The slaw really adds another dimension

I’ve never actaully tried putting pork shoulder in the slow cooker or making a BBQ sauce so this was a bit of an experiment, It was also a bit of a spur of the moment decision to make so I didn’t marinate the meat before hand.

Cooking time will depend on the size of pork and whether you choose to use a slow cooker or an oven, but I’d say the minimum cooking time is about 6 hours, I left mine in my slow cooker for just over 8, the first hour it was set on high, after that on medium.

To be honest it was a great success, I’d have maybe added an extra chilli and a splash of balsamic  and possibly a bay leaf to add a bit of extra depth but for a first attempt I was over the moon.

Try to get hold of either some Chipotle sauce (like Mr Vikkis Ranch Sauce or one Stop Hoy Shops old smokey) or some Chipotle paste, if you can’t then try using BBQ sauce from the supermarket.

I served mine with a good dollop of coleslaw, home made skinny fries, with nandos piri piri salt and a soft white bread bun.

It wen’t something like this.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg pork shoulder
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 green chilli, sliced
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 

  The pork before cooking

  3 tbsp Henderson’s Relish (or Worcestershire sauce if you are from down south)

• 4 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 4 tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 tsp corn flour
• 60ml chipotle sauce (you can add a bit more if you like)
• 1 tin of haricot beans, drained and rinsed.
• Salt
• Pepper
• Water

Method

1. Trim the fat off the pork shoulder, either discard or use for crackling.
2. Depending on the size of your pork shoulder, chop into fist size chunks.
3. Mix all of the ingredients, apart from the pork, beans and water , in a large bowl, taste then season, add a little more spice if you like.
4. Add the pork into the bowl and mix well.
5. Tip the contents of the bowl into your slow cooker
6. Add some water to the bowl and swirl around to get the rest of the sauce out.
7. Tip the water into your slow cooker, so it just about covers the pork, if not add a little more.
8. 

   The pork after it's been pulled and returned to the sauce

   Turn the slow cooker on high and cook for an hour.

9. After an hour turn down to medium and leave for 5-7 hours.
10. An hour before you want to serve the meal, tip the drained beans into the slow cooker and mix well.
11. Just before you are going server the meal, remove the pork, pull apart with a couple of forks and then tip it back into the slow cooker, mix well.
12. Serve with your chosen accompaniment’s.

Spicy, packed full of flavour but a bit too much garlic

Basically the crust is breadcrumbs flavoured with various herbs and spices, in this case it was  Chilli, Rosemary, Garlic and Herb.  On opening the tub I knew it was going to be packed full of flavour as I could instantly smell the garlic and rosemary. The crumbs looked like a nice texture, with a mix of bigger and smaller chunks, there were flecks of red chilli and bits of rosemary mixed throughout the crunchy golden crumb.

I rubbed a little bit of olive oil onto two chicken breasts, then pressed a good amount of the crumb all over, it seemed to stick quite well and coated all of the chicken. I sprinkled a little more on the top of each breast for good measure and then put them in the oven for 30mins.

While they were cooking I knocked up some spuds and veg to go with it and roast a few cherry tomatoes as that was suggested on the back of the pack.

After 30mins the crumb had browned nicely and to my surprise hadn’t burned, I’m always a little wary of packet bread crumbs as they either seem to go soggy or burn…maybe that’s just me.

The chicken it’s self had stayed incredibly moist and was cooked perfectly, the crumb was crispy all round, it hadn’t even gone soggy on the bottom of the chicken, so it gave a lovely crunch as you bit into it.

As predicted it was full of flavour, the predominant flavour was the garlic, if anything it was a little over powering, once that had died down the rosemary came through with a little woody sweetness  and then the chilli flavour came in before leaving a little burn at the back of your throat.

The heat leaves surprised me a lot, it was rather fiery and it certainly built up as I devoured the chicken, It was incredibly moreish despite the garlic and in no time at all it was all gone.

So I am pleased to report I would buy the Chilli Rosemary, Garlic and Herb Crust again, I’m even going to try it on some fish and maybe some lamb and will let you know how I  get on.

