Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Salad

With the weather being so amazingly hot the thought of standing in front of a hot stove removes my usually insatiable appetite, even the thought of too much prep is quietening my regular belly rumbles..

With our wedding only a month away this should be a good thing, eating a little less will make the wedding suit fit that little bit better. But a boy does still have to eat! 

So, this is the time to throw a small number of excellent ingredients together and just sit back and enjoy with a nice cold drink. The quality of the ingredients is all important!


Ingredients, for one plate -

Get the best quality of each of these -
125g Buffalo Mozzarella Ball
Approx 10 cherry tomatoes / 4 normal tomatoes
Handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly shredded
Salt and pepper, freshly ground
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• Slice or tear the mozzarella, your preference, slice some ripe beautiful tomatoes and arrange both on a plate. 
• Roughly tear the fresh basil to release the flavours and sprinkle generously over. 
• Drizzle with best quality extra virgin olive oil and grind over a little pepper and salt.  
• Serve at room temperature with some fresh crusty bread and a glass of vino.

 

Corned Beef Hash Pie

The recent sunny spell didn't last very long, so Rachel and I found ourselves having to get our coats back out and craving warming comforting food again...We've got an expensive few months coming up with our wedding and buying a flat so are trying to keep all other expenditure to a minimum. That unfortunately includes my food shopping so this recipe was perfect - warming and cheaper than chips!

Corned beef hash used to be a common dinner when i was a child but we haven't seen much of it for a couple of decades. Now like other fashionable things from the 80's (neon, converse trainers, shoulder pads, high waist shorts...)  it is making a bit of a comeback, albeit with what we'd consider an improved twist.

So this is what i've tried to do, take something great from the 80's and refine it with the knowledge and experience that hindsight and over two decades has provided us with.


Ingredients for 6-8 servings - 

Can of corned beef - 340g
Onion large, finely chopped
Red pepper, finely chopped
Garlic 2 cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp sherry
Tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp tomato puree
Approx 350ml beef stock

Salt and pepper

1-1.25kg of maris piper potatoes, roughly chopped, skin on
Butter
2 tbsp english mustard

Large free range eggs

• Fry onion and garlic in oil in a pan for a few minutes until soft.
• Add thyme and red pepper and continue to fry.
• Add corned beef and fry for a few minutes, breaking up the meat.
• Splash in sherry and worcestershire sauce, fry for 2 mins.
• Add tomato puree and stock to the pan, boil for around 10 minutes to reduce slightly.
• Add salt and pepper to taste and then transfer to a baking dish.
• Chop the potatoes, leaving skin on (this adds another texture and speeds things up!) until soft then mash.
• Add mustard, butter and a little milk and mash until smooth.
• Top the meat with mash like a shepherds pie and bake at 200c for 25 mins until browned and crispy on top.
• Serve each portion with a runny yolk, fried egg on top.

BBQ Season - German Potato Salad

'The sun is shining, the weather is sweet,
Make you want to barbecue all kinds of meat.....'

The only trouble with this great weather is that we live in London and our budget stretched to a lovely one bedroom flat but did not extend to any outside space...

So while this potato salad is the perfect accompaniment to barbecued meats we do not have the ability to barbecue any meat, and everyone knows that the inside grill is just not the same.

So which lucky garden owning friend is coming 'to the rescue, I've let you know, yall, where i stand!'


Ingredients -

1kg new potatos, halved, third big ones
Large bunch of spring onions, all chopped
4 hard boiled eggs
3-4 heaped tbsps of mayonaise, light is fine
Heaped tsp english mustard
Freshly ground black pepper
6 rashers of smoked bacon, grilled and chopped
Gerkhins, sliced or mini ones halved to serve

• Bring the potatoes to boil in salted water and then simmer for 15-20 mins until soft
• Remove from the pan and cool completely
• Hard boil the eggs - if you need help try delia's website
• Chop eggs
• Put everything in a large bowl and stir to evenly combine, refrigerate until ready to eat
• Top with gerkhins, baby or sliced.

Serve with german sausages or other meat as a main course, on it's own as a snack or as side dish at a bbq

Chinese Tomato Scrambled Eggs

As a child I did not like scrambled eggs until one day a friend showed me how delicious they could be with a good squirt of tomato ketchup stirred through. I enjoyed my eggs like this for a few years until i grew out of the need for everything to have a sugar kick for it to be worth eating.

