A bicycle made for two…. and the best meatballs ever courtesy of Nigel Slater

Another day of fantastic weather! After putting up with her parents loading and unloading two car loads of crap at the dump, I thought that Abbie deserved a treat….. so I finally fixed her new tag-along and we went for a spin – TWICE!  Abbie absolutely loved cycling and has now insisted that we go out every day ‘even if itis raining Mummy’!  This will definitely help towards next month’s Healthmonth pledge!

After a couple of long cycle rides and some much needed work in the garden… we made ‘Pork and lemon polpettine’ from Nigel Slater’s ‘The Kitchen Diaries.  Abbie and I used the mixer to speed up the meatball making process and then formed quite a production line to make and flour the balls.   I served them with buttered pasta and brocolli. Abbie loved the meatballs and even had seconds!

To the recipe…

70g cup white breadcrumbs

500g ground pork

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 large handful of parsley, chopped

6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped from stems

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

10 anchovy fillets, chopped

Flour

 

To cook:

2 tablespoons olive oil

40g butter

200ml chicken stock

 

Combine the breadcrumbs, pork, lemon juice and zest, parsley, thyme, Parmesan, and anchovy in a big bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Roll 18 or so balls of the pork mixture. Place them on a baking tray/chopping board that you’ve dusted with flour. Roll the meatballs in the flour just before cooking to coat.

 

 

 Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat. Fry the polpettine in batches, careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook for five or six minutes, turning for even browning. (I rolled them only twice during this time, to create a good crust on each side and make sure they don’t fall apart.) The meatballs should be crisp and golden. When they’re bronzed, put them all back in the pan, reduce the heat a bit, and sauté until they’re cooked through, an additional seven or eight minutes.

 

Now, remove the meatballs and pour out most of the fat. Add the chicken stock. Let it simmer down for a few minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Serve and enjoy ‘A meatball to beat them all'(Nigel Slater).

 

 

 

Fabulous ‘fried’ rice with crispy pork – a success!

We had loads of leftover bits, a third of a packet of pork mince, couple of spring onions, a packet of sugar snap peas (bogof), eggs, half a head of brocolli, a carrot.
So….. a sort of fried rice or paella evolved with Abbie cutting veggies for the first time with a sharp knife! Previously we had used the ‘can’t cut yourself’ knife from Pampered chef – great knife practice….

Anyway the recipe:

1 tblspn stir fry oil
2 spring onions, chopped
1 carrot, diced
175g basmati rice
400ml stock (chicken or veggie)
Half head broccoli, small florets
Pack sugar snap peas

250g pork mince
1 tblspn honey

1 heat oil, fry onions and carrots for couple mins
2 add rice stir in oil for a min
3 add stock, simmer with lid on for 7 mins, stir occasionally and check level of liquid – add a little if looking dry
4 start dry frying pork mince on medium heat until crispy (10 mins) – then add honey and stir to coat – cook for another minute and put into a warm bowl
5 after the 7 mins of cooking, add broccoli to rice, stir and put lid on for 4 mins
6 add sugar snaps to rice, stir, replace lid for 2 mins
7 in hot pan used for pork, add a little stir fry oil and add eggs, scrambling until cooked – add to the rice at end of cooking, stirring to combine

To serve, place rice in a bowl and sprinkle crispy pork on top

Should serve 2 adults and 1-2 children depending on appetite!