supper with friends

We’re frantically busy at the moment, what with house reorganisation, lots of work, and kittens to attend to. The latter had us inviting four friends round for supper and a KittinFest on Saturday.

I didn’t really have time for an elaborate meal, and I knew there was a stack of pork steaks in the freezer, and pears in the fruit bowl that needed eating up, so here’s what we had:

Pork and leeks in cider and cream

Chop up some pork steaks into bite sized pieces, and brown them in a large frying pan (one that has a lid is what you need),  some olive oil and butter.  Set aside, deglaze the pan with a bit of cider and pour that in with the pork.  Add more oil, and sauté as much leek as you like.  Put the pork back in, with more cider, add some chopped sage, and season.  Put a lid on, and cook over a low heat for about 1 hour.

Then fish out all the bits, and bubble the cider right down until there’s not much liquid left.  I actually added more cider, because it didn’t taste quite apple-y enough.  Then bung in a carton of double cream, and return the meat and leeks to the pan.  This can then be heated up when your guests arrive.  Served with sauté potatoes, and carrots, cauliflower and broccoli gently steamed.

Pear and chocolate crumble with  a hazelnut topping

Peel, core and slice up pears.  I added a couple of apples too, because I didn’t have quite enough pears (I found one later in the kittens’ toy basket, which was slightly surreal).  Add a little grated fresh ginger, a tablespoon of water, and a generous, but not ridiculous, scattering of good quality chocolate chips (I get mine from Costco).  Make a crumble topping of 7 oz flour + 1 oz hazelnuts, 4 oz marge or butter, and 4 oz of sugar (whatever you like – I did a mix of soft dark brown and caster, as that’s what came first to hand.

Put the fruit in an ovenproof dish, cover with the crumble topping, bake at gas 5 for about 45 minutes.  Serve with double cream.

Nice quick supper for friends – not showy, but they ate it all 🙂