>>Recipe: Sinful apple cider pork belly with mustard mash

This weekend, all was right with the universe. There is just nothing like a really lazzzzy weekend. I literally didn't have a single worry and all I had to do is tend to my garden, read a book and cook. And what a weekend for cooking it was, with flawless after flawless dishes just falling out of my kitchen. Happy Anzel.

But back to the recipy at hand, this one is for Charlotte. Charlotte is a friend of mine from work and she is always talking about how amazing pork belly is, so this weekend I decided to give it a go for the first time. I kind of winged this recipe with simple flavours that I thought would go well together.  The apples and onions makes a sort of sticky marmalade with subtle flavours of star anise and fennel. I wouldn't exactly call this diet-food... but this little piggy didn't fail in blowing Johan's socks off, and I felt like a very good wife indeed:-)

Ingredients

1 kg pork belly, skin scored (ask your butcher because the skin is super tough, and your knife might suck)
1tsp fennel seeds
4 cardamon pods, crushed
2 star anise
salt and pepper to season the pork
4 green apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin wedges
1 red onion, cut into rings
Some fresh fennel leaves to taste
2 bay leaves
1 Savanna (330 ml), or any other apple cider (you can also use dry white wine)
500 ml chicken stock
3 garlic cloves

Method

Turn the oven to it's highest temperature.
Heat all the spiced over medium heat for a minute or two so the flavours can develop. Season the pork with salt,pepper and the prepared spices by rubbing it in between the sections of scored skin. The star anise can be placed with the apples at the bottom of the dish.

Place the apples, onion, fennel leaves and bay leaves at the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Place the seasoned pork belly on top of the apples and put it in the prepared oven until the skin is crispy (about 15 minutes). Remove the pork from the oven, add the garlic, apple cider and stock (be very careful not to get the skin wet), and then place the pork back into the oven at 180 degrees to roast for about one and a half hours or until ready. Only add stock up to the part of meat where the skin starts, depending on the depth of your dish. The crackling should be crispy and golden.

Serve the pork belly with some mustard mash (just add cream and whole grain mustard to mash) and steamed green beans. Garnish with fresh fennel. Be-au- ti-ful!

>> Into the water illustrations

I think I may have mentioned it before, but I am a huge fan of illustration art. I want to collect pieces like these "into the water" illustrations for our home. In fact, all of these goooorgeous swimming illustrations by New Yorker Yuko Shimizu seems like it was made for my future white and wood theme bathroom by the sea. I especially like these first two! Have a look at this incredibly talented illustrators portfolio for more of her fantastic work.

 

 

>> Canter typeface

Canter is an all caps, condensed typeface available in five different weights. It was designed as a display type for titles, headlines, and posters BY Christopher J. Lee. I think it's sexy, just like these vintage photos. Plus it is free.

>> Recipe - Caribbean Jerk Chicken

Jerk is a style of cooking where meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a hot spice mixture. The term jerk was derived from the Spanish word charqui meaning dried meat, which eventually became jerky in English or biltong is Afrikaans... To be honest, I don't really see the "dried meat" connection in the dish that I made, but is was still pretty good, so good that even a jerk will say it was good :-))) (yeaaah, I'm not too good at telling jokes am I...) Anyways, this chicken is utterly delicious, so easy to make and is the perfect mid-week alternative to the regular old baked chicken. Plus it smells pretty fabulous too, you'll want to move to Jamaica. Serve this dish with some Jamaican fried rice and green veggies.

Prepare the marinade

1–2 Scotch bonnet chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1tsp ground cloves
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground nutmeg
2tsp ground allspice
5–7 thyme sprigs, leaves only (you will need about 2 tbsp)
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil

Ingredients for cooking the chicken

4 large chicken legs, skin on, cut into drumsticks and thighs

Olive oil, for frying

2tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Rice, to serve

4–5 thyme sprigs, to garnish (optional)

 

Method

1. First prepare the marinade by combining all the ingredients with a good grinding of black pepper and a dash of oil. Rub the marinade into the chicken pieces, massaging it into the scored meat. Leave to marinate for at least 1 hour (or, better still, overnight).
2. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
3. Heat a large ovenproof pan over a medium-high heat and add a dash of oil. Fry the chicken pieces for about 10 minutes until golden brown on all sides. Add the Worcestershire sauce and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Cover with an ovenproof lid or foil and place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until cooked through (if your pan isn’t ovenproof, simply transfer the chicken to a roasting tray). Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes if the chicken needs colouring a little more.
5. Serve the chicken hot with rice.

>>Watercolour Saturday

When I was a student, I used to work at the old art shop in Pretoria called Schweickerdt. I was always hanging around the watercolour stand, inspecting the tubes and pans and reading up about the medium. When the shop unfortunately closed down early in 2011, I managed to get a studio set of Winston & Newton watercolour pans for a fraction of the real price, with big plans to go to Hermanus and try them out on a seascape or something...well, that never happened. Working and getting married and making all kinds of plans left no time for me to paint and do art, and when I did have time, I was just too tired and uninspired to remove myself from the couch.

So, this weekend my good friend Clarise and I decided to finally get around to the hobby, and we cracked a bottle of red and whipped out our watercolour brushes. I always paint in oil, and I heard that watercolour is a super difficult medium to use, but I'm pretty much up for any challenge so I gave it a go. Both of us tried watercolour for the first time on Saturday and this is what we came up with. I plan to try these feathers one more time (especially the red ones), and if they come out sexier, then I'll frame them in little wooden frames for our bedroom.

So what do you think?