Pulled Pork Recipe

Having watched Diners, Drive Ins & Dives we kept seeing some tasty pulled pork sandwiches. So I finally got round to trying a recipe - pork at morrisons is on offer this week too, bonus!! It's a dead easy recipe, takes a while to cook but it's so scrummy!

I left the BBQ sauce chunky but the recipe said to blend until smooth - I prefer it chunky. I used a loaf of Tiger Bread for our sandwiches :)

Ingredients
2 onions , sliced
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp each mustard powder and smoked paprika
1.5-2kg pork shoulder , boned with rind attached and tied
140g tomato ketchup
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp soft dark brown sugar

Method
Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3.

Scatter the onions and bay leaves in the bottom of a large roasting tin. Mix the mustard powder, paprika and 1 tsp ground black pepper with a good pinch of salt. Rub this all over the pork, making sure you rub it into all the crevices. Place the pork, rind-side up, on top of the onions. Pour 200ml water into the bottom of the tin, wrap well with foil and bake for 4 hrs. This can be done up to 2 days ahead.

In a bowl, mix the ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Remove the pork from the tin and pat dry. Place the roasting tin on the hob, pour in the ketchup mixture and bubble vigorously for 10-15 mins until thick and glossy. Remove the bay leaves. Smear half the sauce mixture over the meat.

Heat a combined oven-grill to high, place the pork on a baking tray and cook each side for 10-15 mins until nicely charred.

Lift the pork onto a large plate or tray. Remove string and peel off the skin. Using 2 forks, shred the meat into chunky pieces. Add 3-4 tbsp of the barbecue sauce to the meat and toss everything well to coat. Pile into rolls and serve with extra sauce.

Full recipe (including how to cook on a BBQ) is here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2252641/bbq-pulled-pork-sandwich

Cervical Screening

Today is 4 years to the date of Jade Goody's funeral, it was reported on the radio this morning the amount of women having their cervical smear has dropped.  Please ladies go and have your cervical smear!

I am 28 and I had my first at the age of 26 which came back abnormal with moderate changes (you can have slight, moderate or severe changes) and I had to go into hospital to have the abnormal cells removed.  Without this intervention, the cells could turn into cancer so I am very grateful for the smear.  I will always get mine done, since then my smear came back with borderline changes so I had to go back 6 months later for another which came back clear and I am now on an annual check up.

The smear itself is nothing, doesn’t hurt and it’s really quick so please please get your smear done as it could save your life.   The smear only takes 5 minutes, what is 5 minutes compared to the rest of your life??  You can find more information on the NHS website here. 

The Falcondale, Lampeter

We visited The Falcondale for their set lunch menu, 2 courses for £15.95 or 3 courses for £19.50.  The lounge area and the restaurant itself were VERY cold, the heating wasn’t on and we were a little bit frozen on a cold day!  However the waiter brought a radiator over to our table to warm us up a bit.

For starters, mum and I chose Cheese Souffle with salted beets and cabernet sauvignon vinaigrette – wow, yummy yumm, this was sooo nice and light and tasty and the different beetroots were gorgeous – the only thing?  Well we could have both eaten two of them! 

For mains I went for Collops of Welsh Beef with triple cooked chips, shitake mushroom and basil sauce – my only complaint would be there wasn’t much beef or sauce, there were 3 small rounds of beef which was cooked perfectly and very tender but could have done with a bit more, there were more chips than there was beef and I don’t think carbohydrates should make up the bulk of your meal.  The sauce and the mushrooms were very tasty.  In terms of veg, again we didn’t get much for the table, a tiny little dish with perhaps 3 florets of broccoli, a couple of mange tout, a few peas and carrots – so just your run of the mill veg.  Mum had salmon with wilted spinach, dauphine potatoes and a white wine and mushroom sauce – salmon was cooked perfectly and the sauce was very tasty, it was the first time we have both had dauphine potatoes and wow they were scrummy, something to cook this weekend me thinks!! 

We were still hungry when it came to dessert as the portions had only been small so we both went for Sticky Toffee Pudding with custard, this looked like a huge piece but in fact it was lovely and light and soft, melted in your mouth.

So all in all it was a nice lunch, but I think as we were spoilt by Hundred House yesterday it was a little disappointing in terms of portions sizes.  However we ate three courses and were probably just right, compared to yesterday when three course was probably a bit much and I was over full!  So it depends on the size of your appetite, if you have a bit appetite you will be disappointed.

Dizzy came with us to visit a family friend, she will be 14 this year and does struggle with her back legs now, she is very wobbly but as long as she is not in pain and still happy to go visiting and can still manage a short walk.  I expect it won’t be long before we do have to make a decision and it will be a horrible decision to make, but for now we’re just enjoying her and making her comfortable.