Pork Chops with Sweet and Sour Peppers

Cooking times for the chops are for vaguely thin-cut chops, about 1/2 inch thick. Add a few minutes if you're working with thick cuts.

Sweet and Sour Peppers

Mats

Olive oil, for frying
1 red onions, peeled and sliced thinly (I used a mandolin)
2 red peppers, deseeded and thinly sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Small bunch of basil, leaves shredded

How-to

Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan, then add the onions and peppers.

Season with salt and pepper

Add the sugar and sauté over a high heat for 4–5 minutes until soft and coloured. (Make sure you can hear the vegetables hissing in the pan. If not, the pan isn’t hot enough and you’re in danger of boiling the vegetables instead of frying them.)

Add the red wine vinegar and let it bubble for a minute or two until it has reduced and the peppers are soft.

Turn down the heat, add the tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and cook for a further 2–3 minutes.

Stir in the shredded basil and continue to cook for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat.

Scoop into a bowl and set aside.

Pork Chops

 Mats

2 pork chops, about 200g each
Olive oil, for frying
2 garlic cloves, skin on, crushed
Small bunch of thyme
Butter

How-To

Using a sharp knife, make cuts into the fat of the chops, about 5mm deep and at 3–4cm intervals, making sure you don’t cut into the meat.

• This will stop the meat from curling up during cooking and will make it cook more evenly.

Season the chops really well on both sides, pushing the seasoning into the meat.

Place the cleaned-out frying pan over a high heat until hot and add a dash of oil.
Add the chops, garlic and thyme and fry for 2–3 minutes until coloured.

Turn and fry for a further 2–3 minutes on the other side, pushing the thyme under the chops and breaking up the garlic a little.

Towards the end of cooking time, add 3 knobs of butter and baste the chops with it as they are cooking, to speed up the cooking process and keep the chops moist. (Push the fatty edge of the chops towards the back of the pan to help render the fat.)

Squeeze the garlic out of its skin and place with the herbs on top of the chops.

Transfer the chops to a plate, and rest for 5–10 minutes, spooning over the basting butter now and again.

Serve the chops on top of the peppers with the resting juices and a little juice from the peppers.

Peachy Chicken

Finally got this recipe to where I wanted it.

Mats
2.5 lbs chicken thighs, bones and skin removed
1 Tbsp oil
16oz canned peaches in juice
1/2c (about half a can) frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2c malt vinegar
1Tbsp brown sugar
1tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp pepper


How-to
Trim the fat off the chicken thighs, remove the bones and skin, then cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks

Drain the peaches and reserve the liquid

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat and saute the chicken bits for 4 minutes, stirring often.

Add the OJ concentrate, malt vinegar, reserved peach juice, and spices to the chicken and stir.

Cover and simmer on low heat for 25 minutes

Remove the cover and add peaches.

In a separate small dish, mix 1 tsp cornstarch and 1/4c water to make a slurry. Add to the chicken mixture and stir. Cook on low heat 3 minutes or until peaches are warmed and the sauce is thickened.

Serve over rice.

Rouladen

My mum makes really good dill pickles (we all fight over the jars), but there's only so many times you can have hamburgers! You'll need toothpicks or short skewers to hold these rolls together.

Mats:
Beef chuck roast, about 2.5 lbs
Whole grain mustard
6 slices of bacon
6 spears dill pickles, or 2 whole ones you spear yourself
Large yellow onion, sliced
4 Tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, minced or thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1/2c dry red wine
2 1/2c beef stock
1 bay leaf
3 Tbsp flour

How-to:

Slice the chuck roast against the grain into 6 cuts. Pound the cuts as thin as you can get them without tearing the meat.

Working with one slice at a time, spread 1Tbsp mustard over the surface, then lay a strip of bacon, a pickle spear and a few slices of onion along the narrow end. Roll into a tight package and secure with a toothpick. Repeat until you've rolled them all up.

Melt 2Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, brown the beef rolls. It takes about 3 min a side to get nice and seared. Don't overcrowd the pan!

When done cooking, transfer the rolls to a plate. Add the remaining onion, carrot, and celery. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another 4 minutes.

Add wine, reduce until almost all evaporated. Add the beef rolls back to the skillet, then stir in stock and bay leaf. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Turn the rolls over so the other side is submerged and cook for another 30 minutes.

Transfer the rolls to a plate and remove toothpicks.

Strain the stock into a bowl, the add the remaining butter to the pan and melt over medium-high. Add the flour and stir around to make a roux! Cook for 2 minutes until the roux is nutty brown. Whisk the strained stock back into the pan and cook for 5 minutes or until thick.

Plate the rolls with a few boiled potatoes and a handful of sauerkraut and pour the pan sauce on top.

Creamy Tomato Soup (and the best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches)

One of my husband's childhood favorites. This tomato soup is worth eating, unlike the horrific canned stuff.

