Beer Braised Pork Shoulder with Red Cabbage, Carrot & Apple Slaw

Today is the spring equinox so the official tilt towards the sun has begun, welcome it in with a pig pickin'.

Although it's not quite BBQ weather there's always the possibility of cooking BBQ style; indirect heat for a long long time. Pork shoulder known as Boston Butt in the states  is the perfect cut for pulled pork and the original barbecued meat. It's well marbled so the layers of fat stop it drying out during the long cook and make it easy to shred. The soft baps absorb the meat juices and the sweetness of the apple in the slaw keeps things fresh. Using yogurt in slaw rather than mayo means you avoid that greasy aftertaste.

serves: 4  
prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 6 hours 

What you need?

3 tbsp of flour
salt & pepper
1.5 kg pork shoulder

for the rub
2 tbsp of toasted cumin seeds (ground)
1 tbsp Cajun pepper
1 tbsp chili pepper
1 tablas garlic powder
2 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp of brown sugar

to braise
1 large white onion (grated)

4 cloves of garlic (crushed)

2 bay leaves
2 bottle of beer
1 cup of coffee

for the slaw
3 carrots (grated)
1/2 red cabbage (finely shredded)
1 pink lady apple (sliced into matchsticks)
300ml Greek yogurt
1 tbsp cumin seeds (toasted & ground)
1/2 red chili (finely chopped)
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1-2 limes

+ some Belfast baps to serve

What to do?
Get a pan on the heat on high. Add some oil and a little butter. Roll the meat in the seasoned flour. Brown on all sides for 10 minutes total. Remove from pan and rub the rub into the meat. Get a large high sided dish on the heat. Add some butter, add the onion. Cook for 2 mins. Add the meet + other braising ingredients. Cover and cook for 5-6 hours at gas mark 3. Combine the slaw ingredients. Adjust lime and salt to taste. Using 2 forks shred the meat and allow to soak up braising juices. Serve with Belfast Baps.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Lemons - the saviours of throat infections. If I'm ever feeling peaky, my first response is honey and lemon. Whether this combination cures or I now associate the smell of lemons with healing; when I bake a lemon drizzle cake it feels medicinal. Lemon drizzle cake should be sticky and sour. The vegetable oil rather than butter makes the cake really light and by going heavy on the lemon zest you get a sorbet tang after each bite. If you like it a little sweeter some lemon drizzle icing on top wouldn't hurt.

What you need?
2 large unwaxed lemons (zested + juiced)
2 eggs
50ml Coconut oil
75ml Groundnut oil
125g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
1 tsp vanilla extract
175g Castor sugar
2 tblsp sour cream

For the drizzle
2 large unwaxed lemons (zested + juiced)
100g Castor sugar

What to do?
Butter cake tin. Pre heat oven to 180degrees. Combine flour, lemon zest and almonds. In separate bowl whisk eggs, add vanilla, add oils, add sugar. Add lemon juice. Add sour cream to wet mix. Combine mixes. Bake at 180 degrees for 35minutes. In jug, mix drizzle ingredients. Remove from cake tin and allow to cool slightly on wire tray. With a fork or skewer, poke all over, so you have little holes everywhere. Pour over the drizzle. Allow to cool.

The Boiler Shop Steamer: Go for the food, stay for the music, stick around for beer

The number of new street food traders joining the Nationwide Caters Association has increased by 100% this year, traders are hungry to be affiliated with the scene. 

Newcastle Upon Tyne's monthly Boiler Shop Steamer, set in a restored locomotive and rocket workshop brings food vendors, espressotini guys, craft beer sellers and a gin palace off the street (or out of the shop) and under it's cover.

The Ouseburn Coffee company's Frangelico kick of hazelnut to their espressotini is killer. Papa Ganush make their own flatbread and fill them with spicy lemon chicken, charred from the griddle or fluffy on the inside crunchy on the outside packed with flavour falafels. (Excited to hear they are planning to open up shop in Grainger market soon).  Longhorns BBQ Smokehouse who have permanent residence down on Mosley street are smoking locally sourced meat in brioche buns.  There are pizza options, surf and turf, Asian sticky buns, foot long hotdogs. The choice is good.

The venue was rammed most of the afternoon. So for a table get there early or stake one out. It's unusual to get a market that brings these elements of food, music and alcohol into such accord. You go for the food, then the atmosphere is humming with tunes so you sta, you end up sticking around till late so you can drink beavertown beers and wylam ale.

