Friday, January 29, 2010

Rather Yummy Chops....

This is a nice quick and easy recipe for Pork chops which will have you wanting more.
Heat your oven to 425F
Place a skillet on a burner with a nice glug of olive oil in the pan, while the oil is heating season your chops with some salt and pepper and press a few Sage leaves into the chops.
Once the oil is hot place your chops in the pan.
This is the bit where we all get tempted to lift the meat too soon and have a look! Best thing to do is walk away and let the pan and the heat do it's thing..
You will start to see the meat edges lift and and it will become lose in the pan, at this stage have a look and it should be golden and yummy looking on the underneath. 
Turn your chops over and then place the skillet in the oven and leave to cook for about 10minutes..
Serve your chops with your favourite veggies.
I had all best intentions of having a lovely photo of them cooked but Michael had the plate out my hand before I could even get to the camera.  

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Jamie Oliver's 6 hour slow roasted pork shoulder

Serves 4 to 6
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 6 hours
ingredients
• 2kg bone-in shoulder of pork
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 red onions, halved
• 2 carrots, peeled and halved lengthways
• 2 sticks of celery, halved
• 1 bulb of garlic, skin on, broken into cloves
• 6-8 fresh bay leaves
• 600ml water or vegetable stock

This is a proper old-school Sunday roast. Leaving the bone in adds a bit of extra flavour well marbled pork helps to keep the meat nice and moist as it roasts. This isn’t the kind of joint you carve into neat slices. If you’ve cooked it right, it should pull apart into shreds with a couple of forks. 
Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
Place your pork on a clean work surface, fat-side up.  Rub salt and pepper over the covering of fat on the  joint.
Brush any excess salt off the surface then turn it over. Season the underside of the meat with a few pinches of salt and pepper. Place your pork, fat side-up, in a roasting tray and pop in the preheated oven. Roast for 30 minutes. At this point, turn the heat down to 170°C/325 F/gas3, cover the pork snugly with a double layer of tin foil, pop back in the oven and roast for a further 4 and a half hours.
Take out of the oven take the foil off, and baste the meat with the fat in the bottom of the tray. Carefully lift the pork up and transfer to a chopping board. Spoon all but a couple of tablespoons of fat out (save it for roast potatoes!)
Add all the veg, garlic and bay leaves to the tray and stir them into the fat. Place the pork back on top of everything and return to the oven without the foil to roast for another hour. By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender.
Carefully move the meat to a serving dish, cover again with tin foil and leave to rest while you make your gravy. Spoon away any fat in the tray, then add the water or stock and place the tray on the hob. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to scrape up all those lovely sticky tasty bits on the bottom of the tray. When you’ve got a nice, dark gravy,pour it through a sieve into a bowl or gravy boat, using your spoon to really push all the goodness of the veg through the sieve. Add a little more salt and pepper if it needs it.
Serve the pork with your jug of gravy and some lovely roast potatoes (As a treat you can try roasting them in the fat you spooned out of your roasting tray. Some stewed red cabbage and a dollop of apple sauce will finish this off perfectly).

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Heritage Berkshire Pork for Sale...

We have spent the last seven months raising our Berkshire pigs. They have had a lovely pasture filled with grass, dandelions, and lots of other vegetation to romp around in. In Fall they got to enjoy pumpkins, squash and apples and in the snow they have snow bathed, eaten hay and even more apples, and unmedicated grain.  We have allowed our pigs to be pigs and do all the things that piggies like to do.
Berkshire's are a rare breed of pig originating from Britain.  Said to be 'Britain's oldest pig breed'.  They apparently became popular after being discovered by Cromwell's troops while they were stationed at Reading during the English civil war.
Berkshire's where introduced to Canada in the 1830's and as quoted in the Canadian Farmer in 1867 "for quality of pork & bacon, the modern Berkshire still stands unrivalled"

They produce tender, dark juicy meat with high marbling and exceptional flavour.

Click here to read a food critics article on Berkshire pork.

Pork can be purchased as either individual cuts or a 20lb mixed selection which will include roasts, chops, ground, and bacon.

Customer's Comment on our Berkshire Pork...


Hi Sally and Michael
Just had to tell you that we had a pork- filled dining experience this weekend.  The kids and I had bacon and eggs for dinner on Saturday.  Richard missed out as he had work to do, so I'd like to get more bacon from you if you have it.  Sunday we had chops.  Now I have to tell you that I really don't like pork chops, BUT these were fantastic.  I just made a quick marinade with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.  Only had time to brush it on and threw them in the oven on really high heat for 20 or so mins, turned over for another 10 min.  They were tender, sweet and delicious. 
So here is my official feedback - Great stuff and I need more bacon!!!
See you Saturday,
Rita


"Evelyn loves the eggs, She loves the pork too. She really enjoyed having the bacon with her eggs. I had to stop her at three pieces she kept saying "a little more Mommy".
From Evelyn 3 years old and her Mommy



Saturday, January 9, 2010

Seed Planing....


It is that time of year again when the snow falls and the wind blows, and all the seed brochures have arrived........

I am sitting down with my cup of coffee, brochures and my garden plan and getting the best job of selecting what we will grow this season.  As ever I promise to grow some weird and wonderful veggies.
We will be increasing our range or Heirloom Vegetables, I have added Sweet Potatoes, Chinese Artichokes, Rapini and a greater selection of fall/winter veggies.
If you have any suggestions of things you would like to see in your boxes or at the market please do let us know.  We are always happy to try.
We will be establishing a proper herb garden this season and last year we planted additional Rhubarb and Asparagus plants, ready for spring picking.