All the quantities are kind of estimates as I just used what I had to hand, It was great warm but even better cold.

If you are of the vegetarian persuasion you can leave the chorizo out and add a pinch or two of smoked paprika and some crushed garlic.

Ingredients

• 1 white onion, sliced
• handful of new potatoes
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 1 picante chorizo, diced,
• 1 red chilli, sliced
• 1 green chilli, sliced
• handful grated mature cheddar
• handful of grated parmesan
• 2tsp oregano
• knob of butter
• 5 button mushrooms (or a few more if you like), sliced
• 6 large fresh free range eggs, beaten
• salt,
• pepper

Method

1. Boil the new potatoes in water until soft, leave to cool, then roughly chop.
2. Heat a large frying pan, add the chorizo until crispy, if lots of fat comes out you may want to drain it now.
3. Add the potatoes and a knob of butter, fry until the potatoes are crispy round the edge.
4. Add the onion, pepper, mushroom, chilli and herbs, fry until the veg is soft.
5. Season with salt and pepper
6. Add the beaten eggs, making sure it spreads evenly throughout the pan.
7. Cook for a few minutes until it starts to stiffen up
8. Top with the cheese and place under the grill until the cheese has melted.
9. Serve with Salad.

I used Morrisons the Best Pirri Pirri Sausages to give a bit of extra kick too.

It took about 40mins for me to get the sauce to thicken, next time I’d be quite tempted to do it in the slow cooker.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• good-quality sausages (about 2 or 3 per person)
• 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 green pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, trimmed and roughly chopped, yellow leaves reserved
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1–2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
• 0 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 1 heaped teaspoon paprika
• 1 heaped teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2–3 heaped tablespoons plain flour
• 1 tablespoon white wine or cider vinegar
• 750ml chicken stock, preferably organic
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• cooked long-grain rice, to serve
• 3 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
• a small bunch of fresh curly parsley, roughly chopped

Method

Put a splash of olive oil in a pan and let it get hot. Add your sausages and let them cook away so they brown nicely on all sides. Once golden and crisp, take them out of the pan and put them on a plate to rest. Depending on your sausages, there may be a lot of fat left behind in the pan. You only want to keep about 4 tablespoons of it in the pan, so carefully pour any extra away. If you don’t have enough, just add a splash more olive oil.

Add your onion, peppers and celery to the fat and fry on a medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Stir in your garlic, chilli, thyme and spices and fry for another minute or two. Stir in your flour and vinegar, and after a couple of minutes add your browned sausages, chicken stock and tinned tomatoes, using a wooden spoon to break them up a little. Season with a nice big pinch of salt and pepper, stir, then bring to the boil and let it tick away for 15 minutes or so until you have a thick and delicious gravy.

Serve with a hearty spoonful of rice on the side and sprinkle over some sliced spring onion, chopped parsley and any reserved celery leaves. Really tasty stuff!

Lamb Chili (serves 4-6)

• 2lb diced (small) lamb (any size)
• 3tblsp olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic (at least) peeled and crushed
• 2 jalapeno peppers seeded and chopped
• 2 tblsp chili powder (adjust to taste) or your own personal blend*
• 1 tblsp whole cumin seeds
• 1 tsp oregano
• 3 large ripe tomatoes diced
• 1 8 oz carton Passata
• 2 green sweet pepper seeded
• 1tblsp Hendersons relish (or Worcs. sauce) and chopped
• 1 pound soaked, cooked & drained kidney beans or 2 cans ready to use (drained).
• Salt to taste.

Again use a large enamelled iron casserole dish pref. Brown the lamb in the oil with the onion garlic, chilli owder and cumin seeds. When meat is brown and onions soft but not brown add everything else. Add enough water to cover (if necessary) Simmer for at least 11/2 hours and the beans are very soft. Always watch that it doesn’t dry out.

(Alternatively put it in the slow cooker)

Chilli powder:

This just had the ingredients, I guess it’s just a case of either grinding them all up using a spice grinder or whizzing them in the food processor, When I last made chilli powder I used my old coffee grinder to grind the ingredients.