It's on the first Friday and Saturday of the month and free before 4pm on Saturdays (£5 after). You bring cash, buy tokens and exchange tokens for food. 1 token is £2 and food prices vary, most dishes are around 2-4 tokens. Alcohol options take cash.

THE NEXT STEAMER WILL BE 3RD / 4TH / 5TH APRIL to celebrate being 1 year old they will open an extra day. Details below.

Friday 3rd April 5.30pm – 12.00midnight

Saturday 4th April 12.00midday – 12.00midnight

Sunday 5th April 4.00pm – Late (Tickets £12 or £10 Early Bird)

Cooking with Kids: Soda Bread

Anyone who grew up in Northern Ireland knows soda bread and those growing up here at the moment are no exception. The bread is made to be cooked and eaten straight away - the little wait time is great for child friendly cooking. Being able to make and eat something recognisable is quite an accomplishment for most, but especially so if your 3. Mix, roll, flatten, griddle.

What you need? (for 4 farls)

240g of soda bread flour (plain flour, cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda)
1/4 pint of buttermilk (or 50/50 yogurt and full fat milk)
1 tsp salt

What to do?

Mix flour and salt. Make a well in the flour. Gradually add the milk. Mix until you have a soft dough ball. Roll out and flatten to about 1 inch think, divide into 4 farls (quarters). Griddle on high heat until cooked.

White Carrot and Coconut Soup

Winter hasn't quite gone and wantings for warm soup are lingering on. Carrots are quite hardy and can pretty much be grown year round. White (or golden) carrots are slightly sweeter without the same earthiness as the orange or purple. They're ideal with spice. Frying the curry paste in a little oil first brings out it's fragrance. Have with nan bread.

What do I need?

8 golden carrots (peeled and diced)

1 medium white onion (diced)

1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger

2 cloves of garlic

1 fresh red chilli

1 tblsp cumin seeds (toasted and ground)

1 tbsp of garam masala powder
2 tblsp of curry paste

handful of fresh coriander

600ml chicken stalk

1 400ml tin of coconut milk

handful of fresh coriander

What to do?

Fry onion in large pot for 5 mins. Add the garlic, carrot, chilli, ginger. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the spices and a little more oil. After 2 minutes add the stalk. Cook for 10 minutes. Heat the curry paste with a little oil in seperate pan, add the coconut milk bring to simmer. Add to soup. Cook for 10 minutes. Blend. Sieve. Serve with fresh coriander.

Annaghmore Mushrooms on Toast

Mushrooms are moreish. This somewhat unnameable taste has robustness and meatiness that savoury alone can't cover. Japanese biochemist Kikunae Ikeda isolated this flavour and named it Unami. On his mission to recreate it he gave the world MSG. Mushrooms make their own glutamate hit. Annaghmore baby portobellos are almost sweet, a treat if you are able to get them. Dry frying heightens the mushroom taste, it also gives them a lovely nutty colour, some salt, a little oil and you'll be eating in less than 5 minutes. 

What you need? (for 2)

5-6 mushrooms thinly sliced

Rapeseed oil

Handful of fresh parsley

Crusty bread sliced.

Put griddle pan on highest heat and allow to get hot. Slice and toast bread. Add mushrooms to pan. They will steam and spit a little. Turn them. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add salt and drizzle of oil. Butter toast, add mushrooms and parsley.

Poached Eggs, Hollandaise Sauce & Cripy Proscuitto

Somewhere along the way eggs got a bad rep. Cholesterol and heart disease with their yolk association had led to the eggsclusion of them from diets or rec-egg-mendations of only one or two a week.  More recent research suggests that you can actually eat up to 2 or 3 a day. They are nutrient dense and perfect with hollandaise sauce. Delia's Hollandaise is my go to, it's creamy and blender friendly. Add an extra squeeze of lemon juice to make it a little sharper. (Breakfast for 1)

What do you need?

2 eggs 

1 English muffin (toasted)

2 slices of proscuitto (pan fried for 2 minutes)

Hollandaise (adapted from Delia)

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp lemon juice (+extra squeeze during blending)

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

100g butter

Boil salted water. Crack eggs into 2 ramekins. Add eggs to boiling water, reduce to simmer and cover with lid, poach for 4 minutes. Lay paper towels on work surface (to drain eggs on when cooked). For sauce; blends eggs w/ salt and pepper. In a saucepan heat lemon juice and vinegar to simmer. Add to eggs. In saucepan heat butter until it foams. Turn blender on, slowly add butter in gentle trickle. Drain poached eggs and plate up.

