Food Glorious Food.

I am cooking for 4 today, 3 meat focused and me, I do not want to overload on meat so put my thinking cap on and looked at my freezer lists. Aha, a lonely pork chop, cut from a RTC loin in December and a bacon chop from a pack of Lidl cooking bacon, £1:50 a Kilo.
A quick shufti through the fridge revealed 1/2 green pepper,2 sticks of celery and 3 little leeks. I had an onion and 4 cloves of garlic at the ready. Here we go with the photos.

Sweat onion, celery and pepper in a spray of frylight, in Cajun cookery this is known as "the holy trinity".

Add the sliced garlic, I do mince it fine sometimes but never just chop, I like it to almost dissolve into the sauce.

Add 1 desert spoon of smoked paprika and fajita seasoning, this gives warmth without searing heat, and a couple of good pinches of black pepper.

Stir well and cook the spices for a minute or so on a low heat.

Dice the pork and add to pan.

Stir to coat with the spicy mix,

Add the bacon, I soaked this in cold water for 2 hours to remove excess salt, and stir in.

Slice the leeks and add to the pan with a tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin of whatever beans you have. I used baked beans and the sauce. I do cook dried beans, cook and then freeze for cost and ease but have none now. I add a tsp of sugar and a big pinch of dried Basil for that warmth again.  Then into a preheated slow cooker for 6 hours or so on low. When I serve this I will stir in some fresh Basil and Coriander leaves.

We will have this bread to soak up the juices, made from half and half white and wholemeal flour. 500g of flour makes these 1lb loaves that take 35 minutes in my mini oven. This would last me for at least a week but I suspect they will both go tonight.

For pudding I have made a lemon drizzle cake and will make a fruity sauce with some Blackberry jam thinned down with some water and a squeeze of lemon juice to serve with it. 

My cup is empty so I am off to the garden, I have a small bed that needs forking over and some sweet peas that need planting out.

             TTFN                                                  Pam