Pork & left overs

This was a busy week and most of what we ate you've seen before, literally. I raided the freezer, partly because we were busy & partly because the freezer was getting too full to easily find stuff or fit more in.

On Sunday night we had roast pork, which I know is a favourite of a couple of you. I usually accompany pork with lentils & cabbage. I often cook lentils on Sunday to go in salad lunches for work so I just made a bit extra. And potatoes are expected by some at my table. Sometimes things go wrong and have unexpected results. Get your pork out of the fridge & leave it at room temperature for a good while to let the skin dry out. Sit it on a rack in a roasting tin big enough for the pork (and as it turns out a few potatoes). When you're ready to cook, coat the base of the tin with a thin film of oil and put the bones in the centre for the joint to sit on. If you don't have the bones just use the rack. Put the joint in skin side up (don't salt the skin because that will soften it - season the cut sides of the meat). Put it into the oven at the hottest heat (ours is 250) for 20 minutes then turn down to 180 and cook 30 minutes per lb (or 450g for you young ones)

Have I told you before about Margie potatoes? Boil potatoes cut into largish pieces (the size you might use for roasting) for about 20 mins, then drain. Generously cover the bottom of a saute pan with olive oil and when very hot add the potatoes. Turn the heat right down and gently cook for ages until they are golden & crisp on all sides. These are known in our family as Margie potatoes. They take about an hour or so. Anyway I was making these potatoes & something went wrong. The potatoes were browning nicely but not cooked inside and the pork was nearly done. I think I was doing too many things at once and lost 20 minutes, or maybe I didn't actually boil them for long enough. Anyway after a moment of despondency the potatoes went in with the pork and the pork had 20 minutes extra in the oven. The result was still perfectly cooked pork but in addition the best crackling ever experienced. I'm not suggesting you over cook your pork on purpose but just reminding you that most kitchen disasters can be averted with quick thinking.

The left over pork went into the lunch salads & if you accidentally cook too many potatoes, a cold roast potato is delicious in a salad.

We have a stack of boeuf bourguignon in the freezer so I used one of those on Thursday and served it with ribbon pasta which is a classic French accompaniment (nouilles fraiches) & a nice change from pommes vapeur (steamed potatoes)

I also made a batch of oatmeal raisin chocolate chip orange cookies, (no pecans in the cupboard) and Phoebe had made Nigella's Granny Boyd's biscuits so we are set for baking for the next little while.