Food & Drink

Me Come Dine With Slow-cooked pork, cider &

sage hotpot

Preparation and cooking time

Prep: 40 mins Cook: 3 hrs Serves: 6

Warm up as the cold nights set in with this glorious hotpot, with slow-cooked pork cooked in cider and sage. It’s topped with a crispy layer of potatoes

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra • 1kg diced pork shoulder • 20g butter, cubed, plus a little extra • 4 leeks, trimmed and thickly sliced • 4 garlic cloves, crushed • 3 tbsp plain our • 500ml dry cider • 400ml chicken stock • 2 bay leaves • ½ small bunch parsley, nely chopped • small bunch sage, leaves picked, 5 left whole, the rest chopped • 200ml single cream • 400g Maris Piper or King

Edward potatoes • 400g sweet potatoes

Method

STEP 1

Heat half of the oil in a deep ovenproof frying pan, or ameproof casserole dish, and fry the pork pieces over a medium high heat in batches until seared all over, then transfer to a plate. Add another 1 tbsp oil to the pan, if you need to, while you’re cooking the batches. Once all the pork is seared, transfer to a plate and set aside.

STEP 2

Add another 1 tbsp oil to the pan with a little butter and fry half the leeks with a pinch of salt for 10 mins until tender. Add the garlic, fry for a minute, then stir in the our.

STEP 3

Pour in the cider, a little at a time, stirring to pick up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan and to combine everything. Add the stock, bay leaves and seared pork, then simmer, halfcovered with a lid for 1-1½ hrs until the meat is just tender (it will later cook to the point of falling apart in the oven). Can be prepared a day ahead.

STEP 4

Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Simmer uncovered for a few minutes to reduce the sauce, if you need to – it shouldn’t be too liquid or the potatoes will sink into the sauce. Stir in the parsley, chopped sage, remaining leeks, and the cream, then season well.

STEP 5

Peel both types of potatoes and cut into slices 2mm thick, by hand or using a mandoline. Alternate layers of potato and sweet potato in circles over the pie, or randomly, if you prefer. Dot the cubed butter over the top and bake for 1-1½ hrs until the potato is tender. Nestle in the whole sage leaves, brushed in a little oil, for the last 10 mins. Leave to rest for 10 mins before serving.

Mini pumpkin & feta pies

Prep: 40 mins Cook:1 hr and 10 mins Serves: 6

row a Halloween party and serve these fearsome pumpkin and feta pies. Perfect for little hands, kids will enjoy helping to make them in the kitchen

Ingredients

• 450g butternut squash or pumpkin peeled and cut into 2cm chunks (prepared weight) • 2 garlic cloves • 2 tbsp olive oil • 1 small onion, nely chopped • 250g plain our, plus extra for dusting • ½ tsp ground turmeric • 125g cold butter, cut into small pieces, plus extra for the tin • 2 egg yolks plus 1 whole egg, beaten • grating of nutmeg • ½ tsp chilli akes (optional) • 200g feta, crumbled

Method STEP 1

Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Tip the squash and unpeeled garlic into a roasting tin, drizzle with 1 tbsp oil, season and toss to coat. Roast for 30 mins, stirring halfway through, until soft. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

STEP 2

Meanwhile, cook the onion in a frying pan over a medium heat with the remaining 1 tbsp oil for 8-10 mins until tender and slightly golden. Leave to cool. mixture resembles ne crumbs. Add the egg yolks and 2 tsp cold water, and blitz again until the mixture starts to clump together. Squeeze it between your ngers – if it sticks together, tip the mixture onto a work surface. If it’s too dry, add more water, 1 tsp at a time. Knead the pastry a few times just to bring it together, but don’t overwork it. Shape into two circles, one slightly smaller than the other, then wrap in baking parchment and chill in the fridge for at least 20 mins.

STEP 4

Squeeze the garlic from its skins into the roasted squash and mash together. Add the fried onion, grate over some nutmeg, tip in the chilli akes, if using, and feta, and mix. line each with a strip of baking parchment that overhangs the top. Roll the larger circle of pastry out on a lightly oured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use a 10cm cutter to stamp out six circles (you may need to re-roll the pastry to get all six). Press the pastry circles into the prepared mu n tin, patching any cracks with the pastry o cuts. Spoon in the squash lling.

STEP 6

Roll the remaining pastry circle out as you did the large one, but use an 8cm cutter to cut out six lids. Cut spooky pumpkin faces into the lids using a small, sharp knife. Press the lids over the pies in the tin and brush with the beaten egg. Bake for 40 mins until golden brown, then leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin before lifting out. Eat hot or leave to cool completely. Will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days or the freezer for up to two months. Reheat in a low oven for 10 mins, if you like.

Your wine glossary: Part 3

Maderised

A fault whereby the wine has OXIDISED and overheated giving it a brown colour and burnt, stale taste. Not a fault in Madeira wine, which deliberately goes through a heating process to caramelise the wine.

Malolactic Fermentation

A secondary FERMENTATION that is biological, in which harsh malic acid is converted into softer lactic acid.

Methode Champenoise e traditional and best way of making a sparkling wine. EU has banned the term from bottles not made in Champagne, so look out for “Methode Traditionelle” or “Fermented in this Bottle” instead.

Nose

Tasting term. Wine is assessed by taste (the PALATE) but also by smell (the nose).

Oenology

e science of winemaking. Spelled Enology in the US.

Oxidation/Oxidised

What happens to the surface of a cut apple when exposed to air. Grapes and grape juice oxidise if not handled carefully. Bottled wine will also oxidise if the seal is not airtight.

Palate

Tasting term. Wine is assessed by smell (the NOSE) and by taste (the palate). e palate con rms avours detected on the nose, but adds BODY, ACIDITY, TANNINS, FINISH, etc. to the picture.

Phenolics

Compounds found in wine, mostly coming from grape skins. ese include TANNIN and avour compounds. Also important in making wine bene cial to health: lowering blood pressure and risk of heart disease.

Phylloxera

e louse that eats vine roots. Devastated Europe in the late nineteenth century until it was discovered that American rootstock was resistant. Since then, most European vines are grafted onto American rootstock. Ironically, the Californian industry was badly damaged by Phylloxera in the 1980’s and 90’s after planting on low-resistance rootstock.

Quinta

Portuguese term for an estate or vine farm. “Single Quinta” Port comes from a single vintage and farm.

Racking

Labour intensive process of siphoning wine from one barrel to another in order to leave some sediment behind and gradually clarify the wine.

Recioto

Italian wine made for grapes that have been dried on mats after harvest. is raisins the grapes, making them very sweet. Amarone is made from Recioto grapes, but fermented out fully to be dry and concentrated.

Remuage

French term for the process by which the dead YEAST cells in maturing Champagne and other quality sparkling wines are gradually moved into the neck of the bottle before being removed. Traditionally done by hand, more often nowadays by machine.