Pork and fennel tray roast with lemon and coriander

I’ve made this three times now, and this is the first time I’ve been quick enough to get a photo before it’s devoured! It’s really simple, and the kind of dish you can pretty much prepare, pop in the oven and leave there while you potter around. From fridge to table, it takes an hour.

Roast pork and fennel with lemon and coriander

The recipe comes from the May 2012 edition of delicious magazine.

For four people:

2 large red-skinned potatoes cut into chunks (new potatoes are in, so I used 3-4 per person)

2 fennel bulbs, sliced into eights

3 red onions, quartered

Olive oil

2 pork fillets (I used 600g), trimmed and cut into 8

Paste

2 preserved lemons, rinsed and dried and cut into pieces

A dribble of olive oil

Garlic cloves (I love garlic, so I use lots)

Chili – whatever amount you like, either flakes, dried or fresh

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 tablespoon of honey

chopped coriander

Heat your oven to 180°.

Put the potatoes and fennel into a pot of salted water, bring to the boil and boil for 2 minutes. Drain well and put into a roasting tin together with the onions and the olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.

While all that’s going on, either blitz all the paste ingredients in a blender or chop up finely and mix together (second option = less washing up). I always add a crumbled stock cube too, and of course a little salt and pepper.

Rub the paste all over the pork pieces and leave aside.

When your veg have hit the 20 minute mark in the oven, tumble the pork pieces on top and return the lot to the oven for another 20-25 minutes, until the pork is cooked through and the vegetables are soft.

As I’d some parsnips in the fridge this week I used these too. I just boiled them with the potatoes and fennel first. Yum.

Photos are en route (probably tonight).

For St Patrick's Day... Coddle

This is a dish that divides people; you either love it or hate it. Thankfully, everyone chez nous loves it, so in honour of St. Patrick’s day today I made it this during the week.

It is a very cheap and satisfying, warming dish. It’s also very simple to make.

You will need:

3-4 sausages per person (I only ever have used the ordinary, plain pork ones, no fancy ‘flavoured’ sausages for this dinner)

one smallish onion per person

A large potato per person

After experimenting with several types of spud, I find the more solid ‘frites’ style potatoes are wrong for this dish. I can't remember the best type, but once I do I'll post it here. I've tried lots of sorts of sausages from various places in Belgium - supermarkets, local butchers etc, but the best I've found are the breakfast sausages from Jack O'Sheas butchers. Husband encourages me to experiment with the ingredients, but no. Coddle is a traditional Dublin dish, from the poorest parts of the city, so none of your fancy garlic or parsley. 

You will need a pot or casserole dish with a lid.

Put the whole sausages into the casserole and cover with water. Over a medium heat, bring them to the boil. While your sausages are cooking, peel and chop the onions, and peel and slice the potatoes to about half a centimetre thick. Once at boiling point, take the sausages off the heat and discard up any foam.

The boiled sausages with a first layer of onions

Sprinkle a layer of the onions onto the sausages, followed by a layer of potatoes. Keep doing this till you use all the onions and potatoes. Add enough water to just cover the last layer of potatoes and finish with a generous layer of salt and pepper.

Put the lid on and pop the pot back onto the heat, turning it right down to low. Cook for about an hour or an hour and a half, until the potatoes are tender. Coddle is a very 'pale' dish - it has little colour - so don't worry if it looks anemic. 

Serve in bowls, with pints of milk (if you can get any decent tasting milk in Belgium!) or pints of Guinness.

A steaming bowl of coddle. And yes, I know what the sausage looks like...

Friday favourites - Spanish meatballs (albondigas) and patatas bravas

It took me about an hour to whip these up, and they were delicious. The dishes are simple and easily to prepare. I also managed to take photos. For once.

Spanish meatballs

The two recipes are adapted from a gift from my Irish SiL; Tapas, meze and other bites to share, by Annie Rigg.

For the sauce:

about a tablespoon of olive oil

2 onions (I used two small ones and half a red one that was loitering in the fridge

loads of garlic. Loads. I think I used about five fat cloves.

a good sprinkle of dried oregano

a chilli, either fresh or dried

a sprinkle of freshly ground cumin seeds

200 ml red wine

a stock cube

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

salt n pepper

For the albondigas (that’s the meatballs – I learned that this weekend in my kitchen):

550g sausages or sausage meat or veal and pork mince

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

a sprinkle of freshly ground cumin seeds

a small egg

a handful of breadcrumbs

a dribble of milk

chopped parsley, if you have any

Heat the oil in a heavy pot. Add the chopped onions and cook for five minutes, until they soften. Add the garlic and oregano and cook for another minute or two. Put half the cooked onion mixture into a bowl and leave to cool. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the pot and bring to a simmer.

Skin the sausages, adding the meat into the reserved half of the onions. Tip all the other meatball ingredients in there and mix with your hands. Make into 15-20 balls. I added these directly to the simmering sauce and cooked it for 30 minutes with the lid on and another 10-15 minutes without it to get a thick sauce. Taste the sauce and add more chilli or seasoning as you like.

The ‘magic’ ingredient in any meatball or burger is the breadcrumbs. I didn’t believe this for ages, but they really make the finished products really moist.

While the meatballs are cooking, you can get on with the patatas bravas. Heat the oven to 225°. You will need about one large potato per person. Peel and chop them into bite-sized chunks. Boil these for about seven minutes. While these are cooking, get the spices together. You will need:

-       2 tablespoons of olive oil

-       loads of garlic, I think I used 4 cloves, crushed

-       1 teaspoon of coriander seeds

-       1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

-       1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

-       a good pinch of ground, dried chilli

Cover the base of a large flat dish with the oil. Add all the other ingredients to the oil and mix them around. Drain the chopped potatoes and empty these into the spiced oil. Toss to coat and pop into the oven for 30 minutes.

Serve both with a good glass of Spanish red wine (or white, or beer).

Delicious chicken and tarragon dish

Stuck for a mid-week, fast and easy supper?  I made this with chicken and tarragon last week. So simple so yummy. And mashed potatoes always hits the spot. If you’re trying to cut the calories, try substituting the crème fraiche for fromage frais and adding a root vegetable instead of a potato or two.