Crispy Pies, White Hot Chocolate and A Slow Roasted Shoulder of Pork: Kitchen Wonders For The Weekend

Every week, we celebrate the glorious Friday feeling by bringing you some kitchen inspiration for the weekend.

This weekend is set to be a chilly one, so we’ll be indulging in some warming foods to ward off the cold.

This is the time to treat yourself to a little something special so don’t you dare feel guilty about indulging in these kitchen wonders!

Nigella Does Friday’s Chicken, Mushroom and Bacon Pie

Whatever you think about Nigella she is the queen of kitchen short cuts, which are always the best policy for a Friday night. These gorgeous crispy pies are the perfect quick fix for a delicious family dinner with buttery puff pastry and the tasty interior. This recipe serves two. 

Ingredients

Three rashers of streaky bacon (cut or scissored into 2.5cm strips)

One teaspoons of garlic infused olive oil

125 grams of chestnut mushrooms (sliced into 5mm pieces)

250 grams of chicken thighs (fillets cut into 2.5cm pieces)

25 grams of plain flour

½ teaspoon of dried thyme

15 ml of butter

300 ml of chicken stock (hot)

15 ml of marsala

375 grams of puff pastry (all butter - ready rolled)

Method

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius/gas mark 7. In a heavy-based frying pan, fry the bacon strips in the oil until beginning to crisp, then add the sliced mushrooms and soften them in the pan with the bacon.

Turn the chicken strips in the flour and thyme (you could toss them about in a freezer bag), and then melt the butter in the bacon-and-mushroom pan before adding the floury chicken and all the flour left in the bag. Stir around with the bacon and mushrooms until the chicken begins to colour.

Pour in the hot stock and Marsala, stirring to form a sauce, and let this bubble away for about minutes.

Take two 300ml pie-pots (if yours are deeper, don't worry, there will simply be more space between contents and puff pastry top) and make a pastry rim for each one - by this I mean an approx. 1cm strip curled around the top of each pot. Dampen the edges with a little water to make the pastry stick.

Cut a circle bigger than the top of each pie-pot for the lid, and then divide the chicken filling between the two pots.

Dampen the rim of the pastry again and then pop on the lid of each pie, sealing the edges with your fingers or the underneath of the prongs of a fork.

Cook the pies for about 20 minutes turning them around halfway through cooking. Once cooked, they should have puffed up magnificently.

Saturday’s White Hot Chocolate

Hot chocolate is definitely the statement hot beverage of wintertime and although beloved, the classics can sometimes get a little boring! We love this hot chocolate with a difference and it will definitely warm you up after a busy day’s shopping. This recipe makes four large cups.

Ingredients

140 grams of good quality white chocolate

500mls of milk

150 mls of cream

One teaspoon of vanilla extract

Whipped cream to garnish

Method

Place your chocolate in a large heatproof bowl and set aside. In saucepan place your milk and cream over a medium heat and warm for about four minutes until bubbles form around the edge of the pan.

Next, pour the mixture over the white chocolate and whisk until melted.

Add the vanilla and whisk until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.

Serve in warm mugs and top with whip cream.

Sunday’s Slow Roasted Shoulder of Pork

This is a beautiful cut of meat and is the perfect Sunday roast for the family. If cooked right, this pork should rip into delicious shreds and the crackling adds a perfect crispy crunch to the meal. Pop this in the oven when you get up for scrumptious results in the afternoon! 

Ingredients

One shoulder of pork with the skin on (2kg)

Two large red onions quartered

Two celery sticks

One carrot chopped roughly

One bulb of garlic broken into cloves

500mls of vegetable stock

Five bay leaves

 

Method

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius/Gas 7.

On a clean work surface, place your meat skin side up and with a small sharp knife lightly score your meat , each sore about a centimeter apart. Make sure you do not cut as deep as the meat.

Into the scores generously rub salt into the pork skin.

Flip the cut over and gently season the pork with salt and pepper before placing it skin side up on a roasting tray.

Place in to ove, uncovered for 30 minutes until the pork skin begins to puff up and begins to turn into crackling.

Cover with tin foil and turn down the temperature to 170 degrees Celsius/Gas 3

Roast for a further four and a half hours before removing from the oven.

Baste the meat with the fat from the tray before adding all the vegetables, including the bay leaves to the pan.

Place the tray back into the oven without the foil for another hour.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest.

To make gravy out of the juices in the tray, gently skim the fat from the top with a spoon and discard.

Place the tray on the hob and add the boiling vegetable stock, mixing thoroughly with a wooden spoon and scraping the bits from the bottom.

When the mixture becomes dark and rick, place through a sieve and serve with your delicious tender pork.

Apple sauce goes well with pork so to pump up the volume, serve it on the side.