Mustard pork chops

This meal is very loosely based on Nigella's Mustard Pork Chops recipe, from her totally awesome book "Nigella Express". I changed it because I can't find cider here in Japan and I don't like gnocchi very much (or maybe I'm just not very good at cooking it). Moreover, I find the one tablespoon of mustard that Nigella calls for is just a bit too much for my taste.

So, here is my Nigella inspired pork chop recipe, which serves two:

2 pork chops (or however many you want to eat)
2 Tbs apple vinegar*
4 Tbs pouring cream
1 tsp grainy mustard
baby potatoes

Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes, or until tender.

In the meantime, fry the pork chops in a non-stick pan and a little olive oil until nicely coloured on the outside and just cooked on the inside. Remove from pan.

In the same frying pan, over low-medium heat, add the vinegar. This will make a lot of noise but that's part of the fun. Now, add the mustard and cream. Mix. Taste. Adjust ingredients if needed (maybe a little more cream, if the vinegar is too strong for your liking). Let it bubble up and thicken for a minute or so.

Serve the pork chops with some of the sauce on top. Throw the drained boiled potatoes into the pan containing the mustard sauce to coat the potatoes with the leftover sauce, before serving along side the pork.

*If you don't have/like apple vinegar, use cider as Nigella suggests, or use white wine.

Thai pork meatballs

Here's a little treat I served up recently to some lovely guests who recently joined us for dinner. They are a tasty appetizer which fitted in with the Thai themed feast.

To make about 30 small meatballs, you need:

500g pork mince
2 spring onions, sliced thinly
2 T fresh corriander, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 T oyster sauce
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp brown sugar
a good spash of tobasco sauce
1 egg
about half a cup of breadcrumbs
a little flour

Just mix everything together, except for the flour. Add enough breadcrums so that the meat takes on a firm texture. You don't want it to be sloppy, but it has to be able to hold together.

Then, just roll into little balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Put them into the fridge to firm up for about half an hour before dusting them with flour and frying in a little vegetable oil until golden and cooked.

Drain on paper towels and serve them on a bed of lettuce with Thai sweet chilli sauce for dipping.

Alternatively, you could form them into rissoles, which would be lovely on a burger, in a wrap, or with thai rice. They are also great the next day, cold from the fridge, thrown on a salad or popped into a hungry mouth!

Pork with Spiced Apple

There is something about pork and apples that makes them just made for each other. Here's a little twist on the old apple sauce: spiced apples, cooked quickly and easily and served on juicy pork steaks.


I got the recipe from this trusty website, always a failproof! I served it with steamed baby potatoes and greens. I omitted the cayenne pepper because I don't have any, and used a little Japanese seven-spice powder instead.

This is an excellent and satisfying mid-week meal.

Thai Pork Stir-Fry

I am absolutely crazy about Thai food. I think I must have been a Thai in a past life. I could probably eat it every day of the week! I love the spiciness, the mix of robust flavours, and the use of crunchy fresh vegetables.

Here is a recipe which I created myself, perfected by adapting it each time.

Ingredients:

about 300g lean pork (fillet is best, I think), thinly sliced

half an onion, thinly sliced

a clove of garlic, crushed

about an inch of grated ginger

mix of your fave vegies; I used snow peas, capsicum, baby corn, carrot, and bok choy

a quarter to half a cup of chicken stock

a handful of cashews, almonds, or both

Sauce:

half a cup of chicken stock

2 tsp cornstarch

3 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

a splash of lime

1 chopped dried chilli (2 if you like more heat)

some dried lemongrass

about 2 shredded dried karrir lime leaves

Method:

First, heat a bit of canola oil in a wok or frying pan. Stir fry the onion, garlic and ginger for about a minute. Then, add the pork. Stir fry for about 2 minutes, or until the pork looks cooked. Remove all of this from the pan and set aside.

Then, throw in the chicken stock. Basically, you are going to steam your vegies. Add the vegies, starting with the hardest ones first, briefly covering the wok with a lid so that your vegies steam in there.

In the meantime, prepare the sauce. First, mix the cornstarch with a little of the chicken stock to form a paste. Now, add the rest of the chicken stock and all the other sauce ingredients.

Back to the vegies. Once they are just about done, all you do is throw it all together. Add to the pan the reserved pork, the sauce mixture and the nuts. Give it all a big stir and cook briefly until the sauce is thick and hot.

Serve over steamed jasmine rice, and add a garnish. This portion serves two!

Viola!

You should note that it might be nice to add some fresh corriander to this. Unfortunately, I can't buy fresh corriander at any supermarkets near me, hence my reliance on dried ingredients for the Thai flavour. But it works pretty well!