It was one of those nights…

Last night was one of those nights when we had food in the fridge, but after a day of writing about food and cooking, there was no imagination left in my head.

Turns out I create some of my best recipes that way 😀

We started with some cubed pork loin, which had been marinated in vinegar. (It was for a different recipe, but we had some left.)
There was a bottle of cider on the shelf; a couple of apples in the fruit bowl…a lonesome carrot and sweet potato lingering in the bottom of the fridge. The cupboard contained onions. It always does…as a cook I panic if I am onionless.

We chopped the onions and sautéed them, adding half a teaspoon of Bicarbonate of soda to them, to speed up the cooking time. (It was another of those evenings when dinner was meant to be at 9, but was served at 10 oops.)

The pork was then added and cooked quickly to brown the outside. The chopped sweet potato and carrot were quick to follow, then we simply poured in the cider and left to bubble. After half an hour I thickened the sauce with some cornflour and left it to simmer for five minutes more.

My wonderful partner provided his speciality of very mashed, mashed potato.
I may be biased, but it was divine. (The potato was pretty damned good too) I shall make more next time so I can test its freezability.

Dinner by Sky
Mash by Pod

Happy Friday from all @ thesideplate.com
mashers

Christmas dinner for two

Christmas Dinner for two

No pressure…but took just as long J

I could not abandon my traditional prawn cocktail. This year it was just some good prawns. Proper cherry tomatoes. Mixed leaf salad and sauce…eaten wearing a silly hat…to be honest it was delicious. I should have stopped there; with a slice of granary bread it would have been enough. But I’m stubborn so a feast followed.

One of the luxuries of spending Christmas without company is you can make just what you want. So this year I broke with tradition and bought a turkey thigh. For the princely sum of £3.95 (I wont lie I have a fully turkey waiting for when the kids come home…Christmas x2, as seems to be the case for a lots of us nowadays) I stuffed it with paxo, butter and cranberry sauce…wrapped it snugly in pancetta and roasted it in white wine. It was awesome even If I do say so myself. We had slow cooked pork in cider too. I have to say from now on my Christmas dinner will feature crackling…the veggies were roast….my partner mashed thespuds for me because he is so much better at it then I ….Brussels with chestnuts..Bacon rolls and sausages, sauce and stuffing. And very lovely gravy made with the juices of the pork.

My only advice on making a Sunday and Christmas dinner is..Buy one of those jugs that’s separates the meat juices (and cider) from the fat, worth every penny for the best gravy.

 

However you are spending this festive season..Love hugs and good eating.

Sky xx