Carbonara

Cooking down some lardons from the homemade bacon for a carbonara. Without saltpetre in the mix, they did go through a slightly grey cooking phase, as shown, but then crisped up nicely, and didn't make a difference to the final dish at all

Warming winter supper

Trying a new sausage recipe. Softening onions for a long time, then adding marsala, stock, bay leaves, juniper berries and pepper

Cooking with the sausages for 40 minutes

Served with mashed potato

Very tasty - particularly with some good cumberland sausages from the local butcher

A simple weekend lunch

Dressed crab, mayonnaise, rocket and watercress salad and toasted sourdough

Duck salad

Cold, thinly sliced duck breast from the night before, crispy homemade bacon, pine nuts and lettuce, with a hot dressing made from the bacon fat, mustard and sherry vinegar

Bacon wrapping

Saturday has come, so time to slice and wrap the bacon. I started by dividing the bellies into manageable pieces, and removing the skin.

Some was sliced, on a variety of settings

While some was vaccuum packed whole, either for later slicing, or chunking into lardons

The vaccuum sealer was a huge success - makes everything much easier to label and store

The bacon should last for one month in the fridge, or at least 3 in the freezer

Fried chicken

Breaded chicken goujons with a green salad

Duck for dinner

Duck breast, marinaded in pink and black peppercorns, black mustard seeds and juniper berries, served with dauphinoise potatoes, green beans and a red wine and cassis reduction

Veg box day has come . . .

The fortnightly veg box arrives on a Friday

This week it's red onions, courgettes, mushrooms, squash, lettuce, tomatoes and red pepper

Roast chicken sandwiches

Roast chicken with salad and plenty of mayonnaise on malted brown bread

Sunday lunch

ROast chicken, with roast potatoes and parsnips, courgettes and kale

Followed by tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream

Completed bacon

After four and a half days I've rinsed the salt off the bacon, and dried it. It's now stacked in the fridge wrapped in cotton teatowels, and waiting for the weekend when I can slice it and portion it up.

It looks and smells like bacon, and has a nice firm texture, not dissimilar to the blocks of pancetta you buy from an Italian deli. It's amazing the change to the meat in just a few days.

Frying a bit up to test it

And it tastes good. It's a very fatty cut, so renders down well in the pan. It should be great for carbonara, or flavouring stews - more experiments to follow!

Bacon making: part 2

The next morning - the bellies have leached off about a litre of salty brine

I drained this, re-cured them and put back in the fridge

Asado de porco

Marinading some fatty pork for a goan roast pork dish

Marinade includes tamarind, onion, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, black peppercorns, dried red chilli and fresh green chilli

Browning the meat after 24 hours in the marinade

After cooking, reducing the marinade to make a sauce

The finished dish, servded with fried potatoes and tomatoes

A great dish from the UKTV food channel - I'd definitely cook it again

Bacon making: part 1

Preparing to dry cure some streaky bacon. Some pieces of pork belly from the village butcher, salt, sugar, pepper, juniper berries and various implements

Trimming the bellies

Making up the cure. Salt, soft brown sugar, crushed peppercorns, juniper berries, finely sliced bay leaves

The two belly pieces salted and stacked in a new washing up bowl

I'll keep them in the fridge for 4 or 5 days, re salting them and draining off any brine each day

Saturday breakfast

Pain perdu

Served with a blackberry and blueberry sauce for breakfast

Gammon

Gammon with a fried egg, and bubble and squeak made with kale

Celeriac soup

Using up the veg box. A celeriac soup with celery, carrots, chilli, onion and coriander.