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.

Pasta alla Carbonara

This is a dish that has become a favourite in our household, thanks to the recipe from Nigella's excellent book "How to Eat".

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a link to this recipe, so I'll explain it here.

Ingredients
250g pasta - I prefer spaghetti
100g pancetta or bacon - I use about 5 rashers of bacon
1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
quarter cup of parmesan cheese
4T white wine
1T butter
a pinch of nutmeg
black pepper

Method
Boil the pasta in salted water according to packet directions.

In the meantime, slice the bacon and fry in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until the bacon is nice and crispy. Then, add the wine and let it bubble for a minute or so or until there's just a little liquid left. Finallly, add the butter and let it melt. Remove the pan from the heat.

For the sauce, whisk together in a separate bowl the whole egg, egg yolk, parmesan cheese, nutmeg and black pepper. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it well and add it to the bacon mixture.

I stress again that you must take the pan off the heat for this next step, otherwise you get scrambled eggs, which is bad.

Now, just add the sauce mixture to the bacony pasta. Stir quickly and vigorously, until all the stands of pasta are coated in the delicious sauce.

That's it! This recipe serves two generously. Definitely not diet food, but hey, it's damn tasty!

** Notes:

I use parmesan cheese from a can and nutmeg pre-grated. Yes, I know Nigella would be horrified, but it's just the best I can do here in Japan! I really think it turns out a treat, anyway.

Some people use cream in a carbonara sauce - I think it's unnecessary. Besides, that's not how the Italians do it.

Pancetta would probably be better in this recipe, but I can't buy it. Instead, I use some smoked bacon which is thickly cut. Luckily, this is sold at a supermarket near my workplace.