Unforgettable Meatballs (Polpette al Pomodoro)

Rosemary's esoteric link to memory has been going on for some time (from Hamlet to more recent investigations) scientists are finding that rosemary aroma can aid memory. Whether or not the amount used here is enough to enhance your recall, these polpette aren't easily forgotten. The milk soaked bread is generally accepted as an essential, this keeps the meatballs juicy. Browning them first intensifies the meat taste. Serve with crusty bread or pasta.

What you need? Makes 36 meatballs

Meatballs

500g beef mince 

4 slices of white bread (toasted and crumbled then soaked in milk)

2 handfuls of parsley

4-5 sprigs of chopped rosemary

2 egg yolks

Pomadoro

1 medium white onion (sliced)

3-4 basil stalks (leaves removed and sprinkled in sauce at end)

sprigs of Rosemary (chopped)

1 clove of garlic

6 tomatoes on the vine + 2 tins plum tomatoes

1 tbsp brown sugar

What to do?

Combine all ingredients for meatballs. Roll into balls and place on oiled baking tray. Allow to firm up in fridge for 30mins. Heat oil in pan, add onion. Cook for 5 mins. Add the basil stalks, rosemary, garlic. Cook for 1 min. Add the fresh tomatoes, cook for 5 mins. Add the tinned tomatoes and sugar. Cook for 15mins. Season. Pan dry meatballs in oil. Add browned meatballs to sauce and poach in sauce for 5 mins. 

Avocado & Parma Toast

February has been bright but cold. In keeping, so is this toast. Lime juice keeps it fresh and Ciabatta keeps it's light. Creamy avocado has more potassium than a banana and way less sugar making it a good breakfast shout. It also tastes great with crisped up parma ham.

What you need?

1/2 avocado

2 slices of parma ham (dry fried for 1 minute in hot pan to make crispy)

2 slices of ciabatta

sprinkle of pomegranate seeds (I had some in the fridge!)

sprinkle of fresh coriander

squeeze of lime

season with salt and pepper 

What to do?

Slice ciabbatta. Slice avocado into half moons, squeeze juice of half a lime (also stops the avocado discolouring), season. Roll parma ham and top. Sprinkle with pom seeds and coriander. 

Sweet Parsnip Soup with Pomegranate and Cumin

From Souping (the new juicing) to bright and beautiful spring offerings Nettle soup with flowers. Soups and reasons to soup are all around. Although it's still a little early for nettle and flower soup, parsnips are peaking. The frost helps change some of their starch to sugar, so all that snow made them sweeter. Parsnip soup with cumin to bring out the natural spiciness brightened up with a little pomegranate is just what February is calling out for.

What do you need?

600 Parsnips (I used Heritage baby parsnips - peeled and diced)
1 garlic clove (crushed)
1 large onion
1 lit. chicken stock
175ml Greek yogurt
1-2tblsp cumin seeds (dry fry seeds for 1-2mins; then grind)
handful of pomegranate seeds
squeeze of lemon juice
Homemade croutons (cube bread, fry in oi, add salt & pepper & sumac)

What to do?

In a pan heat 2 tblsp of butter when foaming add the onion, cook for 5'. Add the garlic. Add the cumin. Add the parsnips. Add stock. Salt/Pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes. Blend. Stir in the yogurt and heat again. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, squeeze lemon, season. Top w/ croutons and pom seeds.

Christmas Present #1: Peanut & Almond butter

Homemade christmas presents rock and with 12 days till Christmas this is what I'm making.

#1. Peanut & Almond butter (makes 500ml)

Making nut butters is easier than you think. Nuts + blender. That's pretty much it. Almonds are quite sweet so are nicely balanced by the dryness of the peanut. For any nut butters (cashew, hazelnut etc.) use a mixture of roasted & raw nuts. The raw nuts maintain more oil so good for butteriness. If it's too thick blend some more or add a little peanut oil.

Ingredients

200g raw almonds
200g raw peanuts
200g of flaked almonds

What to do?
Roast the raw almonds for 10 minutes (gas mark 5). Blend all nuts for 15-20minuts until you have the consistency you like. Pour butter into a sterilised jar, seal.

