Taiwanese 3-cup chicken 三杯雞

One of my favourite dishes from home is 三杯雞, or, literally, three cup chicken. Cooked in sesame oil, rice wine, and soy sauce with a load of whole garlic cloves, fresh slices of ginger, and Thai holy basil (九層塔), this dish is always a reminder of how an over-abundance of flavour can work. Thai holy basil can be hard to find, but my local Asian market sometimes stock it.

Three cup chicken

Courgette loaf (2)

It dawned on me recently that even though I like courgette bread, I've only made it a couple of times and never without grain flour (the previous ones were with spelt). So I thought it would be fun to experiment with a wheat-free, grain-free loaf. 

Courgette loaf

Apple compote

Ever since I started shopping more at my local butcher's, I'm eating more pork than ever and I've come to enjoy pork chops (though still not a fan of ham fillets). Lately I've been trying to think of new ways to cook or serve pork. While classic, plain applesauce isn't something I like all that much, perhaps because it reminds me too much of baby food. But inspired by the classic combination of pork and apples, I made an apple compote to go with the pan fried pork chops for dinner tonight.

Pan fried pork chop with apple compote on a bed of blanched Romaine lettuce, served with fried sesame aubergine

Pork chops with mango & peach salsa

This is the dinner that almost didn't happen.

Last week, I bought a perfectly ripened mango and some peaches and decided to make a salsa to go with pork chops. I had trimmed and marinated the chops, made the mango and peach salsa, prepared the baby potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Husband came home around 7pm and said he was hitting the gym and probably wouldn't be having dinner when he returned. Then he walked into the kitchen and saw all the raw ingredients for dinner and apologised for not letting me know of his plans before I went to all this trouble. While I was a bit irked, I did appreciate how hard it was to keep fit, particularly when one hit middle-age, so far be it for me to thwart his endeavours.

And off his went. When he got home around 9.30, he said he was hungry and would like the dinner. So I fired up the grill and pan and within 20 minutes, I came up with two plates of beautiful food. 

Grilled pork chop with mango & peach salsa, served with sautéed Brussels sprouts and crackling, steamed baby potatoes

Clementine cranberry cake

Reprising last Christmas' dessert, but with a few tweaks. 

Clementine cranberry cake

Pumpkin flan

To complement the ham I served as the main dish for my winter dinner party, I made pumpkin flan, a nod to Thanksgiving that'd just passed. This was the first time I used pumpkin in a dessert and the first time I made flan. Both worked out well.

Baked cider ham fillet with sticky mustard glaze

This is the first time I've ever dealt with a whole chunk of ham. I'm not a lover of any pork products and it's really in the last few months that I started using them in my cooking. This baked cider ham requires a bit of effort, mostly preparation time. Before cooking, I soaked the entire fillet in cold water in a large stockpot for 24 hours, changing water every 4 hours the first two times and then every 8 hours. Then the ham sat in a bath of cider, thyme, shallots, bay leaves, and peppercorns for another 24 hours before baking. The result was delicious, well worth all the prep work! 

Baked cider ham with sticky mustard glaze

Winter dinner party

I got a beautiful ham fillet from the butcher's a few weeks ago and decided to invite the brother-in-law over for dinner last weekend.

Baked cider ham with sticky mustard glaze,
roasted cauliflower & baby potatoes with parmesan,
French beans with hazelnuts

Ginger carrot soup

A delicious warmer on a cold winter day. I left out potatoes as I wanted a cleaner, lighter soup as part of a hearty meal, but feel free to add in one small to medium russet potato to thicken the soup.

Ginger carrot soup with pine nuts