• 12 dried, cored and seeded chiles – ancho, pasilla, whatever you’re growing.
• 3/4 tblsp freshly ground cumin seeds
• 1 tblsp oregano leaves (whole if poss.)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt.

For this particular one I used a tin of sweetcorn, but it’s way better if yo get a couple of corn on the cobs then BBQ or griddle them before removing the corn from the cob.

Ingredients

• 1 tin of sweetcorn in water
• 60 ml white wine vinegar
• 1 crushed clove of garlic
• 1 thumb sized piece of fresh root ginger, grated.
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 30g of brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1/2 red pepper, diced into pieces the same size as the sweetcorn
• 1 red or green chilli, finely sliced
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp cornflour

Method

1. Put the vinegar and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil, add the ginger, mustard, garlic, mixed spice and chilli, simmer for 5-10 mins until it starts to thicken
2. Add the pepper, sweetcorn and spring onion and stir
3. Add the corn flour and stirl again.
4. Simmer for 10mins until it thickens and all the vegetables are nice and tender.
5. Allow to cool then transfer to a sterile jar and place in the fridge for 24 hours before using.

As with most things I cooked it first then whacked it in the slow cooker while we were at work, I also served it with crunch tortillas and rice.

• olive oil
• 800g pork mince, the best quality you can afford
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• 2 green peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 6 small green chillies, roughly chopped
• 4 large ripe red tomatoes, chopped into small chunks
• romaine lettuce, leaves washed and spun dry
• a small bunch of fresh mint
• 4 spring onions
• 1 packet of flour tortillas
• optional: 1 limes oured cream or natural yoghurt, to serve

Method

Put a large pan on a high heat and add a little olive oil. Add the pork mince, dried sage and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat up a bit and stir it about, then cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Add your onions, garlic, peppers and chillies, stir everything together, then fry for 15 minutes on a high heat until any liquid from the pork has evaporated and everything is starting to turn golden. When it looks good, stir in your chopped tomatoes and half a glass of water. Remember that it’s supposed to be quite dry (in a really wholesome and nice way), not stewy and wet, so don’t add too much water.

Turn the heat down to medium and let it tick away for 10 minutes or so while you wash and roughly chop up the lettuce. Pick the leaves from the bunch of mint and roughly chop them. Trim and finely slice your spring onions.

When you’re ready to serve your chilli, warm your tortillas in the oven at 180°C/350°F/gas 4 for a few minutes or in a dry pan for 30 seconds. Taste your dense chilli. More than likely it will need another good pinch of salt and pepper. If you want to give it a nice fresh edge, you can squeeze in the juice of a lime. Stir in half your chopped mint.

Push a warm tortilla or flatbread into each of your little bowls and spoon some delicious green chilli on top of each one. Top with your chopped lettuce and a dollop of yoghurt. Sprinkle over the rest of your mint and spring onions and serve right away with some cold beers.

It serves 2, so just buy a piece of fish that’s the size you want depending on your appetite, the addition of some lemon grass might also be quite nice but I didn’t have any.

It can be cooked on the bbq, under the grill or on a griddle pan, I think BBQ would work best but it was raining so I used the grill.

Ingredients

• Monkfish tail
• 1 clove of  garlic crushed
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• juice and zest of 1 lime,
• 4 kaffir lime leaves crushed
• 2cm piece of fresh root ginger,
• 1 red chilli or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes,
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper
• 1/2 tin of coconut milk
• BBQ Skewers
• Rice and veg to serve with.

Method

1. Chop the monkfish into nice big chunks, place in a bowl and then add the garlic, chilli, ginger, lemon and lime juice and zest, lime leaves, salt, pepper and coconut milk.
2. Leave to marinate for as long as you have got.
3. Thread the fish onto the skewers, I used 2 skewers per kebab as it stops the fish spinning round when you turn it.
4. Baste with some of the left over marinade and cook for 8-10mins depending on heat and size of fish, turn regularly and baste as often as you like.