Pack it.
One 500ml kilner jar
Brown string
Gift label

Sticky Carrot and Coconut Babycakes - makes 24

So long previous carrot cake recipes - this ones for keeps.

I love lightness in cakes and I love stickiness - sometimes it's hard to attain these in equal measures - too much flour and your cake is a bit dense - too much sugar/butter and you won't maintain the structure of your cupcake. Pineapple juice is key here, it keeps the cake moist and sticky while maintaining the sugar content so your cakes don't flop. Be sure not to over cook them (5 minutes over and the you lose the essential stickiness that makes these standout).

Ingredients
200ml melted butter
200g Castor sugar
4 eggs
100ml pineapple juice
100g chopped pineapple
2 medium carrots (grated)
100g dissected coconut
300g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tblsp mixed all spice

Butter cream icing
100g dissected coconut
100g icing sugar
100g melted butter
1 tub  full fat cream cheese

Mix sugar, eggs and butter. Add pineapple juice. Add grated carrot to egg mix. Add chopped pineapple and coconut. Separately, mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and all spice). Then combine the two (add dry to wet). Pour into cupcake cases - fill 3/4. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes at 180 degrees, check at 20 minutes, you want a skewer inserted to come out clean. Make the butter cream icing - whisk coconut, sugar, butter and cream cheese. When cakes are cooled at the butter cream icing with a piping bag.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork with Chorizo and Red Wine. Hell Yeh.

Take the time. 

(Enough for 4)

I bought some crackin' free range pork from Pheasant Hill Farm off lovely Julia Bailey and then made the best braised meat of my life. That you cook the pork for so long makes it feel like you have this treasure or this night before Christmas feeling knowing something specials on the way - I'm sure the delayed gratification of a 4 1/2 hr wait heightened the delight of eating. The red wine balances out the fattiness of the pork, mixed with chorizo and pimento and you get spanish thoughts of hillside taverns.  The only thing out of the ordinary is the time and the time is the essence of this dish, so take it.

to braise: seared or browned in fat and then simmered in liquid on a low heat (for like ever)

What you need

1 kg Pork shoulder (fat removed and kept)

3 shallots

2 cloves of garlic

3 tblsp of pimento spice

12 cherry tomato's on the vine

1/2 bottle red wine

150 ml stock

1/2 ring of chorizo, chopped

A heavy based dish with a lid you can put in the oven

What to do

Chop shallots and fry in the fat on a medium heat, for 7 mins. Remove fat. Add the chorizo, cook until the oil is released (3-4 mins). Add the garlic, brown the pork shoulder on all sides in the dish. Add the pimento and mix. Add the red wine, let the alcohol cook off for 2 mins. Add the stock. Leave cherry tomato's whole and add to the dish. Put a lid on and put in the oven on low (110 degrees) for about 4 1/2 hours.  Remove pork from dish and allow to rest for 30minutes at least. While resting put the dish on a high heat with lid removed and reduce by 1/3 (keep reducing until the pork is rested). When cooked, the meat should come away from the bone easily, pull the meat apart using 2 forks to get a shredded effect. Return meat to dish and serve with crusty bread and lemon butter beans.

Spicy Parsnip Soup

Totz gonna go drink soup on the beach

This soup has a good kick to get you into springtime and it's thick so fills you up. The cooked sweet parsnips create a deep caramel sweetness that blends so well with the Indian spices. I made some sour dough croutons too which means you get these little hits of salty flavour, hell yeh.

Ingredients (Makes 2 people full)
50 g butter
2 medium onions

2 cloves of garlic

2 fresh red chilli's

1 tbsp madras curry powder (could also use garam masala)

1200ml-1400mls of vegetable stock (use extra water to loosen up after blending if needed)

2 large parsnips (280g)
1 large potato (220g)
2 slices of sour dough bread
salt and pepper

Melt the butter when it starts to foam add the onions and garlic, turn the heat down low. Cook for 10minutes. Chop the chilli's finely (set one aside to top the soup later). Add the chili, curry powder and stock. Cook for 20minutes. Chop the parsnip and potato into cubes, add to the stock and cook for a further 30minutes. Blend. Heat some oil in a pan, cube the sour dough, add to hot oil with lots of salt and pepper. When crisp serve on top the the soup.

Duck Dumplings

40 dumplings later...

