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After a visit to the fruit market this morning I had breakfast at the Tea Room (Gasometerstrasse 5, Zürich) with Ms Fabelhaft and Gabriella, ostensibly to practise our German, but ha! As if. A delightfully relaxing brekky was had by all, though.
I've had a couple of requests for the recipe for the slow roast pork I made last weekend, and I am as ever, happy to oblige.
Truth be told, my slow roasted pork, albeit delicious, was a bit dry. This was because I didn't use the proper cut of meat for the recipe - I used pork neck or foreloin, rather than loin of pork (which has more fat and thus stays moister during the lengthy cookign time). However, once a bit of winey gravy was dribbled over it it was great. The equally winey vegetables that accompanied it were particularly fantastic, as was the braised red cabbage (a surprise to me, as I'm not usually a cabbage-lover).
I used Stephanie Alexander's recipe for slow-roasted loin of pork with rosemary, garlic and fennel. Stephanie suggests buying the shoulder end of the loin, which, although it is fattier, retains a better flavour and tenderness. The meat is rubbed with oil, rosemary, garlic and fennel and then rolled and tied for roasting. It makes for a wonderfully aromatic roasyt which looks rather spectacular (if I do say so myself). I definitely want to try this recipe again using the proper cut of meat - Max told me the next day that he been daydreaming of the meat and gravy we'd had the night before, it was so good.
Heather, I hope that you make this and that it turns out wonderfully!
I made an impromptu apple, plum and blueberry pie, which we scoffed with organic vanilla icecream. Delicious!
I shall have to find time later to post the 'recipe'. Actually, it's a great one to do with kids as it involves no crimping or sticking bits of pastry together with egg white etc etc, merely wrapping a rectangular sheet of pastry around a fillingof your choice, brushing with egg yolk and then baking. Esay peasy!
Lola loves to help me prepare dinner, and for her age she is surprisingly good at chopping and slicing. I do feel a slight anxiety about her wielding a knife, but I give her one that isn't too sharp and watch her like a hawk.
Here she is chopping zucchinis for vege soup. She was so absorbed in her task, I love the look of concentration on her face.
This 50's enamelled green cast iron pot is one of my favourites. I got it at the brocki ages ago and I love how it is a little pre-loved and worn.
A bite of this delicious cream cheese, rocket, avocado and tomato sandwich on sourdough olive bread was just what I needed this morning, along with a sip of coffee.
On the menu tonight (avert your eyes, vegetarians and vegans, sorry!):
Slow roasted pork with rosemary, garlic and fennel, braised red cabbage with apples, garlic mash, greens (baby rocket, the tenderest leaves, picked up at the fruit market this morning).
And dessert, of course, a blackberry marscapone tart, similar to the strawberry marscapone tart I posted about a couple of days ago, but with orange zest folded into the marscapone cheese and blackberry puree smoothed over the top.
I made shortbread from the River Cottage Family Cookbook for afternoon tea and Max couldn't resist helping himself to some sugary crumbs before the first slice was eaten (note green playdough on his fingers, remnants of the T-Rex necklaces he made earlier in the afternoon).
The shortbread was good, despite having to substitute cornflour for rice flour in the recipe, and very simple, a good one to make with kids as it doesn't require much mixing or other technique, merely rubbing the dry ingredients with the butter and pressing into a cake tin (don't even have to bother greasing or lining the tin).
And, it looked super lovely, sweetly pale and sprinkled with vanilla sugar from my big glass bottle of lumpy, vanilla-soaked sugar.
I made this strawberry and marscapone tart based loosely on one from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries (June or July, I think). In the background you may recognise the lovely Ms. Fabelhaft, for it was her birthday, and the cake for her benefit.
I've been slack lately. My apologies if you have sent me an email recently and I haven't responded. I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
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