Many years later on a 48 hour train journey to Tibet from Chengdu in China my enjoyment of the incredible views was interrupted by a flash back to munching down those ketchup covered eggs.

While savouring the ever more incredible scenery, we were getting rather tired of scrabble and the snacks we had brought with us so we ventured through a couple of carriages to try out the on board restaurant. It was around brunch time so Rachel ordered the tomato eggs. When they arrived, a bowl of scrambled eggs with chopped tomatoes and lovely Asian juices we tucked in, rather awkwardly with chop sticks, and there was that taste again. This time though there was SO much more, the ginger, chili and soy sauce adding an intense Asian zing but there was still the added sweetness that defined my ketchup eggs.

These are great for an alternative breakfast, light meal or as a side dish as part of a Chinese feast.
 

Ingredients, for 2 servings -

5 large free range eggs
Tsp of dried chili flakes (optional)

Sunflower or other flavourless oil

2-3 spring onions, chopped, reserve the chopped green leaves, from the upper third
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
Approx 8 cherry tomatoes, quartered (or two medium tomatoes, chopped)
Tsp sugar
Tsp soy sauce

Sliced red chili for serving, along with the green part of spring onions, above.

• Beat the eggs with some chili flakes, if using, and add a little salt.
• Heat a tbsp of the oil in a wok until hot, add the eggs and scramble until nearly done, remove to a plate.
• Clean the wok, add 2 tbsp of oil and heat until hot.
• Add the spring onion, tomatoes, ginger and sugar, stir fry for a few minutes until fragrant and tomatoes are softening.
• Add the splash of soy sauce and continue to toss together for another minute.
• Add back in the eggs and toss to combine, cooking for another minute to finish the eggs off.
• Serve immediately (over some stir fried pak choi perhaps) with a sprinkling of chili slices and the reserved, chopped green part of the spring onions.

Kao Nio Ma Muang (Mango with Sticky Rice)

In 2008 i was lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend a few months travelling around South East Asia and it was during this trip that my interest in cooking and ingredients really began. After a number of weeks sampling the culinary delights of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, Matt and I (a very fine gentleman from Gloucestershire that i had ended up travelling with) were spending a few days in the Northern town of Chaing Mai.

Matt and I were both single men at the time and we decided one day to spend some time on personal improvement, arming ourselves with abilities that would make us more attractive to the opposite sex. We signed up for a local cookery course, hopeful that being capable of throwing together an exotic meal would entice girls into our beds, and also a traditional massage course, for when we got the said girls into our beds. 

The course was great fun and even included a trip to the local market where we learnt more about the ingredients used in the actual class later in the day. We were taught how to make a number of savoury dishes as well as a traditional Thai desert, which i'd enjoyed many times from the excellent street vendors across the country, of sliced mango with delicious coconut sticky rice.

Unfortunately after the day of cooking Matt and I decided we deserved a few drinks and ended up getting so drunk on Chang beer that we had to cancel the massage course the next day and leave our personal improvement there. Luckily for me, once back in the UK, i stumbled across a girl called Rachel and while she does enjoy a nice massage she loves her food that little bit more!


While writing this i flicked through some of my photos from the trip and found this one where i think the knife skills on show prove how far i've come over the last 5 years! 


Ingredients for 4-6 portions

275g of Thai glutinous (sticky) rice
One 400ml can of good quality coconut milk
3 tbsp of palm sugar (or substitute brown sugar)
Approx half a tsp of salt

2 ripe mango

• Soak the rice in fresh cold water, minimum 4 hours or even better overnight.(you can skip this step if you have to!)
• When ready to use, wash the rice with fresh water at least twice.
• Steam the rice if you have the equipment, about 30 minutes, or boil the rice in just enough water with a lid on, stirring regularly.
• Put the coconut milk, sugar and salt in another pot and bring to the boil.
• Pour over the cooked sticky rice, mix well and allow to cool slightly.
• Serve with fresh mango slices. How to slice

While on the cookery course we also topped with a few roasted mung beans, but i've never done this at home and can't remember how nice it was....

Italian Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder

Over Christmas, Rachel and I had the opportunity and pleasure to eat at Richmond's best restaurant for a second time. Al Boccon Di Vino is a small, traditional Venetian restaurant run and owned by Riccardo, a flamboyant and gifted chef. 

Riccardo

There is no menu, just whatever Riccardo decides to serve on any given day. The very best seasonal produce prepared using the expertise passed through generations of his family and the passion for gorgeous food running through his veins.  

