Tom's Pork Belly Fajitas

Tom is back from university for the Easter holidays and offered to cook. He wanted to try to recreate a Mexican dish he'd eaten in Toronto at La Carnita; a pork dish with flavours of chili and some sweetness.  Not ever having eaten in La Carnita (but wishing I had) I can't confirm if it is like its inspiration, but it was utterly delicious and I could have eaten the whole lot by myself.

slices of pork belly (about 150g per person), salted and peppered and seared in a large pan.
Add chopped onions, jalapeno peppers and some garlic to the pan.
Then add dried oregano, cumin, smoked paprika and a bay leaf and pour Corona beer over the top until the pork is submerged. Add a dollop of honey and a splash of cider vinegar.
Cover and simmer for two hours by which time the pork will be tender and falling apart. Uncover towards the end of cooking to reduce the sauce.
Remove the pork from the sauce and pull/chop the pork into pieces. spoon the fat off the sauce and boil to reduce it to a thick consistency then pour over the pork.
Serve with warmed soft tortillas or crispy tacos, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, fried green and red peppers, grated cheese, refried beans and fresh coriander - diners assemble their own according to taste.

Gammon

When we have gammon I always cook it in the pressure cooker using the method described in my trusty old pressure cooker manual. This is getting increasingly illegible thanks to the splashes of gammon stock, so here's a photo of it. I cooked this a couple of days ago, and planned to take a photo, but it proved such a hit that we had eaten it before I remembered.

Basically you need to soak a smoked gammon joint in cold water for a couple of hours, then drain it put it into the pressure cooker, cover with water and bring to the boil. You then drain it again (the idea being to get rid of excess salt, although it still ends up pretty salty). Then put it back in the pressure cooker, almost cover it with cold water, add a bayleaf, some leek or onion, a carrot, and any other herbs you happen to have (thyme and sage are good). Bring it up to pressure and cook it under pressure for 12 minutes per 400g. You take it off the heat at the end of cooking and let the pressure come down on its own.

I usually serve it with roast potatoes and whatever veg I have on hand. Roasted cauliflower is good (sprinkle with cumin seeds, salt and pepper and toss with olive oil before roasting for about 25 mins). This time I made a creamy leek and cava sauce to serve with it as I had a solitary leek lurking in the fridge and the dregs of a bottle of cava on the side. I gently sauteed the leek in butter for a few minutes until it was soft, threw in a couple of teaspoons of cornflour and cooked that out. Then I poured in the cava (about 1 small glass), stirring to over a gentle heat to cook off the alcohol, then stirred in some milk and some of the stock from the gammon, stirring all the time as the sauce thickened, then I finished it with a little single cream and some seasoning. Any white sauce made with a roux base (about 25g each butter and cornflour cooked together) and a mixture of the stock and milk to thicken works well - chopped parsley  is a good addition.

Whatever you do, don't throw away the stock after cooking the gammon - it is the perfect base for my favourite spilt pea and bacon soup. As it is very salty however, you do need to dilute one to one with water if you use it for this recipe.

Microwave Meatballs

Meatballs  in tomato sauce with courgettes

These are so easy and quick to make, I would never go back to frying meatballs. You can vary them by adding different herbs and spices, garlic, chili or other ingredients. We love an Italian style version, with oregano, basil, and garlic, served over spaghetti with tomato sauce. Another firm favourite is a Thai style version, with green Thai curry spices and a green curry sauce with coconut milk and coriander, served with rice, although we do argue about the level of chili heat.

A food processor makes the recipe very simple, as you can blitz the breadcrumbs with the garlic, fresh herbs and spices in seconds. If you don't have one, you'd have to chop the garlic and herbs and make the breadcrumbs by putting the bread in a plastic bag and bashing it with a rolling pin to break it up.

The uncooked meatballs freeze really well; to stop them sticking together, freeze on a tray, then put them into a zip lock freezer bag.

meatballs ready to zap in the microwave

Basic meatball recipe (makes about 25 meatballs, enough for 4 or 5 people)

500g minced (ground) meat (for the Italian version I tend to use a mix of beef and pork, for the Thai version, minced turkey is a good and healthy alternative)
about 100g stale bread (if it is very fresh, you might need to toast it lightly or dry it out in the oven to get it to crumb effectively)
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper

Additions:
The delight of this recipe is that the variations are endless - try out different combinations to find your favourite.
- good handful of fresh herbs (for Italian style try sage, basil, oregano, thyme; for Thai style use basil and coriander - experiment with different combinations, you can't really go wrong)
- if you don't have fresh herbs, use a teaspoon or two of dried herbs, eg Italian seasoning, or a teaspoon of Thai green curry paste
1 clove garlic (optional)
1 small fresh chili (optional)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp paprika
cayenne pepper to taste


1. Blitz the bread in a food processor (with the fresh herbs and garlic if using)
2. Mix the breadcrumbs, meat, beaten egg and other flavourings in a big bowl so that they are thoroughly combined. Season well with salt and pepper.
3. Using your hands, shape the mixture into balls, using around 25g of mixture for each ball.
4. Arrange the meatballs in a single layer in a shallow microwaveable dish - a pyrex type pie dish is a good container to use.
5. Cook uncovered on full power in the microwave for 2 - 3 minutes, then rearrange the meatballs so that they can all cook evenly. Cook for another 2 - 3 minutes. They will be almost done by now. I normally finish them off by adding them and their cooking juices to whatever sauce I am using and simmering on the stove in a big frying pan or wok.

cooked meatballs emerge from the microwave

A note on sauces: you can make your own basic tomato sauce, like this one from my Veggie Daughter vegetarian cooking blog Veggie Daughter Tomato Sauce  or you could use a shop bought sauce. For the Thai style, the easiest way to make the sauce is to use your favourite Thai curry paste, mixed with coconut milk  and maybe some caramelized red onions and courgettes (I tend to use Mae Ploy brand Thai sauce and follow the instructions on the tub). A jar of Thai curry sauce would also work fine.