Before we begin, i feel the need to make a couple of excuses. firstly, the correct proportions and preparation of martinis are hotly contested topics (well, in some people’s worlds anyway) and i make no claim to authenticity or correctness. the addition of ice to the glass is particularly likely to upset some people but i find that the hint of water as the ice melts really brings out the flavours of gin in general. if you’re part of the martini mafia and are offended by the following method…well, the beauty of the internet is that you don’t know where i live

secondly, the following is made with a standard london dry gin (waitrose own-brand is a good one) so the tasting notes and aromas will vary if you use a premium gin, flavoured gin or (god forbid!) vodka. don’t get me wrong, i like vodka, but for me it belongs in bloody marys not martinis. but if that’s your poison, then go for it. you could use hendricks gin for an extra savoury taste (and maybe add some gherkin to the recipe to complement the cucumber flavours); bombay sapphire may be a little too complex for this drink but, heck, it’d be worth trying!

method

to begin, then, you’ll need the following: gin; vermouth (any variety will do – personally i like the extra dry version); olives in brine; sliced
jalapenos in brine; ice. this is one of those rare occasions where i find pre-pickled jalapenos work better than fresh chillies – i’ve tried making it
with fresh and while i wouldn’t refuse one in future, the brine does seem to add to the overall flavour.

the ratio of gin:vermouth varies with taste. for a dry version try roughly 6 parts gin to 1 part vermouth. if you like it sweeter, increase the amount of vermouth accordingly; if you like it drier then either: invest in a small atomiser and spritz the inside of the glass with vermouth; or add a little vermouth to the glass, swirl it around to coat the inner surface, then pour the excess liquid away.

anyway, put your preferred amount of gin and vermouth into a martini glass with a couple of cubes of ice before dropping in two olives and two or three slices of jalapeno. stir gently and…well, enjoy! the brine from the olive and jalapenos will float on top and slightly discolour the drink, making it ‘dirty’.

tasting notes

(one final excuse: i’ve never been able to write tasting notes that don’t seem laden with double entendres. i’m sorry.)

depending on how dirty your martini is (ie, adding a few drops of the olive/jalapeno brine will make it dirty whereas darining the

olives/jalapenos before adding them will make it cleaner) the gin aroma (normally juniper) will be in the background, and what you’ll actually get is a slightly briney, savoury smell to begin with.the first taste hit is slightly sweet. even if you’ve only put in the merest hint of a smidgen of a sniff of vermouth, this tends to be what hits you first – although hits is too harsh a word. lets say it caresses the inside of your mouth. don’t be fooled though – it’s just trying to sweeten you up before the gin and jalapeno kicks you somewhere sensitive and steals your dinner money. keep the martini in your mouth for a few seconds and as it warms up the sharpness will start to develop – you’ll start to get a tingling feeling on the sides of your tongue toward the back of your mouth.

As you swallow, you’ll predominantly get the alcohol burn of the gin before – all of a sudden – the slightly salty jalapeno heat will take over. if
those are the sort of flavours you like, you’ll find it an incredibly moreish drink!

They come in the same black, red and bright yellow packaging, giving you the impression that the contents is hot and spicy, possibly bordering on dangerous.

As soon as you open the lid you get a huge whiff of chilli, really strong pungent chilli, the tub is packed full of little white silverskin onions that have a really nice shine to them, they also have a hint of red that comes from the pickling juice.This pickling juice has been infused with 6.4 million chilli extract, which is pretty insane when you consider that US police pepper spray is 5.5 million units

I grabbed a fork from the draw, skewered an onion and put it in my mouth, the onion was quite soft but still had a really nice crunch to it. The chilli hits you before you even bite into the onion, it’s hot, very hot. There is some sweetness and a lovely pickled onion flavour in there for good measure but the big thing is the heat. It really does yet you warmed up.

I shared these around quite a few people and they even made some of them cry, the chilli also took Emily by surprise when she washed the tub out, just the residue (after the remaining pickling juice was tipped out) in a washing up bowl of water was enough to make her hands burn.

Chilli Up North Verdict: Great sweet onion flavour, massive chilli head, definitely not for the faint hearted 9/10  (heat 9/10)

If you want to feel the burn then you can buy some here