Happy Chinese New Year! What better way to celebrate the year of the snake than with some salty little duck gifts. This recipe makes about 40 dumplings, which gives you loads of time to get good at crimping the edges. The repetitiveness has a similar affect on your mind as kneading can, quite relaxing really. This salty meditative combination is a perfect cure for any edgy hangover.

Ingredients for dumplings (Makes about 40-50)

2 duck breast (fat removed)

2 large spring onion (or 4 -5 smallish ones)

2 tblsp of chopped ginger

2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

4 tblsp light soy sauce

4 tblsp balsamic vinegar

1 tblsp sesame oil

1 tblsp Chinese five spice

juice of 1/2 lime

1/3 of a Chinese cabbage (finely chopped)

1 pack of gyoza wrappers (or wonton wrappers)

For the dipping sauce

2 tblsp light soy sauce

2 tblsp balsamic vinegar

juice of 1/2 lime

salt 

What to do?

Start by making the filling. Slice the raw duck breast then blend in a food processor for about 10 seconds (you don't want it too smooth but then again you don't want any big lumps of duck either). Combine all the duck with all the ingredients for the dumplings and leave this for 20minutes to let the flavours develop. The gyoza wrappers I bought were frozen so this gives some time for these to begin defrosting. 

To assemble the dumplings, put 1 tsp of the dumpling mix in the centre of a gyoza wrapper, put a little water around 1/2 the edge, fold the sides together, crimping as you squeeze any air out. You want to be left with a flat base, so squash it down a little if you need to. 

They look trickier than they are, but you will get better at sealing them and getting a good shape as you go along. The important thing is to ensure they are sealed and the base is flat, so you don't lose any delish filling during cooking! 

To cook them heat a frying pan up to a medium high heat, add some oil then add the dumplings on the flat bottoms, fry for about 2 minutes. The flat bottom should go golden brown, then pour water into the pan so it comes half way up the sides of the dumplings and cover with tin foil so the dumplings steam. 

Take the lid off once the water has evaporated, let the dumplings crisp up on the bottoms then serve with the dipping sauce. YUM YUM NINJA.

Mexican Bean Wraps

A burrito, a taco and a quesadilla all in under a week. Keep it coming.

Desire for Mexican street food is booming, ques for La Choza in Brighton and the rammed Wahaca in London are the source of this great insight.  It's quick, moreish and doesn't lead to that weasy grogginess. This recipe takes about 10 minutes to wrap up'. Cooking the tomato sauce right down on a really high temperature means the sauces grips hold of the beans and it becomes almost sticky. The lime, coriander and spring onion garnish keeps it all fresh and zingy.

Ingredients
1/2 red chili, sliced and diced

1 clove of garlic

2 tbl sp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
juice of 1 & 1/2 limes
1 tin plum tomatoes
1 can of butter beans (better yet black eyed beans)
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
handful of fresh coriander and some basil
3 spring onions, finely chopped
2 wraps
2 tblsps sour cream
3 handful of Cheddar cheese

What to do?
Heat frying pan up on hottest heat, add a little oil, add the garlic and fresh chilli. 1 min. Add the cumin, 30 seconds. Add the juice of 1 lime. Add the chopped tomatoes. Cook for 5 mins on high. Drain and add the butter beans to the sauce, continue to cook on highest heat for 4 minutes. Chop the spring onion and coriander with some salt and a squezze of lime - this is the garnish. Grate the Cheddar. Add the juice of the other half lime to the beans. Heat the wraps and assemble with the bean mix, cheese, sour cream and garnish.

Chocolate Orange Brownie Cake

Brownie cake for tea

I got this book, Bouchon Bakery, around Christmas time and it's totz changed my pastry / cakery world. The "Bouchon" brownie recipe makes me melt, the buttery-ness with coco powder rather than real chocolate gives this feathery lightness with a deep chocolate hit while the granulated sugar creates a sort of cookie chew.

Two new skills for brownie making: mixed temperatures of butter and lots of whisking. This chocolate orange cake comes off the back of this book. Gooey centre, saltiness, pangs of orange. Heaven with double cream and marigold tea, no dinner nessesary.

Ingredients
40g plain white flour
40g coco powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
110g granulated sugar
seeds from vanilla pod
100g butter (cubed)
Juice and zest of 2 baby oranges
60 g chocolate chunks (70% coco solids)

What to do?
Melt half the butter in a pan, when it starts to foam add this to the rest of the cubed butter. Allow to come to room temperature and whisk a little. Whisk flour, coco powder and salt together in a separate bowl. In another separate bowl whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla together with juice and zest of baby oranges. Add the mixtures together in 3 additions to the eggs mix. You should end up with a glossy chocolate moose like mix. Fold in chocolate chunks. Scoop into greased baking tin (I just a banana loaf tin). Bake for 15-20 minutes at 200 degrees.