There may be no menu but there is certainly no lack of food, the courses keep coming all evening - charcuterie, smoked cheese, prawns, scallops, salad, ravioli, risotto, carpaccio, lasagna, fish and more, all beautifully prepared and washed down with good Italian wine. Then the organised chaos of the kitchen quietens and gasps of shock and surprised desire spread around the room followed by warm applause, here comes the pinnacle of the savoury dishes - a deliciously slow cooked lamb, straight from the oven and paraded through the restaurant.

Customers that have already had their fill five times over are caught up in the atmosphere created by the theatrical culinary performance starring Riccardo and ably supported by his staff, again brought to a state of desire to eat even more delicious food!
 
The lamb is beautifully cooked and beautiful in it's simplicity. No fancy sauces or spices. Just great quality meat, cooked to perfection, enhanced with a couple of flavours - in this case garlic and rosemary, a classic combination, with some simple potatoes on the side. And there was still the deserts to come...
 
I cannot recommend Al Boccon Da Vino (translation - 'A Devine Mouthful') enough, for days after memories of mouthfuls of wonderful tastes come flashing back from the many different courses throughout the 4 hour banquet. If i were to try, i would struggle to real off everything we were served, such was the generosity of the event made more hazy by a good helping of the house wine.

I managed to ask Riccardo how he prepared the lamb and he responded 'Italian food is simple, just great ingredients, the lamb - 5 hours with olive oil, garlic and rosemary' - perfect. 

So a few days later when my stomach had flattened slightly I decided to give it a go. Rachel suggested we should roast some sweet potatoes as well as normal potatoes and this added a great sweet addition to the final dish. The next day we had the leftovers with a simple feta, rocket and tomato salad which also went well but is really not necessary, the lamb and potatoes alone are so full of flavour and splendidly moist.
 

Ingredients, serves 4 to 6 -

Approx 1.75kg lamb shoulder
Whole bulb of garlic
4 rosemary stems
Good quality olive oil

3 medium sized potatoes
3 sweet potatoes
(Both unpeeled and chopped into large pieces, around 1 inch thick)

• Preheat oven to full temperature.
• Rub olive oil into the meat, season both sides generously with salt and pepper.
• Slice into the fatty side of the meat with a knife.
• Smash the garlic bulbs and add half to the bottom of a high sided baking tin with half the rosemary.
• Place the meat on top.
• Add the rest of the garlic and rosemary to the top of the meat, tucking into the scored fat.
• Tightly cover with foil.
• Place in the oven and immediately turn down to 160c/150c (fan).
• Cook for 3 and a half hours.
• Add chopped potatoes to the baking tin, stir to coat in the lamb juices and thick sticky garlicky deliciousness which has developed in the roasting tin. Take the opportunity to baste the lamb too.
• Recover and cook for a further hour.
• Remove the lamb and allow to rest, covered in foil. 
• Spread the potatoes out, turn the oven up to 210c and return to the oven, uncovered to crisp up, approx 20 mins.
• Just before the potatoes are done pull the lamb from the bone using a fork. 
• Serve the crisp potatoes and sweet potatoes with a generous portion of lamb.

 

Apple Martinis

Christmas cocktail and our Christmas rat

I recently had the privilege to experience the extremely cool and imaginative The Cufflink Club in Singapore, owned by good friend Joel Fraser.

A number of my friends have recently become parents and for Joel The Cufflink Club is his baby. The culmination of many years hard work, honing skills and perfecting ideas while travelling the world. The bar is very cool with insights into the owners personality everywhere from the beautiful bar design mirroring the style of it's owner, who, i was reminded on a number of occasions, has been voted the second best dressed man in Singapore. The comedic touches, not only on the ever changing drinks menu but also inside the toilets where Alan Partridge takes over from Joel's front of house entertainment, providing the ongoing amusement with his audiobook on loop. The third notable area of Joel's personality is within the ingredients for the cocktails - Refresher bars and other sweets from the 80s and 90s show the continued existence of the child inside, the unshackled imagination necessary to continue to create the ever changing, individual menu.

The visit and many, many drinks consumed have rekindled the cocktail passion in myself, so over Christmas i dusted off the old cocktail shaker from it's very faded box and gave a simple recipe a try. Joel shared with me one of his secrets - the importance of exceptional ingredients and you can find non better than Mr Fitzpatricks cordials which i used in my drink.

