CRISPY PANCETTA, CHIVE & SOURED CREAM JACKETS

I am not the biggest potato fan, I literally only really like them if they are covered in cheese however as Pascal and Arabella are fans, I thought I should try a potato recipe for a change. I made this last Sunday but I have had even less time for my blog recently as I moved house last week; however I am pleased to report I now have a much bigger kitchen which has inspired my cooking. We christened our new house with my best recipe ever - Mac and Cheese and then made these potatoes (a new favourite) the next day. These took a while to cook, around an hour and twenty minutes, but they were very easy.

Ingredients for 2 people:

2 baked potatoes (around 300g each)
4 tbsps of soured cream
75g cheddar cheese, grated
3 tbsp of chives, chopped
100g pancetta

To serve:
We cooked them with roast pork belly

Preheat the oven to 200C / fan 180C / gas mark 6.

Bake the potatoes for at least an hour until they are tender and then remove them from the oven.

In a bowl mix together the 4 tbsps of soured cream, the 75g of cheddar and most of the chives.

Scoop the middles out of the potatoes and into the bowl, leaving a shell inside the skins to hold them firm. Mash together the potato with the soured cream, cheese and chives and season.

Spoon the mixture back into the potato skins and re-bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile fry the pancetta in a dry non stick pan until crispy.

Finally sprinkle over the baked potatoes with the rest of the chives and a little more soured cream. We served ours with roast pork belly.

These were really good - very flavoursome and so easy. I would say these are great for both winter and summer - I loved them with the roast pork but they would work equally well with a barbecue or just a green salad. If all potatoes tasted like this, I would have them more often!

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CHICKEN PARMIGIANA WITH TOMATO SPAGHETTI

Life is starting to get back to normal now my baby is 3 months old although it is certainly not like I remembered....to start with I just have so little time. Leaving the house takes forever and I just seem to take ages to get anything done. I do miss the freedom I used to have but then I wouldn't change a thing as I am obsessed with Olympia - she is so cute and smiley and her little giggle melts my heart. 

Anyway I finally got round to cooking a new recipe today and it was a winner. It was a Waitrose recipe and took about 20 minutes - not surprisingly I added extra cheese!

Ingredients for 4 people:

300g wholewheat spaghetti
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
25g fresh basil, shredded
2 chicken breast fillets
1 egg, beaten
50g breadcrumbs (panko or golden)
200g mozzarella, sliced

To serve:
Parmesan, grated

I like to start by preparing all the ingredients - cutting the tomatoes, onion and basil, slicing the chicken and mozzarella, beating the egg and boiling the water for the spaghetti.

This recipe is quick but there is a lot to do at the same time.

Cook the pasta in a pan of salted boiling water according for the packet's instructions. Mine took 10 minutes.

Meanwhile heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and add the onion for 3 minutes and then mix in the tomatoes, paprika, basil and a dash of water (about 50ml) and season. Cook for around 7 minutes and then just before the pasta is ready, pop the tomato mixture in a blender and puree.

Cut the chicken in half horizontally and dip first in the egg and then the breadcrumbs and coat as evenly as possible. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken for around 8 minutes, turning occasionally until cooked through with no pink meat. Just before it is ready, preheat the grill to high.

When the chicken is ready, top with a couple of slices of mozzarella and pop under the grill for around 2 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Finally once the pasta is ready, mix with the tomato sauce, a sprinkling of Parmesan and then serve with the chicken.

This is something I would order in a restaurant and it did not disappoint. Both Pascal and I adored this and in fact Pascal's only complaint was it was too small - he definitely wanted an entire chicken breast to himself. I also had made the mistake of freezing the basil as I had originally planned to cook this last week - I wouldn't recommend it as it was so soggy - fresh basil would definitely be better! 
This only took around 20 minutes to make and I will definitely make this again - I am sure Arabella will also be a big fan.

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CACIO E PEPE

When we go to our favourite restaurant Gola, Arabella and I always order their Cacio e Pepe dish. Since Olympia was born we haven't been able to go out for dinner as regularly as we used to so last Friday night I decided to try and cook this pasta. The recipe comes from Olive magazine and it looked pretty quick and easy, you also end up with a side of garlic oil for salads or pastas.

