Duck in a Pineapple and Ginger Sauce

I had some left over duck to use up and was wondering how to prepare it to serve for dinner.   It’s very hot at the moment so I was looking for something hot and tasty to ofset weather.

I remember that many years ago…..far more than I am going to admit I often stayed in a family run hotel in Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast.   I probably visited there six or seven times a year  with my work and usually stayed for a week.  Of course, visiting that regularly allowed me to get to now the family and staff of the hotel very well.  It was a lovely hotel right on the seafront at Aberystwyth.

One evening, I went down to dinner and the chef told me he had prepared duck in a pineapple and ginger sauce, which was truly delicious.    I guess this was about 35 years ago so maybe the fact I still remember it is testament to just how delicious it was!!!

This is the recipe for my own version.   I hope you enjoy it.

 

Duck in a pineapple and Ginger Sauce

I used left over duck cut into small chunks.

First, prepare the sauce:-

Ingredients

1 large tin pineapple pieces
3 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar (adjust according to taste)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fresh red pepper (cut finely) (no seeds)
2 teaspoons cornflour
1/4 cup cold water

Method

Set aside the red pepper, cornflour and water.

Put the remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Mix the cornflour and water before slowly adding to the sauce. Make sure to keep stirring continuously to avoid any lumps forming The aim is to just thicken the sauce and you may not need all the cornflour/water mixture. The sauce should become thicker and coat the back of a spoon.

Bring back to the boil for about a minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the red peppers.

Once the sauce is ready put the chunks of duck in an oven to table dish and pour over the sauce.

Place in the middle of a hot oven and allow to cok for about 30 minutes.  Ensure the meat is piping hot

 

I served it with some boiled new potatoes and a few broad beans,  however, the sauce would also be delicious as a pouring spicy/sweet accompaniment to many other meats especially pork.

Pork chops in a Creamy Mushroom Cider Sauce

I often like to cook pork chops in cider and have various recipes I use.  I like the way cooking pork in cider really enhances the flavour and renders the meat so deliciously tender.

I was thinking about all this today and, as always, turned to the Internet for inspiration, which is exactly what I got.

A blog I had never visited before jumped off the page at me, Called "Girl Interrupted Eating", the quirky title was exactly my cup of tea, and when I read that Becky was a 30 something year old from Nottingham in the UK I knew I had found my source.

I like Nottingham.  It's famous for being where my brother lives, but it's probably more famous for the infamous....  the infamous Robin Hood, who allegedly stole from the rich to give to the poor.  Well, on this occasion, Becky, I guess I'm sort of keeping up the tradition as I unashamedly studied your recipe for "Pork Chops with Cider and Rosemary" in order to steal the ideas.....  erm, I'm not exactly sure where the giving to the poor comes in but give me time!!!

Becky's recipe sounded delicious to me,and, apparently, lucky Beccy discovered this wonderful dish when her boyfriend cooked it for her.Having got my inspiration, I rebuilt the recipe with my own variations.  In fact, I changed very little but I completely changed the taste with the addition of mushrooms and cream.

 

Here is my recipe:

 

INGREDIENTS

Two Pork Chops
2 tbps of olive oil
1 knob of butter
2 tbsp of rosemary finely chopped
1 medium onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 handful of roughly chopped mushrooms
1/2 a bottle of cider
200ml single cream

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180C

Sprinkle the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper

Fry the pork chops in butter and olive oil. Use an oven proof lidded saucepan.

Once browned, remove the pork chops and set aside

Add the onions , garlic and rosemary into the pan and fry till onion is soft and translucent.

Add the mushrooms and cook a further minute or two.

Pour the cider in to the pan and bring to a simmer before returning the pork chops to the pan

Remove from heat, cover and place in the preheated oven for 120minutes. Then, remove lid and leave in oven a further 15 minutes

Remove the pork chops and whisk in the cream, thickening a little if needed.

 

To serve, place the pork chops on plates and pour the sauce over .

Serve with mustard mashed potato and cabbage dressed with nutmeg, and the remains of the bottle of cider.

 

Now for those readers thinking that I might have made a heck of a lot of potato and cabbage to accompany this simple dish, I have one word to say...  Well, I could probably come up with one word but the real reason probably needs three....

