I decided to have a little fun and created a Pig Feast menu. I geared everything around the humble porker and tried to be adventurous with it. I even created a fun little flyer to send to all the invited guests!
I will be concentrating on two of the recipes prepared on the evening; namely the Pork Liver Paté and the BBQ Ribs. I will point out here that Sheila made dessert (as per our new rule) and it was heavenly! Her food got quite a few more mmmmmm's than mine did and that is the nature of dessert. To be honest, the combination of syrupy sweet crunchy bacon with hot moist sticky toffee style sponge and cold creamy ice cream was delectable and if there was more, I'm sure we all would have been in the queue for seconds!
So, onto the Pork Liver Paté...
Serves 8
Ingredients:
8 slices Streaky Bacon
500g Pork Liver
250g Pork Mince
30g Dried Apple, finely chopped
100g Onion, finely chopped
2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
100g Breadcrumbs
20g Fresh Sage, finely chopped
1 pinch Nutmeg
100ml Madeira Sherry
Salt and Black Pepper
To put the paté together is relatively easy. To start of with, I finely chopped the pork liver up into a very fine dice, almost a mush really. You could also use a mincer if you wish, but I decided not to get mine dirty for just 500g liver!
Following this messy little job, everything, with the exception of the streaky bacon, is added into a bowl and mixed together well. Once very well mixed, I would advise cooking a tasty morsel in a frying pan to check seasoning. Adjust if required.
Taking a 1lt loaf tin, I greased it with a little butter then lined the tin with the bacon, making sure that the sides and base of the tin was totally covered in bacon. I added all of the mix to the tin and covered it tightly with tin foil and then placed it into the centre of my oven preheated to 170C. This stayed in there for about 90 minutes after which I pulled it out to check if cooked. It was so I put the tin to the side to cool down before placing it into the fridge for a couple of hours to set nicely.
Served with freshly baked baguette and a mildly spicy apple chutney, the paté was scrumptious! I could have left it in the fridge for slightly longer as I feel it hadn't set quite enough, but this didn't affect the taste or rustic appeal of the dish.
Onto the ribs then?
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1.5kg Pork Rib
Rub:
1 tbs Brown Sugar
1 tbs Salt
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Mustard Powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp dried Oregano leaves
100g Onion, very finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
Cooking Marinade:
1 cup Brown Sugar
250ml Cider Vinegar
50ml Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Mustard Powder
1 tsp Paprika
2 tbs Ketchup
2 tbs Grainy Mustard
150ml Whiskey
I started off by mixing all the rub ingredients together and vigorously rubbing this into the ribs, trying to get the mix into every nook and cranny. The ribs were then covered and placed into the fridge overnight.
The next day, I mixed all the marinade ingredients together in a pan and placed this on the stove to bring to the boil. I allowed the marinade to reduce slightly. I then removed the ribs from the fridge and sealed them on a grill for a couple of minutes before placing them into an oven proof dish. The marinade was poured over the top of the ribs and I sealed the dish using tin foil. The dish was then placed into the preheated oven (180C) for about 90 minutes. During this time, at 30 minute intervals, I basted the ribs with the marinade in the dish.
After 90 minutes, oven went ping and done!
Dessert arrived and honestly, Sheila out did herself and it was just the perfect end to a delightful evening!
The Pig Feast was an unmitigated success and I'd like to explore how else single ingredients can be used to marry a dinner evening together. Anyone interested in helping out as tasters?