Joel, please feel free to steal these Apple Martinis for your next menu, I'm sure they'd be even better with freeze dried apple slices and enjoyed in Singapore's finest cocktail establishment!


Ingredients for 2 drinks -

90ml Vodka
20ml Calvados
20ml elderflower and apple cordial
One eating apple
Ice

• Cut the apple in half, core and peel one half. Chop the apple into small cubes and place approx 1 tbsp in the bottom of a martini glass.
• Pour over the cordial, 10ml per glass, and muddle (cocktail speak) in the glass to release and mix flavours.
• Add ice to your cocktail shaker, add the vodka and Calvados.
• Shake well, do not stir...
• Strain into the 2 glasses and serve with a slice of the unpeeled apple.

French Onion Soup

The French are famous for their culinary expertise - fine dining restaurants with kitchens run by flamboyant and egotistical chefs, the food served at perfectly made tables. 

I love french cuisine but i've never been one for the classic white tableclothed restaurant, I'm too messy an eater. So while scoffing a bowl of French onion soup, splattering lovely broth around the bowl it got me thinking, something didn't add up. French cooking and loose sloppy onions, white tablecloths and uncontrollable mess, how did this unsophisticated dish become part of such a refined cuisine?
 
It appears that this beautifully rich and indulgent soup was not part of classic French cooking but in the 18th Century was typical peasant food, for the lower classes, made from just a few easily accessible and cheap ingredients. 

The dish shows just how naturally skilled in the art of cooking the French nation is, if even the most poor, down trodden and desperate of their nation had to struggle by on something so god damn delicious
    

Ingredients - Serves 4

1kg brown onions, peeled and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
50g butter
Tbsp dried thyme
Tsp granulated sugar
1.5 litres of beef stock
1/2 tsp of Marmite (optional)
Small glass of dry white wine
2 tbsp brandy 

For the croutons - 
French baguette
Gruyere cheese 
 

• Melt the butter in a large pan.
• Add the onions and fry on high for approx 10 mins.
• Add the garlic and thyme and continue to fry for 5 mins before turning the heat down to medium.
• Cook slowly for approx 30 mins until the onions are browned and looking rich and sticky
• Pour over the wine and stir to release all the tasty bits from the bottom of the pan.
• Add the stock and Marmite, if using, and bring to the boil.
• Turn down to allow to simmer, lidless, for around an hour.
• Stir through the brandy once the soup has reduced and is nice and rich and cook for another few minutes
• Slice the baguette into approx 1 and a half inch slices and grill on one side until lightly browned.
• Turn the bread over, top with a little cheese and pepper and grill until the cheese is melted and golden.
• Serve the soup in bowls topped with a couple of gruyere croutons.  

Pumpkin Pie

Two firsts for Halloween this year. My first solo pumpkin carving and a first attemt at a pumpkin pie, neither of which ended up being that neat or pretty. They were fiddly and at times irritating but once finished they both filled me with a pleasing sense of satisfaction.

I've never even eaten pumpkin pie before so i don't know if this can be described as a good one but in terms of something tasty to eat then it's a winner - really moist, a similar texture to a lemon tart but with warming winter flavours.



Ingredients -

Approx 500g of fresh (peeled) pumpkin flesh, cut into 1 - 2 inch cubes.
Olive oil
Honey 

1/2 tsp freshly ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground Cinammon
1/2 tsp All Spice
100ml Double Cream
2 small Eggs
Dash of Dark Rum
125g Light Muscovado Sugar

Approx 250g shortcrust pastry, homemade or packet

Tbsp Icing Sugar

• Put the pumpkin in a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and honey, toss to coat, then roast in a pre heated oven for around 45 mins at 190c until pumpkin is soft and slightly charred on some edges.
• Allow the pumpkin pieces to rest in a sieve over a bowl, while you prepare the pastry, to let as much liquid as possible drain away.
• Roll out the pastry to around the thickness of a pound coin and place inside a 22cm tart tin, push into the case and trim excess pastry.
• Line the inside with baking paper filled with baking beans or rice and dry bake for 15 mins at 180c.
• While the pastry is baking put the roast pumpkin, spices, cream, eggs, sugar and dark rum in a bowl and blend together.
• Take the baking paper out and allow the pastry to cook and brown for another 10 min then remove from the oven.
• Turn the oven down to 140c.
• Pour in the spicy pumpkin mix and cook for around 1hr, if you poke a knife into the middle it should come out clean, you may well need another 10 mins or so.
• Remove from the pie from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack.
• Dust with a little icing sugar and serve with a drizzle of cream.

