The Recipe Room

Pork fillets are tender and succulent, and in this roast pork with apples and cider recipe are cooked fast. This means that you can prepare a roast from start to finish in less than 45 minutes, and it’s delicious!

What you need:
2 x 350g fillets of pork
3 x large cox apples, core removed, skin on
2 cloves garlic, peeled and cut into thin slices
20 Cloves
40g butter (plus a knob of butter to grease baking tray)
1 ½ tablespoons cider vinegar
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon Demerara sugar
225ml English cider
2 tablespoons crème fraiche (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

What to do:
1. Preheat the oven to 230°C.
2. Cut slits into the pork fillets and insert the garlic slivers inside – do this all over the meat.
3. Push cloves into some of the spaces between the garlic, around 5 cloves per side of each piece of meat.
4. Butter a baking tray and scatter with the sliced onion.
5. Melt the butter in a bowl and stir in the cider. Lay the pork over the onion on the baking tray, and brush the meat all over with the cider mixture. Then season with salt and pepper.
6. Cut the apples into wedges, toss them in the cider and butter mixture and place them in the tray around the outside of the pork.
7. Place the tray in the hot oven on a high shelf and roast for 25-30 mins, or until the pork is thoroughly cooked (roasting time will depend on the thickness of the pork).
8. When cooked, remove the pork, keeping it warm by wrapping it in silver foil, then put the baking tray on the heat on top of the cooker, add some cider and stir loose the apples and onions to make a wonderful sauce, let the liquid reduce by about a third – this should take about 5 minutes.
9. Add the crème fraiche (if you are using it) to the cider, apple and onion sauce, let it warm through on the heat, taste and season further if necessary.
10. Carve the pork into nice thick slices and serve with the apples.

1 hour to prepare – 45 minutes to cook
Makes: 4 main courses

Note: If you enjoy my recipe, I also recommend this spiced roast ham or pork with juniper berries.

Moules mariniere brings back memories of holidays in the south of France and close to the Spanish border where moules frites (mussels and chips) and mussels in Asturian cider are very popular.

British Mussels are in season in February.  If you’re lucky enough to find good ones, you will soon be making succulent and tasty mussels in a white wine and cream sauce, which you can enjoy as a starter, or as a main meal with nice hunks of granary bread, chips or a mixed salad.  It looks stunning in its presentation and is sophisticated to the palette.

Moules mariniere is most fun prepared in company, sampling the white wine together as you cook.  I use a splash of good white wine from the bottle I want to drink with the meal rather than a cheap cooking wine, which I believe improves the flavour significantly. Try this recipe with a very well chilled oaked chardonnay.

What you need:

• 1.75kg fresh mussels
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 15g butter
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 100ml white wine
• 120ml double cream (substitute for light crème fraiche if desired)

What you do:

1. Wash the mussels thoroughly, removing and binning any that have opened and don’t close when lightly pressed in your fingers.
2. Remove the beards from the mussels – these are the tough and fibrous strands which stick out of the closed shells.  Rinse the mussels once again.
3. Melt the butter in a large pan (which needs to be large enough for the mussels to reach only half way up the pan) and fry the shallots and the onion until soft.
4. Splash in the wine and add the mussels.  Turn up the heat at this point, cover the pan with a lid, and steam the mussels for 3-4 minutes.  Whilst the mussels are cooking, move them about every now and then by gently shaking the pan; there’s no need to remove the lid to do this.
5. Pour in the cream, add the coriander, and remove from the heat.

10-15 minutes to prepare and cook

Makes: 4 generous starters or light main meals