Honey Mustard Pork - a lesson in leftovers

I had that moment the other day when I decided to make dinner, only to realise that I hadn't really thought about what I was going to make and had no desire to go to the shops, so I took a look in my fridge and cupboard to work out what I had to work with.  The result: honey mustard pork.

Honey mustard pork

Because of my schnitzel-making escapades I had a couple of pork escalopes left,  the other ingredients I used in this recipe are just things I tend to have lying around.  As this was an experiment I'm not going to recommend making it exactly like I did, I've tweaked and improved it slightly, but that's the great thing about cooking,  you can make you can improve the recipe each time you make it!

For two people you will need:
2 pork escalopes (or pork chops if you prefer)
25g butter
25g plain flour
400ml milk
3tsps whole grain mustard
2tsps honey (clear)
pasta
Your choice of green veg (broccoli/green beans/cabbage would all work)

If you have more than one hob then you can simultaneously cook the pasta, fry the pork and make the sauce, but as I only have one I had to do these steps separately  Nevertheless this recipe was still really quick to make.

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet (I used tagliatelle but I think farfalle or penne would be far better).  If you want to boil your vegetables then cook them with the pasta, if not you can steam them in a microwave later.
2. Make the sauce: melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat then add the flour and stir vigorously to make a paste (roux).  Keeping the heat low add the milk little by little (start off with a tablespoon at a time) mixing/whisking constantly until all the liquid is combined each time before adding more.  It's really important that you do this stage slowly to make sure your sauce doesn't go lumpy.  Once you have added all the milk add the mustard and honey.  Keep stirring over a medium heat to allow the sauce to reduce.  I did this for about 5 minutes but you can do it for longer if you want a thicker sauce.  Just make sure you keep stirring regularly.
3. Fry the pork.  I cut mine into strips and fried them for a few minutes but I would actually recommend leaving the escalopes/chops whole.  If you have a grill then that would also work.
4. If you have a microwave you can steam your veg while frying the pork.  You can either buy packs of mixed veg which you microwave in the bag, or you can prepare your own veg and put it into a sandwich bag (I have microwave ones which seal with a sticky flap) then microwave for a few minutes (or according to the instructions on the packet.
5. Serve by putting the pork, veg and pasta on a plate and pour over the sauce

I love rustling something up like this as it's a great way to use up leftovers and waste less.

The wine you can see in the background is a Chilean Carménère - the grape is originally from the Médoc region of Bordeaux and its name comes from the French word for crimson - carmin - which was used to describe the wine's colour.  It's not a grape that's really found in Europe any more but it is becoming increasingly popular in Chilean wines.  I enjoyed the wine which was very plumy in taste with a little bit of spice - definitely something to try if you haven't already.

Local treasures

This week I decided to go exploring, so instead of buying my ingredients from the local supermarket I wandered around the market in Cambridge and a couple of the local shops instead.  And here's what I came back with:

A pack of smoked deer sausages (yes you read that correctly!) from Wild Game Meat's market stall (You can find them in Market Square, Cambridge on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday I think)
A block of cheese (similar to parmesan) from The Cambridge Cheese Company and a bag of very exciting pasta (also from the Cheese Shop which sells way more than just cheese - I would highly recommend their pork pies).  The Cheese Shop is great not just for the range of cheeses but also for the staff who are friendly and are always happy to talk to you about the different cheeses.

Anyway, back to the pasta, it's actually produced in Italy and made from durum wheat, semolina flour and natural ingredients with no colourings and you get so many different flavours in a bag; paprika, beetroot, curcuma and spinach!  It looks great and tasted really good too.  The pasta was nice and thick so it didn't just fall apart once cooked.

As I wasn't feeling particularly inspired I simply cooked the pasta, grated the cheese and melted it over the pasta, then fried the sausages and added them to the pasta.  Although simple it was actually very tasty.  The cheese went well with the smokiness of the sausages and you could still just about detect the subtle differences in flavour of each of the colours of pasta.  All in all it was successful.  I would definitely have deer sausages again (which is lucky as I have some left over) and am keen to try more exoctic meats (on to wild boar next)!  The meal would actually taste great if I were to have used the cheese to make a green pesto and used a small amount of that as a sauce - maybe next time.

The finished dish

I finished off my dinner with a bottle of 'Tegernseer Hell' (a light lager from Tegernsee, an area near Munich, Germany).  I bought this beer from another local favourite of mine, Bacchanalia Wine Merchants - you can visit their website here, follow them on Twitter or have a look for yourself, they're at: 90 Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 28D (or 79 Victoria Road, Cambridge, CB4 3BS).  I love this shop as it is one of the only places I've found in England so far where you can buy beers from Bamberg, Germany (the town where I lived for a year).  Unfortunately they haven't had my favourite beer in since the start of the year (Zwergla, from the Fässla brewery) but they do have an amazing range of German beers from your more common Augustiner to other lesser-known beers.  They also have a wide variety of wines and beers from all over the place.  It is definitely worth popping along at some point to see what they've got!

Look out for more 'local treasures' posts as I'm hoping to make it to a local farm shop I've heard good things about as well as some of the delis on Mill Road.

One pot pasta

I decided to try another recipe from SortedFood and it really is as easy as it sounds.  You can find the recipe here http://sortedfood.com/#!/onepotpasta/ but it really is as simple as throwing everything into a saucepan.

I used exactly what they said in the recipe but halved it as I was only cooking for 2 people.  So I chopped up half an onion, finely chopped a couple of garlic cloves, halved a small handful of olives (I think you need more than they suggest), chopped a handful of roasted peppers (I bought a jar of these and once again, I think you need more than they suggest), chopped up a couple of sun-dried tomatoes, and gathered 100ml passata (a type of tomato sauce that isn't expensive and that you can buy in cartons from Sainsbury's), some olive oil, a tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (don't add too many), 1/2 small bunch fresh basil, 200g farfalle (bowtie) pasta.

Then you literally put the pasta in the pan, put everything on top, season and add 600ml water, bring to the boil, cover and turn the heat down so it simmers for 15 minutes (or until the pasta is cooked to your liking).

Everything in one pot

My comment on this recipe is be careful when adding the chilli flakes, I added slightly too many and it came out quite spicy!  If in doubt add a very small amount to begin with, leave to cook and if when you come to eat it you don't think there's enough add a few more at the end.  If it is too spicy then you can do what we did and eat it with a dollop or two of crème fraîche to help combat the spice.

The finished result - one pot pasta

The thing I love about this recipe was that it took about 10 mins to prepare and 15 mins to cook, but I just left the pot on the heat and did some reading while it was cooking and made sure I checked on it every 5 mins to give it a bit of a stir.  It really was that simple.  This is one dish that I will definitely be repeating.