Irish Fondue

Rachel admitted recently that she has a guilty pleasure - When i am not around, she slices some mature cheddar cheese onto a plate and then microwaves it on high for a few seconds until it is melted. She then lets it cool slightly before proceeding to peel the melted cheese from the plate and popping it into her mouth...

I was of course disappointed but not in the least bit surprised with her actions.

It is this kind of thing, like her love of eating cold hot dogs, that makes me worry and makes me question the quality of the food i produce and so proudly share with the world via this blog.

I feel filled with confidence when Rachel wolfs down my latest creation and looks at me lovingly, describing how delicious the meal is, but perhaps this warm cheese / cold sausage eating judge isn't the most qualified to grade my culinary experiments... Perhaps she is more like the factory workers mum on X Factor who somehow believes their child's complete lack of talent should be encouraged and pushed until one day it is tested in front of the world and they are laughed at and humiliated....

It is this worry that will possibly hold me back from ever taking the next step in my culinary journey, whatever that may be, held back by the apprehension that perhaps I've been brainwashed by my nearest and dearest, that their blind love for me has created an illusion, a false reality into which no one else should ever enter or certainly not pop around for dinner...

I can only hope that i am wrong and that these disgusting treats are more about reminiscing to times gone by and not in fact any reflection on my current skills in the kitchen. 
 
I do of course still need to provide a recipe with this post, i don't want to get into the habit of simply airing my thoughts and worries publicly like some attention seeking whore and deviating from the purpose of this blog. So, here one is, complete with microwaved cheddar cheese. It is one of our favourite naughty savoury snacks and is really simple -

Ingredients for 2 -

2 Pittas, wholemeal is healthier....
Cheddar Cheese
Jalapenos
Chilli Sauce

• Toast pitta
• Slice open
• Put cheese and jalapenos inside (or anything else you fancy)
• Microwave on high for a few seconds, until the cheese is all melted
• Eat with dipping sauce 

Teriyaki Seared Tuna

Another quick to prepare Asian meal to keep you away from the local Chinese takeaway and their secret, hidden kitchens. What goes on behind the stud partition walls that they don't want you to see... Perhaps it is something as sinister as what occurred recently at a Chinese restaurant in Kentucky where the owners were caught wheeling a bin full of road kill into the kitchen... Do you want to take the chance that your beef in black bean sauce is actually made from half a squashed badger or that the chicken in your chow mein is really bits of pigeon pulled from the hub caps of a Vauxhall Astra?

All other fast food shops proudly display their produce unashamed of what they are selling, even the kebab dens proudly advertise the food with vague references to the meat included in the meals and display the skewered lamb and chicken in front of you to allow full examination before committing to a purchase

So, the next time you crave an Asian infused dish spend your hard earned on a lovely piece of fresh tuna instead of the mystery box from the local take away and smother it in this simple teriyaki sauce for a delicious Japanese flavoured dinner with all of the taste but none of the worry.

That is if you still have an appetite at all after reading this post....



Ingredients for 2 portions -

approx 350g tuna steak
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
2 chillies chopped
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
4 tbsp honey

2 tbsp Sesame oil
1cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
3 pak choi
2 hand fulls of mushrooms

Optional sesame seeds to serve

Udon Noodles, approx 100g 

• Mix the chillies, soy and honey until well combined
• Cook noodles according to packet instructions
• Add sesame oil to hot wok with a little finely chopped ginger, cook for a minute and then add the chopped pak choi and chopped mushrooms
• Rub tuna all over with oil and season with salt and pepper
• Heat a griddle pan until very hot, add tuna steak and sear for approx 3 mins on either side until browned.
• Pour over the honey/soy mix and allow to cook and caramelise for up to a minute

Serve in a bowl, noodles at the bottom, veg around the edge and the tuna on top, drizzle with the remaining sauce from the griddle pan.
 
Sprinkle with sesame seeds

Pan Fried Pigeon Breast with Black Pudding

As the wood pigeon season comes around again this September why not nip to your local farmers market and pick up something new with which to dazzle your taste buds?

Try this great and easy recipe to broaden your horizons or impress a dinner date. You can prepare and cook everything in less than half an hour.

Afterwards you will never look at a pigeon the same way again, well maybe the skinny ratty kind that every town centre in the country is infested with...