Wild Rose Hip and Chili jam

An afternoon of itching is worth it

Wild Rose Hips start to appear in the forest about this time, they're the fruit of the rose plant and ideal for autumn jams and jellies. Be warned though, the insides are covered with tiny hairs and I've been twitching all afternoon from them (the ones from playground itching attacks). They're a jewel bright red and slightly tart in taste and when simmering, smell a little like crab apples or gooseberries. This jam... is laborious what with the dismantling of the itching hairs but the afternoon of foraging for them makes up for it. It's also one of the prettiest and gives a good kick to keep winter blues at bay. Super with cheese.

What you need

This recipe makes 1 jar of jam! Sorry it's all the rose hips I picked. So multiply all ingredients by the number of jars you want to make.

                                      

185g rose hips (roughly 2 big handfuls)

1/2 cup of white granulated sugar

1/2 cup of water

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp of dried chili flakes

What to do

Wash the rose hips. Put in a pan and just about cover with water. Heat gently for 5-10 minutes until soft. Remove from heat and let cool. Chop the ends off and take each hip in turn and squeeze, the seeds and little hairs should pop out. When you've done this for them all rinse with cold water. Add to a pan and put on a gentle heat for 15 minutes (until soft) then push all through a sieve. Then back on the heat and add 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar, the lemon and chili flakes. Allow to simmer gently and keep stir regularly. If its too thick add some water. Cook for about 20 minutes. Then pour into pre-sterilised jar (heat jar in oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes).

Sweet Ham with Red Cabbage

I even ate the fat

getting closer to christmas and i start to crave that deep salty cloviness that finds it's way into every dish - time for ham. classic and festive, with little musty twangs of heat and a glossy cryalised honey finish - the parsnips cook in the ham fat and absorb all those lovely salty juices while camamalising ever so slightly from the melted honey. the sweet and fresh crunchiness of the red cabbage cuts through the saltiness of the ham and adds a nice bright lift to the dish.

Ham

650g Smoked gammon joint

10-12 cloves

3 tlbsps honey (manuka)

3-4 tbsp mustard

2 shallots

100g sliced parsnips

1 pear (quartered)

fresh tymne

1 tsp salt

black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180degrees. Chop the ends of the shallots and cut them in half width wise. Place on baking tray with sliced pear and some oil. Pierce the ham with little holes - put a clove in each hole. Cover the ham with a little olive oil, mustard, honey, sprinkle with tymne and salt and pepper.  Place on top of the sliced shallots on the baking tray (shallots should act as a platform). Place the parsnips around the ham, drizzle with Olive oil. Cook in the oven on the middle shelf for 35 minutes. Check a couple of times during cooking, add a little more honey and mustard if looks dry. Let stand for 20minutes before carving.

Red cabbage

2 handfuls of finely chopped red cabbage

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp salt

50g butter

2 sprigs of fresh tymne 

2 handfuls of spinach

Heat butter in a pan. Add red cabbage and salt and pepper. Cooked with lid on pan for 5minutes. Add spinach and balsamic vinegar and a drop more butter. Cook for 2 minutes. Serve.

Steamed Mussels

I ate a kilo of mussels

Every menu I came across in my 24 hours in France last week had em on it, and now that I've noticed, they're everywhere. It's mussel season. 1 kilo later, I'm still craving drinking white wine sauce out of tiny  crescent shell. Super quick but with that visage of fancy, cooking mussels is a sinch. Especially good if you make a big bucket full to share.

1 kilo of mussels 

175 mls white wine

5 shallots (finely chopped)

2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

2 tblsp butter

100ml of single cream (this is controversial)

handful of parsley

squeeze of lemon

Scrub the mussels in cold water and pull the beards (thin stringy bit) off. Give any open ones a hard tap. If they close and stay closed keep them, if they stay open chuck them out. Heat the butter in a big pot, when it starts to foam add the chopped shallots and saute for 10mins (ish). Add the garlic. Turn the heat up. Add the wine (it should sizzle). Add the cream. Add the mussels. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. They should all have opened. Squeeze with lemon and sprinkle with parsley. Ready.