6-8 pork chops 45ml + 30ml olive oil 10ml ground turmeric 10ml salt 125ml apple cider vinegar 375ml olives, pitted and crushed 3 cloves garlic, chopped 250ml soft herbs (sage, basil, parsley, chives) chopped 30ml water
Preheat your oven to 200℃. Place the pork chops on an oven tray and drizzle the front and back with 45ml olive oil. Sprinkle the turmeric and salt on the chops and give it a rub with your hands to spread evenly. Put a cast iron pan on high heat and brown the chops on both sides. Place them back on the oven tray. Mix the 30ml olive oil, vinegar, crushed olives, garlic, chopped herbs and water together and spoon over the meat. Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Serve the chops warm or at room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 190℃ and spray an oven-proof dish or casserole of about 18cm X 28cm. Set aside. Add all the sauce ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisk together until the sugar has dissolved. Put aside. Cut the chicken in to 2 – 3 cm chunks, season with salt and pepper and toss together in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle the cornstarch over the chicken and mix to coat all the pieces. Heat about 3cm of vegetable oil in a saucepan. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl. Dip the chicken pieces in the egg and fry the pieces in batches, in the oil, until golden. Place the fried chicken into the prepared oven-proof dish. Keep going until all the chicken has been fried. Pour the sauce over the chicken and cook in the oven for 40 minutes. Give it a stir once or twice during cooking time. Serve the sweet-and-sour chicken on steamed rice or noodles, with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.
This is a nutritious soup with lots of flavour and crowd appeal and is really easy to make. This recipe feeds 6 – 8 people.
45ml butter 2 large leeks, sliced 2 onions, chopped 2 cloves of garlic, minced 800g potato, diced (about 4 -5 large potatoes) 2 stock cubes (I use chicken but if you want to go vegetarian use vegetable cubes) 5ml salt 1,2ml black pepper 1,2 litre water 250ml cream
Preparing the leeks: Cut off the root ends and thick green parts. Cut the leeks in half lengthwise and rinse under cold running water. Pull the layers apart and check that there is no dirt left.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and add the sliced leeks, onion and garlic. Cook and stir until the leeks and onion are soft and completely wilted. This should take about 10 minutes. Add the potato, stock cubes, salt, pepper and water and bring the mixture to the boil. Lower the heat, cover with a lid and cook gently for 25 minutes until the potato is very soft. Purée the mixture with a stick blender until completely smooth. Now add the cream and stir on a low heat for about 5 minutes. Serve the soup piping hot, sprinkled with croutons.
Making croutons: Preheat your oven to 180℃. Cut 4 slices from a day-old bread and slice off the crusts on all four sides. Cube the bread and spread it out on a baking tray. Drizzle the cubes with olive oil and give the bread cubes a mix with your hands. Bake for 5 minutes, shaking the baking sheet halfway through the cooking time, to spread and turn the cubes. Take the croutons from the oven and lightly sprinkle with salt.
My Whisk and I 