Pan fried Gammon with sticky sauce

Gammon steaks were on offer.  So we needed a recipe to use to tempt Sous Chef J to eat them.  He likes mustard and he loves maple syrup so those were chosen as ingredients.

First task was to cut through the rind and fat of the steaks.  We used a pair of sharp kitchen scissors to do this - cuts were made, through the rind and fat, at intervals of about 2cm.

Taking a tablespoonful of the maple syrup and the grainy mustard, they were mixed together.

Having put the prepared gammon steaks in a pyrex dish, the maple/mustard mix and some seasonings were added.  The steaks were allowed to marinade in the mix.

Cooking the gammon in a frying pan, on a medium heat, for about 6 minutes on each side, they were soon ready to eat.  Leaving the gammon to 'rest' whilst the vegetables were prepared.  We served the gammon steaks with mixed root vegetable mash and stir fried kale.  A successful, simple meal.

Sticky Pork with Apple

In case you overindulged over  the 'Festive Season' and have now embarked on a calorie counted diet or are doing the 5:2 fasting diet, this is a recipe from Jaqueline Whitehart's "the complete 2-day fasting diet" cookbook which our whole family likes.  We made this, with properly weighed out portions for me (doing the 5:2) and the others had theirs with amounts that weren't restricted, potatoes over the 'measured' amount and served together with peas and sweetcorn.

The ingredients we used for one were 100g pork tenderloin (fat and sinew removed and sliced), half a red apple (cored and sliced), half a shallot (peeled and thinly sliced), garlic clove (peeled and crushed), half a Tablespoon of grainy mustard, half a Tablespoon of maple syrup and one teaspoon of cider vinegar.  Using a small amount of olive oil for cooking (half a teaspoon), one portion represents 242 calories and, served with 100g of boiled new potatoes, is 312 calories for the meal.

We started by frying off the pork and sliced shallot, cooking the meat until it was lightly browned on each side.

At this point the meat was removed from the pan and put to one side to rest.

Adding the apple to the pan, it was cooked through for a few minutes until it began to soften.  Next, the garlic, maple syrup, vinegar and water (one and a half Tablespoons for the 'counted' version) was added was stirred through.

The contents were brought up to the boil and the pork was returned to the pan.  Spooning the sauce over the pork, the dish was cooked for a further five minutes, over a low heat, until heated through.

Finally the mustard was mixed through and the dish was ready to serve.

We cooked my, measured, meal in a small skillet and the remainder, for the rest of the family, in a frying pan to ensure portion size for me, the 'faster', was maintained as accurately as possible.

This is a tasty dish and one we'll make again.

Sticky Date and Walnut Cake with Maple Syrup Icing

This is a recipe from the Waitrose website that we printed out a L-O-N-G time ago.  Finally, today, we got around to making it.

Ingredients used were -
250g dates, chopped
150g butter, softened
100g soft brown sugar
4 Tbsp (60ml) maple syrup
250g Plain flour (we used Dove's farm gluten free)
2 eggs, beaten
1½ tsp baking powder (we used Dr Oetker gluten free)
1½ tsp mixed spice
50g walnuts, chopped
125g icing sugar, sifted

Having chopped the dates, they were placed in a bowl and covered with 150ml boiling water.  Whilst they were soaking, we prepared the rest of the ingredients and preheated the oven to 170C (fan).

The butter and brown sugar were beaten together until creamy.  Half of the maple syrup was added and mixed through.  Then, the flour and eggs were added a little at a time and fully incorporated.

After this, the mixed spice and baking powder was added and stirred through thoroughly.  Once this was done, we added the dates (and the soaking water) and two thirds of the chopped walnuts.  Again, the mix was thoroughly stirred.

The mix was then shared between metal baking tins which had been well greased.  A traybake tin, about 25cmx17cm, and a small loaf tin (10cmx7cm) were used. 

These were then baked in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes when they were tested using a knife to see if they were cooked through.  Once the knife came out clean, the tins were placed on a cooling tray and, after about 10 minutes, the cakes were removed and left to cool fully.

Whilst the cakes cooled, the icing was made by mixing the icing sugar, remainder of the maple syrup and a small amount of warm water to get a runny mix.  This was then drizzled over the cakes and the remaining chopped walnuts were sprinkled on top.