Pork Tenderloin with Apple Gravy

Pork has gotten a lot of bad press over the years - it has been reported to be over salted and fatty - however, this is not the case - pork is in fact as lean as chicken and is in my opinion even more tasty, so what better time is there to pork it up!!!!

Pork Tenderloin with Apple Gravy


 Serves 4

1lb pork tenderloin

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 onions (finely diced)

1 small green apple (grated)

500ml apple juice

100ml cider vinegar

1 teaspoon mustard powder


Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F / Gas 4.

Prepare pork by patting dry with a paper towel.

Smear olive oil over the pork joint and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Heat a casserole pot or a heavy based saucepan on a medium to high heat.

Add the oiled and seasoned pork joint and cook for 3 – 4 minutes or until all sides of the joint are brown.

Remove pork and set aside.

To the same pot add the mustard seeds and onions and sauté for 3 – 4 minutes.

Add the grated apple, apple juice, cider vinegar and mustard powder, mix well and simmer for 2 – 3 minutes.

Return pork to the pot, baste with the mustard and apple liquid and cover.

Place the casserole pot into the oven and cook slowly at 150 C, for 1 – 2 hours, making sure to baste and rotate pork joint occasionally.

Remove from oven and allow meat to rest for 10 minutes.

Slice the pork and reserve apple and mustard liquid for gravy.

Serve with a mustard mash and green beans.

Chicken, Cumin and Corriander Burgers

These chicken burgers are absolutely delicious, healthy and enjoyable - white meat - whether it's chicken or Turkey, is much more lean and more fat free than red meat - so poultry is always a good, sensible and wholesome choice!

What you'll need:

4 medium chicken breasts
1 small white onion
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 tablespoon water
1 egg ( preferably free range )
50g wholemeal breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon corriander seeds or ground corriander
pinch sea salt and black pepper

So here comes the culinary science:

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
Form the afore-mentioned mix into burger patties and place the patties in a ceramic baking try or dish.
Add 3 - 4 tablespoons of water ( this will keep your burgers amazingly tender and succulent )
Place the burgers in a preheated gas oven at 180 C / 350 F / Gas 4, and cook either side for 10 - 15 minutes - depending on your preference!

Serve the burgers with home-made coleslaw of carrots, cabbage and celery in an olive oil vinaigrette.

Chicken and Chickpea Curry

I am continuing on my spicy theme with this delicious and nutritious chicken and chickpea curry. This dish is packed full of nutrients and protein that'll keep you going until next weekend!!

So here's what you'll need:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon yellow or black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
3 or 4 cardamon pods ( bruised slightly in a pestle and mortar)
4 medium chicken breasts (finely diced)
1 white onion (finely sliced)
3 cloves garlic (finely minced)
1 teaspoon fresh ginger (finely minced)
1 red chilli ( finely sliced)
1 handful cherry tomatoes
400g or 1 can plum tomatoes
400g or 1 tin chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
sea salt and black pepper to taste.


Heat olive oil over a medium heat in a large casserole or heavy based pan.
Add the cumin, mustard, nigella and cardamom seeds and cook gently for 2 - 3 minutes, to allow flavours infuse.
Add the diced chicken and cook over a medium to low heat for 5 - 8 minutes, stirring continuously.
Next add the onion, garlic, ginger,chilli and cherry tomatoes, stir well and cook gently for 2 - 3 minutes, stirring continuously.
Add the plum tomatoes, stir well and cook over a low heat for 8 - 10 minutes.
Stir in the chickpeas and season with sea salt and black pepper, before heating through for 4 - 6 minutes. Be careful not to over cook as the chickpeas will end up mushy and unpalatable!!!

Serve with wholegrain or basmati rice with naan bread on the side!

Bon Appetite!

Plant Chillies while the sun shines!!

This morning I awoke to dark, gloomy grey skies- however as the day progressed, the clouds parted and the sun appeared!
Therefore, I decided today was going to be a productive, green-fingered day!!
So I started with planting some herbs, which every chef and every kitchen cannot survive without, there is nothing like fresh, home-grown herbs to add instant flavour to any dish. And supposedly they're relatively easy to grow - I'll let you know when I reap what I've sown (hopefully) !!

In addition to planting herbs, I also planted some chillies - As I'm a complete hot and spicy fiend!!
I absolutely love chillis and thus spend a fortune every week on said chillies - they dont't come cheap or of great quality in the supermarket, so I'm hoping I can cultivate and grow my own chillies - so stay blogged on to see how I and my chilli plant get on!!

In the meantime, I'm forced to use the afore mentioned supermarket-bought chillies in my delicious spicy hummus recipe:

Spicy Hummus with Pitta Crisps

400g tinned chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
3 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
3 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt


Place all ingredients in a food processor or mini-chopper and blend until creamy.
Transfer hummus to serving dish or jar and serve with pitta crisps.

Pitta Crisps:

2 pitta ovals or rounds (cut into slices)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin powder


Place pitta slices on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with ground cumin powder.
Place seasoned pitta slices in a preheated oven, 350 F / 180 C / Gas 4, and bake for 4 - 5 minutes, until crispy.
Remove from oven and serve immediately with home-made spicy hummus.

Enjoy!

It's all about the equipment!!

Every kitchen should have great equipment - which ultimately makes your cooking experience both easy and enjoyable - now I know there is that saying that a bad workman blames his tools - but in this instance, my tools are my saviour in the kitchen!!

My tools of choice are a good set of knives, of which, until today I did not possess - but thanks to Next Home,(located in Blackpool Retail Park, Cork), I am now the proud owner of a fantastic set of knives.

Not only are my new knives easy on the eye, in a chic, modern, designer-esque kind of way, they are also of immense professional proportions, in that they are super sharp and take the pain out of preparing meat, vegetables, fruit etc. So much so that I have spent the day cutting, chopping or slicing, pretty much anything I can lay my hands on!! (before anyone starts worrying about their safety- all items carved today were not of any human capacity- just meat, vegetables and fruit!!)

Get busy chopping and get busy cooking!