 

Bubble and Squeak....     which will be supper tomorrow.

Baked Beans

It's funny what you miss when you move to a new country.

7 years ago, when I decamped from the UK to come and live here in France I was asked the question many times. My answer was always the  same and, at the time I believed it to be honest, Family, Friends, those kind of close personal things.  However, now that I have lived here for 7 years I realise that was wrong.  Yes, I do miss my family, yes I do miss my friends, but  with the internet and a telephone those people are just a short call away.  I keep in touch with my Family almost weekly and with my friends often.   On top of that, both my family and friends have discovered that I now live in a gorgeous part of Europe and that they have an ideal excuse to come and make a holiday here.  I'm delighted to say that both family and friends often come to visit and possibly, I now see a little more of them than before I moved.

So what do I really miss?   BAKED BEANS!

When I lived in the UK, I didn't even consider Baked Beans as part of my stock cupboard.  True, there was always a tin in there, but hey, it got used from time to time to supplement a quick easy meal or simply as a toast topping for a light supper.   Once I moved here I quickly discovered that Baked Beans, rather than the throw away item in the UK had graduated to a Gourmet food shelf and were being sold at about eight times the price. 

End of desire to have an occasional tin in the cupboard

Except, it wasn't.  I still made those easy meals from time to time, and there was no doubt about it, Baked Beans certainly improved the meal.  I compensated by bringing a few tins back from my occasional visits to the UK, Stubbornly refusing to accept the attitude that they were now a gourmet item.

Then, ages ago now, Kate, from down under, gave me a recipe and told me to make my own.   I had never even thought of this simple solution.

I gave it try and made my first batch which were delicious.  I subsequently made them regularly and kept them in the freezer. ready for those snacks.  I've even had a guy from England tell me they were the best baked beans he had ever tasted!!

Here's the recipe she gave me, all those years ago, modified over time to reflect what I now do.

Ian's Baked Beans

Preparation     30 mins
Waiting           24 hours
Cooking           2 ½ hours

Ingredients

	A	2 cups haricot coco white beans
	B	3 large cloves of garlic 3 medium onions 1 small pork chop
	C	1 400g tin tomatoes 1 140g tin tomato paste 2 tbs brown sugar 1 tbs soy sauce 1 tsp Herb de Provence (or mixed herbs) (dried)

 

Method

A.     Cover the beans with cold water and soak for 24 hours in a large casserole
         Drain and recover with lightly salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 ½ hours

B.     Peel and finely chop the garlic and onion. 
       Chop the pork into small cubes and then sauté them all in a little oil. 
        Include the pork chop bone

C.    Combine all ingredients at C and mix well.
       Let stand until beans are cooked

When beans are cooked, drain them and reserve the water. 
Add the cooked onion mixture (B) and the combined tomato mixture (C). 
Add 2 cupfuls of the reserved water.      Make up with hot water if needed. 
Add a good dash of Worcestershire sauce. 
Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for one hour

 

Once cooled, the beans freeze well and keep for several months.

Although, to be honest, mine don't keep at all, they just get eaten!

Spicy Sausage Rolls

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	Some friends are coming for aperitifs this evening, so I decided to make a few sausage rolls.   Here in France meat in pastry products are not common.   It is hard to find any of those traditional staples of British fare, such as Steak Pie or indeed the humble Sausage Roll. I also know from past experience that my French friends love the culinary differences between our two cultures and thoroughly enjoy some of the things I cook that they otherwise would have little knowledge of.  Of course, I'm never sure whether that's because of the difference in our cultures or simply because they can't recognise the food I have tried to prepare. So, this morning I made Spicy Sausage Rolls
	Here's the recipe, and it really is simple I use shortcrust pastry, but lots of people prefer puff pastry.  Either way, you should end up with a delicious, slightly different, sausage roll
For the Sausage Meat	400gms minced pork 100gms minced beef 2 good tablespoons of rolled oats a good dash of worcestershire sauce a couple of drops of tabasco (I put in 4) a dash of sea salt a beaten egg
For the Pastry	For the pastry I prefer to use a shortcrust pastry,  Here's a recipe I often follow: Jean's Shortcrust Pastry
Method	Pre heat the oven to 190°C Mix together the meat and then stir in the oats and salt. Beat the egg and add the worcestershire sauce and tabasco then stir this into the meat mixture, adjusting consistency by adding more oats if it's too wet Make the pastry and roll out into a thin sheet. Roll the meat mixture into a thin sausage and place on the sheet of pastry towards one end. Carefully roll the pastry around the meat and cut once it has enclosed it. Place this seam side down on a baking sheet and repeat for the next roll.   Continue until you run out of pastry....or of meat!!!! Brush with a little milk and make several pricks in the pastry to allow steam to escape Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, or until brown.  Turn over and bake the bottoms for a further 5 minutes Allow to cool and then cut into bite sized pieces