But the next time you see one of the big fat wood pigeons waddling around your garden you will have to physically stop yourself from charging outside and doing your best Dastardly and Muttley impression to catch him and have him for supper!

Now find out where and when your nearest farmers market is on and go and buy some. Get out there and buy the pigeon, buy the pigeon, buy that pigeon now!!


Ingredients, for 2 servings-


4 Pigeon (or Partridge) Breasts
2 Slices of Black Pudding
125ml Beef Stock
25ml Red Wine
Heaped Tsp Berry Jam, whatever you have in i used lingonberries.

To Serve
Potato Rostis
Sauteed Green Veg - Leeks / Broccoli 

• Season the breasts with salt and pepper.
• Heat a frying pan until hot and then fry each breast for 2 minutes on one side and then turn and fry for another 2 minutes on the other side.
• Remove from the pan and allow to rest, while keeping warm.
• Deglaze the pan with the red wine and then add the stock and stir through the jam.
• Reduce the liquid by half.
• Meanwhile fry or grill the black pudding until crisp and hot. 

Serve a slice of black pudding with a couple of pigeon breasts on top, drizzled with the red wine jus and some potato and vegetable sides.

Pulled Jerk Pork with Mango Salsa

Rachel and I absolutely LOVE chillis and our favourite type is the gradually increasing heat provided by the super spicy, Caribbean scotch bonnet pepper, especially when it is used to make a lovely jerk marinade.

Tucking into a generous portion of irresistible jerked meat leaves us both sucking in air to cool the fire building in our mouths, but it is just too good we cannot stop.... Even when we're bloated, sweaty, crying messes, rolling around the floor in a hazy mixture of pleasure and intolerable pain we will still rub one last finger through the remaining fiery sauce left on the plate, incapable in our delirious state of making the sensible and necessary decision to simply stop eating....

If you are a chilli lover too you're probably getting excited reading this as our spicy little friends are addictive in the same way as drugs. People crave the release of endorphins caused by eating chili in the same way as speed was craved by 1950s American housewives or Meow Meow is by the young revellers of today. And like all addicts the fix to truly satisfy your itch needs to be stronger and stronger the longer you have been trapped by your own particular vice. Anything too weak will leave you feeling dissatisfied and angry. This is why this recipe is so good, even for the most ardent chili addict the scotch bonnet jerk paste seasoning will give you the hit you're craving and the addition of the jalapeno and mango salsa will top it off and leave you sinking into the drooling ecstatic state that you dream of.

The jerk paste can be used to marinate anything you like, for a quicker meal use chicken or go veggie with peppers and onions. Serve your delicious spicy jerk meat with a refreshing salad, the sweet mango salsa and a good dollop of cooling soured cream.

For the Jerk Paste:

Ingredients -

2 - 3 Scotch Bonnet Chilis, deseeded and chopped

3 Tsp All Spice

2 Bundles of Spring Onions

2 Tbsp Fresh Chopped Thyme

Tsp Cinammon

Tsp Nutmeg

Approx 1 and half inch piece of Ginger, peeled and chopped

7 Garlic Cloves

2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

• To make the paste put all the above ingredients into a mini blender and blend until smooth.
• Unused paste can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks 

For the Pulled Jerk Pork:

Ingredients -

Approx 750g Pork Shoulder Steaks

Splash of Water

Jerk paste from above (or bought paste) 

BBQ Sauce

• Rub a generous amount of the jerk paste over the pork and leave to marinate for a few hours
• Preheat your oven to 150c
• Place the marinated meat in a casserole dish, add a splash of water
• Cook in the oven with lid on for approx 3 hours, take the lid off for the last 30 mins
• Skim the fat off the top towards the end
• Remove the dish from the oven and shred the pork with a couple of forks, allow to cool a little before doing this
• Add a tbsp or 2 of your favourite bbq sauce and stir
• Turn the oven up to 190c and cook for approx another 30 mins to reduce and crisp up a bit.

For the Mango Salsa:

Ingredients -

1 Mango, peeled and diced
1/2 peeled and diced Cucumber
2 Tbsp finely chopped Jalapenos
1/2 Large Red Onion, diced
Good squeeze of Lime Juice
Handful of roughly chopped Coriander
Salt and Pepper

• Combine all the ingredients above in a bowl
• Squeeze over the lime juice
• Top with the coriander
• Season with salt and pepper
• Toss everything to combine