Pork Shoulder Chilli

 

You know my love of Jamie Oliver recipes, well this one was certainly inspired by Jamie's Winter Chilli.  Just watching him make this chilli had us drooling, so I decided on codging the recipe to suit what I had to hand and I was most certainly not disappointed with the results.


Pork Shoulder Chilli
Serves 4' ish less if you are greedy.

Small half pork shoulder, boneless.  Skin cut off, fat remaining.
1 large onion, sliced
1 x 400g can plum tomatoes
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
2 red chilis, finely chopped
1 x 400g can chick peas
20g dried porcini mushrooms, re-hydrated in hot water
1 tbsp. fennel seeds
1 tbsp. coriander seeds
1 tbsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp sugar
75ml Balsamic vinegar

Pre-heat oven to 190oc.  Grind the fennel, coriander and paprika in a mortar & pestle with some S&P.  Rub the pork with oil and the ground spice mixture, then brown in a heavy bottomed pan on all sides with a little more oil.  Remove the meat and add the sliced onions and sugar cook until caramelised.  Add the vinegar and the chopped mushrooms along with the juice, chickpeas, tomatoes, sliced peppers and chilis.  Mix together well, return the pork to the pan and bring up to the boil.  Cover the surface of the dish with greaseproof paper and the pop the lid on.  Place in the oven for around 3 hours or until the meat is very tender.

Once cooked the meat will just pull apart and mix together with the sauce beautifully.  I served over rice with a dollop of natural yoghurt and chopped fresh coriander.  An utter delight, smoky, unctuous, warming and so very fragrant.  I have used the trick of freshly grinding fennel & coriander seeds many times since, it really enhances a dish.

Baked Caulifower & Broccoli Layers

I wanted something a little different that the usual cauliflower cheese so I up with the idea of adding broccoli and a layer of chopped tomatoes - reminiscent of a lasagne without the meat or indeed pasta, so nothing like lasagne really, but I did like how it turned out and was pretty healthy as well.

Baked Cauliflower & Broccoli Layers
Serves 2 Approx 7 Pro Points each.

Take one small'ish head of Broccoli and pull into florets
1/2 a head of cauliflower and cut into florets as well
Lay on a baking sheet, Spray with 1 cal and sprinkle with S&P and bake for 25 mins.

1 can of chopped tomatoes
Herbs of choice
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 tsp chili flakes
Heat in a pan and reduce slightly

In another pan heat up 300ml skimmed milk
add 2 tsp cornflour mixed with a little water
once thickened add in 1 tsp wholegrain mustard and
40g grated cheddar

Take a baking dish and layer up the tomato on the bottom, followed by the cauli & broc then pour over the cheesy sauce, top off with some more grated cheese and season.  Pop back into the oven to heat through, bubble up and melt the cheese.

Pot Roast Chicken in Milk

 

Ok, this is another Jamie Oliver recipe, but why not - they always work and are usually pretty simple to make.  This one is no exception.  From only a few ingredients and a fabulous fragrant dish is produced.

Chicken in Milk
Serves 4

1 chicken, I had a small one but it still did 4 meals.
1 pt semi skimmed milk
1/2 a cinnamon stick
bunch of fresh sage leaves
zest of 2 lemons
salt and pepper
8-10 cloves of garlic, leave the skin on
olive oil

Pre heat the oven to 190oc.  Take a heavy bottomed lidded pot and heat up some oil.  Take the chicken and season well, then brown in the oil until lovely and golden.  Remove the chicken and pour away the oil leaving the sticky unctuous mess at the bottom of the pan for extra flavour.

Return the chicken to the pot and add the remaining ingredients.  Cover and pop into the oven for 1 and half hours.  The lemon zest will make the milk split, but this will not detract from the creamy lemony taste. I did go back every half hour to baste the bird.

After this time, the chicken will simply pull apart.  I served over polenta with plenty of sauce on the top.  Delish.

Next time I will brown the chicken for longer as mine looked a little anaemic.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

 

If you look at Pinterest at the moment and everyone, I mean literally everyone is harping on about cauliflower crust pizzas, so choosing a random recipe - for they are all pretty much of the same I decided to follow suit and see what all the fuss was about.

Being a hardened pizza lover who has had to drastically curb her pizza eating ways in return for a sustained weight loss and healthy eating kick I did not hold our much hope, but I was so very pleasantly surprised with the results, this could be a new revolution, I almost cried tears of joy.  I was eating guilt free pizza!

OK, nothing could replace a thin and crispy pepperoni with extra cheese, but this does come a close second.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza
Makes 1 large Pizza, based on 2 people sharing approx. 15 Pro points each.

1 head of cauliflower, de-stalked and torn into small florets
100g ground almonds
2 eggs, beaten,
1 tbsp, dried oregano
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 small can chopped tomatoes (227g)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 glove garlic, crushed
1 small red onion, sliced
handful of basil leaves
4 strips of thin pancetta, cut up.
1/2 a125g ball of mozzarella
25g parmesan

Blitz the cauliflower in a food processor until it resembles rice. Tip into a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Microwave on high for 6 minutes.  Turn out onto a clean tea towel and once cooled, squeeze all the water out of the cauliflower - loads with come out so keep on going as you need it at dry as you can get it.
Put back into a bowl and add the almonds, oregano, chilli and beaten eggs.  Mix together well with lots of seasoning.
Take a baking tray and line with some greaseproof paper.  Tip the cauliflower mixture onto it and push out to make a round, about 30cm diameter.  Make it thinner in the middle and deeper at the sides, they will become crispy edges.  Bake in the oven at 200oc for 15-20 minutes, the edges will start to crisp up. Remove from oven and cool slightly.

In the meantime, take a saucepan and add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, tomato puree and some of the torn up basil leaves and bring to the boil and continue to simmer away until reduced. You want to get out a lot of the moisture to stop it giving your base a soggy bottom.  In a separate pan, using 1 cal spray fry the onion until softened.

Take the base and spread over the tomato mixture, add the onion and chopped pancetta, torn up mozzarella and the grated parmesan plus a few more shredded basil leaves and put back into the oven for a further 10 minutes.

Serve as you would normally, because amazingly the base when cut actually holds up as a proper pizza base allowing you to pick up wedges and scoff!!!  Next time I will be adding chorizo and pre-cooked mushrooms and peppers, with extra seasoning in the base.  The choices are endless.

Chicken & Black Bean Soup

As winter bites onwards I find myself making more and more warming soups to heat me from the inside.  This one came unsurprisingly, from the Goodfood website and as usual I tinkered with it to suit.

Chicken and Black Bean Soup
Serves 2  Approx 11 Pro Points per Serving

1 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Small bunch of fresh coriander, stalks chopped and leaves separated
1 lime, zested and juice from half
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 x 400g can black beans drained
175g shredded kale
600ml chicken stock
1 x 215g chicken breast (poached with onion, bay and peppercorns to make the stock)
2 tbsp low fat yogurt
25g grated Cheddar

In a large pan heat the oil the fry off the garlic, coriander stalks and lime zest for 2 minutes. 
Add the cumin and chilli flakes followed by the tomatoes, beans and stock. 
Bring to the boil then roughly crush the beans using a potato masher, this will thicken the soup.
Add the kale and simmer for 5 minutes. 
Shred the chicken and add, heat through.
Season, add the juice from half of the lime and serve up with the coriander leaves, a dollop of yoghurt and cheese on top.
Mmmmm soup - said in Homer Simpson style.