If you're feeling lazy, you can simply use a pre-made pastry, like I often do.  and you can substitute sausage meat for the minced pork and beef, but if you do this, do pay attention to what you are actually getting in your sausage meat!!!!!

A Surprise Sunday Lunch

I'm sure most of you will by now have heard about the problems in the skies above Northern Europe and the resulting no fly zone which has been in place, more or less continuously since it's imposition on Thursday.  The zone covers much of Northern Europe and is the result of  a volcano erupting in Iceland.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers are finding themselves stranded in the wrong place as air travel plans fall apart.  There is, as yet, no real sign of the situation abating and many experts are now suggesting that nothing will fly in the affected areas until the middle or end of the coming week or even later.

One unexpected aside that has arisen out of this situation was a very pleasant Sunday lunch which I have just enjoyed with five friends.  All of the friends should have been in the UK, having left France yesterday afternoon for the short flight to Bristol.  But they are all still here.   Two of them live here and have cancelled their short break and the other three have been offered replacement flights next Saturday afternoon, a week after they should have returned from their holiday.

As a result of this, I offered all five of them Sunday lunch "Chez Moi" and prepared a simple meal.

For starter I mixed several leaves from the garden and prepared a small salad with cucumber.  I then turned it into a Perigordine Salad by making a bacon and crouton mix, stirring it into the salad leaves and then dressing with a garlic and herb vinaigrette.   I served it with a sliced tomato salad dressed in a tomato vinaigrette.

For the main course I prepared Pork in Cider to my own recipe.  It takes it's inspiration from a Porc de Normandie recipe but has been developed over the years.

• Coarsely chop a whole onion
• Peal and thinly slice several garlic cloves
• add a good quantity of herbes de Provence
• Fry the onion, garlic and herbs in a little olive oil until tender then line a large ovenproof dish with them
• Lightly fry pork chops in a little olive oil in the same pan until they are just slightly browned on both sides. (They don't need to be cooked through) I use one large chop per person.
• Arrange the chops in the dish on top of the onions and garlic
• In the same pan,mix about 50ml of cider vinegar and a 75cl bottle of light cider, (I use a sparkling cider)
• Cut an apple into  large pieces, (cored but not peeled) and add to the cider
• Bring the cider, vinegar and apple gently to the boil.
• Arrange the apple pieces around the chops and pour the liquid over to completely cover
• Add lots of freshly ground pepper and some salt
• Bake in the middle of an oven at 180 C for about 1 hour
• Check midway through cooking and add more cider if the chops are showing above the liquid
• Remove from oven after 1 hour and add a good tablespoon or two of fromage blanc to the top of each chop
• return to oven for about 15 to 20 minutes
• Serve the chops and apple and thicken the juice to make a delicious gravy

I served this dish with cous cous.

I simply measured the amount of cous cous I need, (2 cups for 6 people) into a serving basin.  In a sauce pan I put the same amount of water, a handful of dried sultanas and some macedoine of vegetables and added just a dribble of olive oil.  I brought the saucepan to the boil and as soon as the vegetables were cooked I poured the whole lot on to the couscous and left to stand for exactly 3 minutes

Fluff up the mixture and serve immediately.

Three or four french cheese and the remains of the fromage blanc made up the cheese board and for dessert, one of the guests brought a wonderful peach and apple tart which we devoured!  As always there was a big basket of french bread and several bottles of red wine on the table from the start.

It was a surprise meal for my surprise guests.  I'm sorry I don't have any photographs but maybe this is one of those occasions when the words will leave enough to your imagination to let you savour the flavours and dream of the occasion.   My guests don't seem to be too upset about being stranded in France!