Ingredients for 2 people:

200ml sunflower oil (I used olive as that is what we had in the cupboard)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
80g butter
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp of oregano (I used dried but you could use fresh and chopped)
50g Parmesan, finely grated
250g spaghetti

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta and cook according to the packet's instructions. Ours took ten minutes.

Meanwhile pour the oil into a frying pan and add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes until the garlic changes to a golden colour. As soon as this happens, strain it through a metal sieve into a heatproof bowl. I didn't read the metal part and managed to kill our sieve!!

Anyway shake off any excess oil from the garlic and then spread it on kitchen roll to cool down and set the oil to one side.

At the same time, in a frying pan add the butter, black pepper, oregano and a splash of cooking water and cook on a low to medium heat until all melted.

When the pasta is ready, drain and then put it back in the pan with the butter mixture. Add the Parmesan, but don't stir it. You want it to sit and melt from the heat of the pan otherwise it can turn into cheesy balls (although that sounds good to me too)! I didn't have the patience to wait for it all to be melted but I did 75% of it.

Add the golden garlic and season to taste - we added a little salt. Mix all together.

Finally serve immediately with an extra sprinkling of Parmesan.

I am afraid to say that for me this wasn't as good as Gola's cacio e pepe but I think that is because their sauce is a lot creamier. Pascal, on the other hand, preferred it as he doesn't particularly like cream. The whole recipe was very quick and easy and I love that it barely used any ingredients. I think you could also add a few chillis if you wanted to spice it up a bit. I like that we now have some leftover garlic oil too - I remember when I was a child, I used to visit a restaurant in Lanzarote that did a salad with just lettuce, lardons and garlic oil - so I am going to be trying that this week!

THE PIG'S EAR, CHELSEA

My life has changed dramatically since having a baby....going out to eat is no longer a regular occurrence. However my husband and I decided to hire a babysitter and go on a date on Saturday night, although I was so exhausted a box of chocolates on the sofa was a much more appealing option. Anyway once I had dressed up and thrown some jewellery and make up on (another novelty nowadays) I was ready to go.

I had booked the Pig's Ear, a gastro pub in Chelsea apparently owned by Frank Lampard and his dad and an old haunt of Prince William. This pub has been around for years and is a popular local.

When we arrived I was expecting to be sitting in the upstairs dining room but instead we were shown to the dining area in the corner of the pub - it was already pretty busy and was noisy from the pub but it had a cosy atmosphere. We ordered some delicious olives whilst we perused the menu and Pascal was immediately impressed by the wine served by the glass.

Obviously I had checked out the menu beforehand and had already decided we were going to have the Pig's Ear sharing platter with potted ham hock, duck rillette, Palma ham, sausage roll, pork pie, chicken liver parfait, mini scotch egg, pickle and apple sauce. This sounded amazing and it tasted amazing - it was a good size portion and every mouthful was memorable. We polished the whole lot off without a morsel to spare. We both agreed the duck was our favourite. Other starters included halloumi with cauliflower couscous, pomegranate and pine nuts or scallop ceviche with a salad of moulie and avocado but we could not be swayed!

For mains I was torn between the burger or the mussels and in the end went for the mussels which were cooked in cider and bacon cream and served with fries. Pascal could not decide between the venison cooked with roasted marrow, black cabbage and red currant jus or the slow roast pork belly with crackling, butternut squash, Savoy cabbage and a red wine sauce - in the end he chose the pork.

Both of us were incredibly impressed by our mains - they were phenomenal - I reckon the mussels were the best I have ever eaten which is saying something as I have eaten a lot in my lifetime! Pascal adored his pork with crispy crackling, a perfect meal for a cold, blustery evening. 

I was tempted by the sticky toffee pudding for dessert but my jeans were already feeling tight so I thought best save that for another day (next time I might come in elasticated trousers)!

I can't believe I had not been to the Pig's Ear for around 15 years - the food was so good I want to go back already. The menu is small and it was not the quiet dining room I was expecting but the pub exceeded my expectations in many other ways. I would go back for the sharing platter alone. A perfect gastro pub, I can see why it has the royal approval!!