Tomato Soup mats

1 Tb olive oil

1 Tb butter

1 onion, chopped into 1 cm chunks

5 cloves crushed garlic

2 celery stalks, chopped into 1 cm chunks

1 carrot, chopped into 1 cm hunks

1 Tb flour

2 28oz cans whole peeled tomatoes. Or 2 of Mom's mason jars of tomatoes (14 down, 13 to go!)

1 tsp white sugar

4 leaves fresh basil

½ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ cup heavy cream. This is the smallest of the little cardboard containers they sell. Or just use regular milk.

How-To:

Melt the butter and olive oil in a pot over low heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Add the carrots, celery and garlic. Cook on low for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the veg from browning.

Add the flour and stir until you can't see white flour bits anymore.

Add the tomatoes, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir. Increase the heat to medium-low and cook for 25 minutes (uncovered! We're reducing it). If it starts to bubble so much you're getting tomato splatter, your heat is way too high. You want the bubbles to be just barely breaking the surface. Stir every 10 minutes or so.

Turn off the heat and it's time to blend. Either run it through a food processor, a blender, or your handy-dandy stick immersion blender until it's completely smooth. No chunky bits!

With the heat still off, add the cream/milk and stir to combine.

Dish into bowls and top with the basil leaves, torn/snipped into little bits.

DOUBLE FEATURE! 
Awesome Grilled Cheese

Mats:

6 slices nice bread. I use sourdough because it's chewy and doesn't have a hard crust.

1/4 lb Munster cheese

1/4 lb Cheddar cheese

1/4 lb Provolone cheese

1/4 cup grated Peccorino-Romano cheese

Mayonaise

How-to:

Spread the tiniest bit of mayo on one side of all the slices of bread. You're just using it as a cheese binder. Or you can use soft butter, but mayo is, regrettably, easier to work with.

Put the bread mayo-side-down in the grated Peccorino-Romano and press gently to get the grated cheese to stick to the bread.

Put two slices each of the other cheeses on the mayo-free sides of the three sandwiches you're making.

Close the sandwiches with the other bread, cheese side out.

Grill until the cheese on the inside is melty and the cheese on the outside is crisp and browned.

Red Lentil and Turnip Soup

The greens in this dish can be either turnip tops, mustard greens, dandelion greens, or broccolini.

Mats:
2Tbsp olive oil. I actually used butternut squash seed oil.
2 onions, diced
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
3 turnips, chopped into bite-sized cubes
1 1/2c red lentils
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups (2 boxes) vegetable stock
1 bunch broccolini/2c other greens

How-to:
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat
Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes until translucent
Add the cumin, coriander, minced garlic, and turnips. Stir to coat in spices.
Add the vegetable stock, bring to a boil, and cover. Cook for 15 minutes
Puree the mixture either in a food processor or with an immersion stick until smooth
Turn the heat to medium-low, add the lentils and boil for 10 minutes
Add the greens and boil for 5 minutes
Serve with crusty bread for optimum deliciousness.

Squash and Corn Chowder

Aunt Jessie's Christmas staple. Also excellent for dreary spring days.

Mats:
1 onion, diced
2 Tbsp butter
2 lbs butternut squash (or other winter squash), peeled, seeded, and chopped into large chunks
2 cups corn kernels (about 10 oz)
8c water
1c heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste. I think I ended up using about 1 Tbsp salt and 2 tsp pepper
1 lb bacon

How-to:

In a large stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat and saute the diced onion until transparent, about 8 minutes.

Add the squash, corn, and water, then bring to a boil.

Cover, but cock the lid slightly so steam can still escape, then simmer for about 90 minutes, or until the squash is falling apart.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon and crumble.

Whisk well until the squash completely broken apart. The water should be bright orange and really only the corn should be the solidest part of the soup.

Remove from heat, then stir in the heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Feel free to add more seasonings if it's needed.

Serve soup garnished with crumbled bacon.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

I semi-accidentally got fennel and lavender infused goat cheese. It was really, really delicious with those undertones.

Mats:
4 sweet potatoes
4 oz goat cheese
2Tbsp butter and 0.5 Tbsp butter
1 bunch broccolini

How-to:

Wash and pierce the potatoes. Bake at 400 for 50 minutes.

When the potatoes are almost done, soften 2Tbsp butter and goat cheese and mush it together to combine. I soften stuff by putting it in a microwave safe bowl and putting it on top of the toaster oven. The oven gets hot enough to get stuff gooey.

Melt the remaining 0.5Tbsp butter in a pan. Chop the broccolini into bite size bits and add to the pan. Saute for about 2 minutes. Add 1/4c water, cover, and steam for 4 minutes.

When the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife, remove and cut a slit in the skin. Squish the ends into the middle slightly so the flesh kinda mounds out and the slit opens. Spoon the cheese mixture into the cavity, then top with broccolini.