and cumin and cook, stirring, for one more minute. 

Now add the coconut milk, tomatoes and chickpeas and bring to a boil. When boiling, add the pumpkin and turn down the heat to low. Cook for about 30 mins - before the pumpkin starts to fall apart. 

Serve with plain rice and warm naan bread.

Bon Appetit

Pork Cheeks - Quite cheeky

The other day, Mr T and I watched a re-run of Come Dine with Me Ireland - it was a Dublin episode and the host of the night decided to cook pork cheeks. It looked horrendous to be honest as he kept the skin on and didn't burn off the hair - it really looked revolting. But the guests said that under all the fatty parts, some moist and succulent meat was to be found. Mr T was intrigued and said, he would like to try it.

So, off I went to the English Market and Tom Durcan had a big pigs head on display, so I thought the chances were quite good that he also had pork cheeks - and I was right. Remembering how awful the meat looked on telly, I asked him to remove the skin which he did expertly (one reason, I buy most of my meat from a craft butcher).

Since pork and apples are a classic combination, I decided to braise the meat in dry cider. Even after removing the skin, a thick layer of fat was hiding the leaner meat. I left the fat layer on as it gives the meat its flavour but if I would cook it again, would cut the fat off before serving. I consider this dish a proper man's dish. The recipe below serves 2 people.

You will need:

Pork Cheeks on bed of mash & spinach

• 2 large pork cheeks, skin removed
• Knob of butter
• Olive oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stick celery, sliced
• 1 pint of dry cider
• 2 bay leaves

Preheat the oven to 160C

Heat the butter and olive oil in a pan and seal and brown the meat from all sides. Transfer the meat to an ovenproof dish. In the remaining oil, add the sliced onion and sauté until translucent. Add the carrots and celery and stir-fry for about 5 minutes. 

Add the vegetables to the meat and pour over the pint of cider. Cover the dish and place in the oven. Leave in the oven for about 2 hours, basting the meat from time to time. 

Remove the meat from the dish and keep warm. Strain the liquid into a clean saucepan and skim of the layer of fat. Bring to a rapid boil and reduce by half. The result should be a rich golden brown colour. Season to taste. 

I served the cheeks with mashed potatoes and steamed spinach. 

Bon Appetit

A good heart is hard to find

Couldn't stop myself with the pun (see here)

It is not often that Mr T and myself are going to town but last Saturday was such a day. We had a lovely breakfast in Nash19 - delicious by the way - and strolled through town. The English Market is always a must when in town and I stocked up at Mr Bells. We were of course also discussing what we would have for dinner that night. Believe it or not, Mr T was fancying a lamb stew for Saturday evening dinner.... so since we were already near Bresnan's - we got some lamb pieces. But our heart skipped a beat (can't help myself today with the puns) when we saw that Bresnan's also had a beef heart on display. After discussing several options on how to cook it (I never cooked one before), we decided to give it a try. The heart came to €4.50 which could feed around 4 people for a dinner. The butcher was removing the tubes and nasty bits so that we had a lovely piece of meat.

I spent Saturday evening going through my cookbooks to find recipes for heart. A lot of them mentioned heart but no recipes. Until I came to Darina's Forgotten Skills book - there was a recipe for stuffed heart. Since I am not a person to follow recipes, I just took the basic details - that it would need about 3.5 hours of cooking time and got to work myself. Here is my version of a stuffed heart (by the way, Mr T omitted spuds and vegs and ate the whole thing himself).

You will need:

1 beef heart (make sure your butcher removes all 'nasty' bits)

Heart before roasting

Salt
200g mushrooms, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves (crushed)
Parsley, chives, sage, all finely chopped
Fresh Breadcrumbs
Butter & Oil
Beef or chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 160C.

In a frying pan, heat the butter and oil and saute the onions until translucent and just starting to caramelise. Add the garlic  and continue to fry until rawness of the garlic is gone. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are short of taking colour. Take from the heat and put into a bowl.

Add the chopped herbs and season. Mix well. Add enough breadcrumbs to make the stuffing (the amount of breadcrumbs is really done to you - depending on how you like your stuffing).

Heart ready to eat

Sprinkle the inside of the heart with some salt and stuff with the mushroom mix (you might have to cut the inside of the heart to make more room). If needed, secure with twine. Place the heart in an ovenproof dish, pour the hot stock in and cover with some foil that has been oiled/buttered. Roast it for 3-3.5 hours.

The stock will have reduced a bit - so it will be perfect for gravy. Serve with roast potatoes and veggies. 


This is not the prettiest dish but it is hearty (sorry - last pun for today).

Comfort Food - Beef Stew

Mr T deserved a treat the other day and since he doesn't like 'fancy' food, I thought I cook him a nice hearty stew. I thought I had lots of vegetables at home, so didn't bother with shopping other than the beef. My surprise was quite big when I saw that Mr T ate most of it. I had no mushrooms, carrots or celery left. I didn't have much hope left for the stew but went on anyway. The result was a deep rich and comforting stew and Mr T was a very happy man that evening (so much that he ate the entire pot which was meant to last him for 2 days)

Here is what I came up with (measurements are kinda guess work as I used anything I found in the fridge and cupboard)

• 400g stewing beef (cut into chunky cubes)
• 2 tbsp flour (seasoned with salt & pepper)
• olive oil
• butter
• 1 large onion (sliced)

• 

  Comfort Food at its best

• 2 cloves garlic (crushed or sliced)
• 1 large red pepper (cut into stripes)
• 100 ml Chicken or Beef stock
• 100ml Red wine
• Dried mushrooms (soaked - use the water as well)
• 3 -4 medium potatoes
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 4 medium tomatoes
• smoked paprika
• Thyme
• Seasoning

Dust the beef pieces with the seasoned flour. In an ovenproof pan, heat the olive oil and butter and add the meat. Brown all over and remove. Add the sliced onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until the rawness has gone.

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Peel and cube the potatoes and add to the onion mix. Stir around for a few minutes and add the peppers, tomatoes, soaked mushrooms with the soaking water, all tomatoes, beef, stock & wine and combine well. 

Add herbs, spices and seasoning, cover with lid and place in oven for about 1.5 hours. It doesn't matter if dinner is delayed - just turn down the heat and it will sit happily in the oven for up to 2.5 hours. Just stir it now and then to avoid it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Bon Appetit