No processed egg breath here...

I’ve always been a bit suspicious of the cress family, probably because of its regrettable association with the frankly revolting egg & cress motorway sandwich (I mean seriously, who the f*** eats those!?). When I go about my lunch business therefore, processed egg sandwiches are never high on the agenda; apart from the fact that they look so wrong I’m also deeply paranoid of what they may do to my breath...

Over the years this justified fear has resulted in a lack of enthusiasm for all things 'cress' related; watercress has no doubt suffered, excluded from shopping lists and made to mingle with other types of salad in mixed leaf bags, in its purest state it isn't even that easy to find. Ironically it’s one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by humans, at least according to Wikipedia anyway.

So what to do when you get hold of a big bunch of the stuff? I pushed the eggs to one side and made a soup.

Serves 4:

300g of watercress
A few big handfuls of spinach
1 celeriac (or 3 medium potatoes), peeled an chopped
1 white onion, chopped
25g of butter
500-600ml of stock (chicken or veg)
Double cream
Pancetta

Melt the butter in a deep pan and add the chopped onion, fry gently for a few minutes before adding the peeled and chopped celeriac. Stir well and fry for a further 3 minutes or so.

Pour in the stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the celeriac begins to give. Chuck in the watercress and spinach, stir well and leave for a minute or two.

Take the pan off the heat and blend. The colour will be amazing. Taste and correct the seasoning.

Slice the pancetta into wide lardons and fry in a hot pan with a drizzle of olive oil until crisp. Remove and drain on kitchen towel.

Ladle the soup into bowls, swirl a tbsp of double cream into each one (a dollop of crème fraiche works a treat too!) and position your lardons in the centre. A twist of pepper, some crusty bread and you’re done.

Delicious, filling and bright green! Oh and it goes really well with a glass of Chablis. You can also serve the dish as a mini appetizer by pouring into individual espresso cups, a bit poncy but it works under the right circumstances. And no processed egg breath...

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A roast to remember

I had a great day yesterday, a good stint at the local boozer, a snowball fight, great company and great food and drink all day long. And what better way to treat friends on a cold winter eve than by serving up a roast of some description.

Personally I'm not a massively keen birds (the avian type that is), I'd much rather go for the bigger beasts and joints like a fore rib of beef or a leg of lamb, in my opinion they just taste a lot better!

Yesterday I went for shoulder of pork (boned & rolled), 3 kilos of it! It is such a tasty bit of meat and pretty cheap too, my piece cost just under £14. So after having some smoked salmon on toast for breakkie and a cuppa I started by making a spice rub for the pork.

For a joint of that size you'll need:

6-8 cloves
4 tbsp of fennel seeds
2 tbsp of coriander seeds
2 tbsp of black pepper corns
3-4 large pinches of rock salt
4 garlic cloves
zest of 1 lemon
1 dry chilli

Bash it all up in a pestle and mortar until you have, well, a paste.  Score the skin of the pork (or just get your butcher to do this in advance), drizzle in a little olive oil and work the paste into the skin and all over the joint.  Cover, refrigerate and leave for at least a few hours.        

This should now leave you to prepare any other meal components (we later made a celeriac gratin and spiced apple sauce which I'll write up another time), or just go to the pub!  Just make upon your return you bring with you a small bottle of dry cider.

When you're ready to roll preheat the oven to as hot as it will get (around 230 degrees) rest the pork on a rack in a roasting tin and slide it in for 25 mins skin side up.  A good tip is to turn the joint upside down, prod it with a skewer or carving fork a few times and squeeze the lemon you zested all over.  Turning the joint upside down will allow it to retain moisture as it cooks because the fat and juices can't escape through the skin. Slide back in the oven at 150 degrees and cook for another hour.

Now pour about a 100ml of your cider over the meat so that it trickles into the roasting tin and slide back in for 1 more hour. During this period occasionally pour more of cider over the meat, you don't need to use it all.

When the timer goes turn the heat back up to around 230 degrees, turn the pork skin side up again and cook for a final 20-30 mins just to crisp it up again.  Remove and allow to rest making sure friends and pets don''t get too close.  Seriously, the pork will be to die for.  Serve with whatever sides you prefer but just make sure you have a dollop of apple sauce (home-made or bought in).  I'd suggest serving all this with a medium bodied white, high in acidity to cut through the fattiness of the pork, try a Chablis, it will work really well...

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