Weekend Cooking: 5 Ingredients Meditteranean by Jamie Oliver

I have had a version of this post saved in draft for a few months now, but it looks like today is the day that I am actually going to post it. And I have to say that my thoughts now would probably be different compared to what it would have been! This is mainly because I buy a few too many cookbooks and so I may have been able to pick more recipes previously than I can now.

This is one of those cookbooks which I originally borrowed from the library, but I decided that there were enough recipes in it that we would want to cook that it was worth actually buying it. In the end we have tried a few recipes, but there really is one recipe that we have made quite regularly.

I am always a bit wary of 3/4/5 ingredient cookbooks. Quite often the recipes are nice enough, but not really delicious. Of course, I like easy and simple recipes, but sometimes you can tell. And sometimes, the reality is that the recipes have one ingredient which is made up of multiple ingredients. For example, in one of the recipes one of the ingredients is a medley of frozen vegetables which feels a bit like it is cheating. Now, we can't actually get that specific medley of vegetables here but we did just use a different medley of vegies instead.

The book is broken up in Salads, Soups & Sarnies, Pasta, Veg, Pies and Parcels, Seafood, Fish, Chicken & Duck, Meat, and finally Sweet Things

Recipes we've tried so far

Beef Ribs Rioja - This was delicious and given how cold it is, we should try this again. Given how cold it is here, we should definitely make this again.

Herby Steak and crispy potatoes - We did make this a couple of times. I should suggest we add it back into our meal planning

Chicken & Merguez Stew - We had to use different sausages as it isn't easy to find Merguez sausages here.  

Creamy Mustardy Pork - More about this below

Giant Baked Beans - This was okay.

I would like to make at least some of the following recipes:

Baked Tomato Soup

Tunisian Prawn Spaghetti

Tortilla Frittata

Pork and Peppers 

Simple Steamed Fish

Crispy Paprika Chicken

Za'atar Chicken

Couscous & Chicken Bake

Apple Tart

Lemon Curd Tart

It is mostly the meat and chicken chapters that I can see us coming back to time and time again!

The recipe that we have made multiple times is the Creamy Mustardy Pork. It's super simple to make, and as long as you have the ingredients the sauce is something that we could use on chicken, on pork chops and potentially even steak. It's pretty versatile and given that it takes about 10 minutes to cook, it's a great midweek meal, especially served with mash! We don't usually use the rocket either!

Creme Fraiche is in the supermarket but is not a mainstream ingredient here so we tend to use either yoghurt or sour cream.

Creamy Mustardy Pork

Golden Mixed Mushrooms, Creme Fraiche & Peppery Rocket

300g pork fillet

200g mixed mushrooms

1 heaped teaspoon wholegrain mustard

2 heaped tablespoons creme fraiche

40 g rocket 

Place a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat. Slice the pork into 6 medallions, bashing to flatten slightly, and roughly slice the mushrooms. Place them in the pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until the mushrooms are golden and the pork is just cooked through, the remove just the mushrooms to a plat. Go in with the mustard and creme fraiche and cook for 1 last minute, loosening with a splash of water, if needed. Taste and season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper, divide between plates,, then scatter over golden mushrooms and rocket, and finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Nice served with rice

Serves 2

Weekly meals

Saturday - Green Curry Chicken Pie
Sunday - Korean pancakes (new0
Monday - Takeaway
Tuesday - Takeaway
Wednesday - Fried Cabbage, Bacon and Onion (new)

Thursday - Steak, fries and egg

Friday - Shaking Beef and rice

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Pork and Pineapple Thai Red Curry

We are now at the end of summer now and we have had our first cool autumn day. Such an occasion tends to retrospectiveness about the summer just gone. Somewhat strangely, I found myself having a summer of pineapple. I like pineapple most of the time but recently we have had a lot.

Just the other weekend I decided to make an old favourite recipe (Thai Pork Burgers with a Pineapple Chilli Relish) and found myself trying to find a recipe to use the rest of the fresh pineapple up. There were plenty of options ranging from cakes to tarts and more but in the end we found this recipe for a pork curry with a pineapple twist.

The good thing about this recipe was that it was quick and tasty, which makes it ideal for a mid week meal.

Pork and Pineapple Thai Red Curry

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
500g pork fillet, thickly sliced (see Notes)
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
270ml can coconut milk
1 cup Massel salt reduced chicken style liquid stock
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar, grated
1/4 small fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves
1/4 cup fried shallots
Steamed jasmine rice, to serve



Heat a large wok over high heat. Add oil. Swirl to coat. Add onion. Stir-fry for 3 minutes or until softened. Add pork. Stir-fry for 3 minutes or until browned. Add curry paste. Cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.

 Add coconut milk and stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes or until sauce thickens and pork is cooked through. Add fish sauce, palm sugar and pineapple. Simmer for 2 minutes or until heated through. Stir in lime juice.

 Spoon curry into serving bowls. Top with coriander and shallots. Serve with rice

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.