Nicest thing about pork- its price. I was thinking about lamb shanks, but bloody hell, 14 quid?!! I have tried a beautiful pair of jeans on and DID NOT buy them, so I continued to be good and bought some pork shoulder steaks instead, for £4. Pat, pat. 🙂

I marinated my pork chunks in a mixture of soy sauce, about 4tbsp, same amount of rice wine, or mirin, half a chopped red chilli, some root ginger and a clove of garlic  and tossed it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Upwarmed the oven to 160, gas mark 3, I fried a handful of chopped spring onions, another half of the chilli, more ginger and 2 garlic cloves, added the pork, its marinade and browned it all over. I added a good tsp of five spice, 2 tbsp of sugar and some cinnamon. Then transferred  it all to the casserole, poured hot chicken stock in, added a tbsp of tomato puree, stirred and put in the oven, covered, for over an hour.

The second part of the braising involved some plums, quartered, which thickened the whole thing nicely, as it was uncovered in the oven for another 1,5 hour( or until when Florek gets home! ) 🙂

It had 44 good reviews in Good Food, I think I’d do it again, but with sweet, very ripe plums, cause mine were not fantastic. But we ate the whole thing, served with rice and finished with more chopped spring onions. Decent. 7 out of 10.

My dessert this evening looked great, but tasted okeish. Florian said I should not have used salted butter for the base( that’s the only one I had), which I baked and then topped with a cream cheese, strawberry and icing sugar mixture. Pretty, but not particularly memorable.

Truly awesome. I found the recipe on Good Food’s website last night, I loved it right away, though it called for goat’s cheese, which I can’t stand. I replaced it with St Agur, goooooood stuff!

I roasted some butternut squash with a few shallots and a few garlic cloves, generously seasoned. I cooked gnocchi with a good handful of fresh spinach, which I have only threw  in about 20 seconds before the end. Drained, I added the gnocchi and spinach to the tin with the squash, tossed well with all the olive oil and goodness, added the crumbled cheese and served with extra freshly ground pepper and olive oil. Brilliant and so simple!

Dish inspired by one of the specials on the board at work. The original was served with a creamy teriyaki chanterelle sauce. I had no teriyaki, no chanterelles, but I have lovely dried mushrooms from my Mum, the best Polish forest has to offer.

I bought some good corn fed chicken, flattened and seasoned it, then stuffed with fried cup mushrooms and leeks, rolled and tied them with a string. I poached them slowly in a light sauce with chicken stock, lost of mushroom, some shallots and peppercorns. I took them out after about 30 minutes and finished the sauce with some flour, seasoned and returned the chicken rolls to the pan. I served i with some traditional Polish dumplings, recipe already in here under “Kluseczki z dziurkiem” and a simple salad with beetroot. Very nice, especially the sauce.

Quite pleased with it, I must say. I had Mr Bocelli on quite loud while cooking this evening, clearly that’s why why it came out so good!  I flattened 4 small chicken breasts, seasoned them and stuffed with steamed asparagus (yum, I had some of it on it’s own while cooking, so good!), toasted pine nuts, chopped basil and some grated parmesan. I made a simple tomato sauce with some mushrooms, fresh oregano and some chilli and nicely covered those breasts in it, topped with some more parmesan and baked in the oven for about 30 minutes. Nice thing about it is  that the chicken stayed nice and moist. I think I might make it for Zatrybki in 2 weeks time.

I put down “Fifty Shades Darker” to get into the kitchen this afternoon and I enjoyed cooking, nearly as much I’m enjoying the book.

The standard spinach and ricotta lasagne I make is one of our favourites, today though, before I threw the spinach onto he garlicky butter, I quickly sauteed a chopped courgette and a large chunk of aubergine. Then the chopped spinach and after it wilted nicely, the whole of ricotta, a handful of grated parmesan and I seasoned it well with salt pepper and lots of nutmeg. I layered the pasta sheets generously with the filling, placed it on the baking dish with some passata in it, passata with lots of fresh oregano from the garden and extra seasoning again.

On top went my usual bechamel,  made with infused milk. It baked in 200 degrees for about 30 minutes. When out of the oven, I sprinkled some more of lovely fresh oregano I have growing in the garden. Very much enjoyed it with a glass of good red.

Mea culpa, how long has it been since the last entry? Too long. Cooking tonight was a bit of an operation, I was being extra careful with every spill and hot dishes, as we’ve done the kitchen worktops yesterday. They’ve been sanded, oiled and look absolutely smashing. So I thought it would be nice to make the kind of dinner that cooks itself in the oven- a stew. The idea came from one of Alice’s magazines, I read it, didn’t copy it, but the idea stuck in my head. I roughly chopped some pork, tossed the pieces in flour and seared, then transferred to the casserole, followed by sauteed onion, carrots, parsnip, a handful of dried mushrooms and drowned it all in a bottle of good cider.  And into  the oven for 2 hours. Towards the end I threw some chopped apple, for the extra character.  Served it with bacon and leek mash. Good flavours.

This is a legend dish, even the non- vegetarian customers love it and it’s really cheap. I’ve been feeling like having the whole eggplant to myself, so I asked for some den miso sauce at work, I was given it and I enjoyed the nasu tonight. Alex showed me how to cut it neatly on both sides, so that oil could reach it throughout, 2 minutes in the deep oil on each side, then sauce on top and under the grill for a flash, to caramelise. The final touch is the sprinkle of sesame seeds.

I think my aubergine tonight was a bit firmer than those customers have with a spoon at work, but to be honest I found the texture nicer that way! 10 out of 10.