Pork Fillet with Saffron Bread Sauce and Pears

This recipe is based pn one from Leith's Easy Dinner Parties. To serve two, you need:

approx 350g pork fillet

1/2 tbsp oil

100ml apple juice

100ml chicken stock

15g butter

1 ripe pear, peeled, cored and quartered

1/2 tsp arrowroot

for the saffron bread sauce:

100ml milk

1/2 onion, cut into large chunks

1 bay leaf

pinch of saffron strands

25g fresh white breadcrumbs

20g butter

Preheat oven to 200C. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and brown the pork fillet on each side.

Place the pork fillet in a roasting tin lined with foil with the apple juice and stock and season. Cook in the oven for about 25-30 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile make the bread sauce. Heat the milk in a small pan with the onion, bay leaf and saffron and simmer gently for five minutes. Remove the onion and bay leaf and add the breadcrumbs to the pan and stir in. Add the butter and season.

 Heat a little butter in a clean frying pan and gently fry the pears. Then when the pork is cooked, remove from the pan and pour the cooking liquid into a small pan and add the arrowroot. Bring to the boil and stir until thickened.

To serve, slice the pork fillet and serve with the pears and bread sauce and pour the sauce over the top.

Spanish Paella

 I was given some Spanish chorizo recently by a relative of my boyfriend's who came over from Gibraltar, and decided to use it in an authentic paella. You can adjust the flavourings however you like, but this is what I used, to serve two:

2 chicken drumsticks

2 chicken thighs

150g chorizo, sliced

150g prawns

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1/4 tsp dried red chilli flakes

250g rice

1 pint chicken stock

1 tsp paprika

125ml dry white wine

1/4 tsp saffron strands

oil for frying

To begin, fry the chicken drumsticks and thighs in a large frying pan, or if you have one a paella pan - I brought one back from a Spanish holiday a few years ago.

Add the onion, garlic and red pepper and fry.

Here's the chorizo I was given - for a real Spanish flavour

Add the sliced chorizo to the pan and fry. Add the paprika and chilli flakes to the pan and mix.

Spoon the rice into the pan and fry for a minute to allow it to absorb the flavours. Meanwhile mix the saffron strands with a little of the chicken stock and add to the pan. Keep adding the rest of the stock gradually until it has all been absorbed and the rice is tender.

When the paella is almost cooked, add the prawns and fresh thyme

Serve and enjoy

Tri-colour pasta with Nigella's Yellow Spaghetti Sauce

 

The theme for this month's Forever Nigella cooking challenge is 'colourful', which reminded me of some tri-colour pasta I had bought recently. I believe the green pasta is coloured with spinach and the red with tomato. I thought it looked interesting and I've not had it for a long time so added it to my basket.

When I came across the theme of the challenge I had a look to see if I could find a suitable colourful pasta sauce from Nigella to go with it. I have plenty of her cookery books at home but I was thinking about this on my lunchbreak at work, so did some Googling - and found a recipe for Nigella's Yellow Spaghetti. I adapted it slightly as I didn't have any marsala, but I thought vodka would work just as well!

For two fairly large portions you need:

Half a packet of tri-colour pasta

a few saffron strands

2 tbsp vodka and 2 tbsp water

2 eggs

6 tbsp grated parmesan

8 tbsp pouring cream

A few basil leaves to serve

Put the pasta onto boil. While it is cooking, whisk together two eggs, the cream and the parmesan.

Put the saffron strands in a small bowl or jug, cover with the water and vodka and leave for a few minutes to infuse

Add the saffron and liquid to the egg and cheese mixture

Toss with the cooked pasta

Add a few fresh basil leaves and serve.

This is a tasty and quick meal that is simple but certainly colourful!

Forever Nigella is hosted by Maison Cupcake and Elizabeth at A Girl In Her Kitchen.