Ordinary Food

Pork with a Greek twist

Tonight, I adapted my little pork fillet dish (recipe can be found in the fav recipe section) with feta and olives rather than sage to give it a Greek slant. And rather delicious it was too. I made a pocket in the fillet and then whizzed some black olives with some olive oil and pepper into a paste, then stuffed the meat with the paste and some sliced feta, then tied up. I enjoyed the result- a deeply savoury flavour which hit it off well with the pork. Apologies for the less than tidy presentation- it may have had something to do with the copious amounts of sherry I drank earlier this evening- but I thought you might like the pics anyhow.

The bestest Sherry

OK so its Monday night and rather sadly I've hit the sherry bottle. But I've done it in style with the most fabulous sherry on the market. It's super dry, feathery light and has an ever so slight salty edge. It comes from the coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The town is set between the sea and the river and the marshlands to the north, which creates an especially humid and constant microclimate. Now here comes the science bit. According to the producer, these conditions allow a special growth of yeast, known as the 'flor', to grow on the surface of the maturing wine all your round thus protecting it from the detrimental effects of oxygen. Elsewhere in the Sherry district, the flor dies off in the summer and winter months to form the Fino sherry instead. Due to the uniqueness of this wine Manzanilla has its own 'Denominación de Origen' Manzanilla -Sanlúcar de Barrameda, set within the Sherry Denomination. Its a great little story, and this is a great sherry. So I'm going to have another glass with some rather morish unsalted pistashios.

Mango!

Did you know that mangos grow on evergreen trees up to 60 foot tall! I’ve often found mangos can be a bit hit and miss in the UK- no doubt said fruit having to travel refrigerated all the way from Asia to here. But the last three I’ve had from Sainsbury’s have been juicy, silky and gorgeous, after leaving them a few days to fully ripen. Now you can do all sorts of thing with a mango… make it into a salsa, a salad, a drink or do that hedgehog thing if you really must. I prefer to let the fruit be itself. I peel and slice it, then sprinkle the flesh with a little lemon juice, a grind of black pepper and some torn basil. The lemon juice accentuates the mango sweetness, the rough pepper its smoothness and the basil its tang and fragrance. Now I must go and buy another mango…

Mr. Sainsbury, Where have all the sushi gone?

Weirdly, there's been no sushi in either of Guildford's Sainsbury stores for several weeks which means I've had to eat sandwiches every day for lunch :-( I went to M&S to buy some but the queue was crazy, so had to settle for a Sainsbury sandwich. Again. Maybe I'll have to resort to making my own. Sushi-Guide and Tip Sushi are both informative should you have the urge. Or ask the Ivy to courier over some sashimi on a banana leaf. Well we can all dream!

Pizza! Pizza!

Have you ever looked at the fat content of most pizzas in supermarkets? Many pizzas weigh in at over 100 grams of fat which is outrageous! Thinking about it, there’s no reason for pizza to be so fatty - its constituent ingredients - flour, yeast and tomatoes and whatever topping with the exception of cheese are not fatty. Thankfully, Pizza Express pizzas, available in most supermarkets are reasonably low fat, and taste good too. They are a tad more expensive than supermarket own-brands at £3.50 for a small pizza and £4.85 for a large one. I’m a big fan of the Americano…