PORK WITH THYME MUSTARD LENTILS

Tonight I wanted to cook something new, quick and easy, not too many calories and without having to buy lots of new ingredients….plus something that we would all really like….it wasnt easy to choose a recipe to be honest!!

I found this Waitrose recipe card that I had picked up at Christmas time and it seemed to fit the bill….I was pleased that it only took 40 minutes to make, was around 400 calories a portion and I could use up some of the red lentils which I bought when I cooked the vegetarian lasagne last month. A win win situation all round!

Ingredients for 4 people:

100g red split lentils
1-2 tbsp olive oil
6 sprigs of thyme
4 trimmed pork medallions or escalopes (I could only buy pork steaks)
2 echalion shallots, finely sliced
3 large tomatoes, diced (I used cherry tomatoes as I had them in the fridge)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
400ml of chicken or vegetable stock (I used beef as that is what I had in the cupboard)
2 x 230g tenderstem broccoli, ends trimmed

Rinse the lentils with cold water and set aside. At the same time slice the shallots, cut the tomatoes and pull the leaves from the thyme stalks.

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan and cook the pork for 3-4 minutes each side or until golden brown. Pork steaks will take longer than pork medallions as they are thicker so you may need to adjust the timings. Once they are browned, set aside and cover to keep warm.

In the same pan, add another tablespoon of oil if necessary (I didnt) and then gently fry the shallots for a couple of minutes.

Add the tomatoes and fry for another 2 minutes.

Then add the thyme leaves, 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard, the lentils and stock and simmer for 10 minutes.

I realised at this point my frying pan was too small so had to pour the mixture into a bigger one. Not very cool when I was doing the washing up!

Finally add the pork to the pan and simmer for a further 8-10 minutes until the pork is cooked though and there is no pink meat. 

While this was cooking I also boiled the broccoli which took 3-4 minutes.

Finally serve together and enjoy.

The picture certainly does not do the dish justice. It was surprisingly good - we all adored the lentil mixture….apparently red lentils are Arabellas new favourite things. Next time I would probably do it with fish such as a sea bass to make it even more healthy or you could use chicken or even tofu as my darling sister suggested!

I was proud of this dish - it ticked all the boxes of being low in calories, healthy, quick and easy, not too many ingredients and we all thought it was delicious too - I will definitely be doing it again!

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MUSTARD MAC N CHEESE WITH PASTRAMI CRUMBS

Every time I see a recipe for mac and cheese in a magazine, I rip it out, so consequently I have several! Thankfully we all love mac and cheese and it was the perfect comfort food to cook last Friday when it was pouring with rain. This is a recipe I found in Olive magazine from Mishkins in Covent Garden, a New York deli style restaurant. I have never tried to recreate a recipe from a restaurant before as I always think it would be too complicated but apparently this was "easy" so I thought I would give it a go.

It took around an hour to cook and prepare.

Ingredients for 4 people:

800ml semi skimmed milk

1 bunch of spring onions, white and green part both sliced and separated

300g macaroni

50g butter (and an extra knob for the pasta)

60g plain flour

100g Parmesan, finely grated

300g cheddar or Gruyere, grated

1 tbsp English mustard

120g pastrami, cut into strips

6 heaped tbsp of breadcrumbs

Put the milk and the spring onion whites in a pan together. Bring the milk to just below boiling point (this took a few minutes), then turn off and leave to infuse while you cook the pasta.

Cook the macaroni until al dente (according to the packets instructions) in a saucepan of boiling salted water - ours took 6 minutes. 

When ready drain and mix with a knob of butter to prevent the pasta sticking. 

At this point preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6.

Melt the 50g butter in a large saucepan.

Stir in the flour to make a smooth pasta and cook for a couple of minutes.

Strain out and discard the onion from the milk and then very gradually stir the milk into the flour and butter until you get a smooth sauce. I used a whisk for this and originally felt that the sauce would never form but it did in the end! Dont give up!

Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes until nicely thickened and then take off the heat and stir in half the Parmesan, two-thirds of the grated cheddar/Gruyere, a heaped tablespoon of mustard and season generously.

Stir in the macaroni, pastrami and spring onion greens and mix all together.

Tip everything into an ovenproof dish.

Scatter with the 6 heaped tablespoons of breadcrumbs.

Cover with the remaining Parmesan and grated cheese plus a little more salt.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes (we did 30) until golden, crunchy and piping hot.

Cut into portions and serve.

Even though I probably say this about every mac and cheese I make, this was really really good. I absolutely loved the combination of the pastrami, spring onions and mustard plus the crispy topping was delicious. Pascal doesnt like a white sauce and I could see him turning his nose up when we were cooking this but he was very pleasantly surprised as he loved it too. As for Arabella, she wasnt too impressed when she saw some green on her plate as I had promised her no spinach or leeks like in Fays Mac and Cheese however she absolutely adored it and now pronounced it as her favourite (her previous number one was chorizo mac and cheese). 

Another great recipe, I cant wait to tuck into our leftovers as I reckon it will be great reheated - plus it has also reminded me that I must pay a trip to Mishkins again soon!

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