Cheese on toast topped with slow cooked chilli and baked beans

Comfort food here we come!  This idea was given to us by friends on New Year’s Eve as we tucked into bowls of rice and slow cooked chilli con carne – they suggested that the best way to eat leftover chilli was on top of cheese on toast.  It just had to be tried.

It didn’t disappoint.  We used a crusty white loaf from Barbakan, topped with melted Cheddar for the cheese on toast.  We reheated the slow cooked chilli (made with chunks of organic beef from Bryn Cocyn rather than mince) and added half a tin of baked beans to make it go further.

It was utterly delicious – from now on I’m going to make sure we always have leftover chilli after making it, just so we can have this the next day.

Utterly delicious pork belly roast

Now this is how I like my meat – slow cooked, full of moisture and soft enough you can pull it apart with a fork.  But up until now we haven’t really cooked meat like this, but after spotting a rather good-looking piece of pork belly at Davenports Farm Shop this was the moment.

We followed Jamie Oliver’s recipe for Pork Belly Roast and it didn’t let us down – not that any Jamie recipe ever has, I don’t think.  On top there was a layer of golden, crispy crackling, and beneath the meat was flavourful and soft.

We ate it drenched in gravy, with a pile of fluffy and super buttery mashed potato, and peas and broad beans.  De-lish!  Definitely one to make for friends.

Lost without a camera

Truly I am.  What has it been…a week since I last posted?  And it’s not for lack of eating nice things or doing nice things.  This week we have eaten … ugh, I forget without photos to document it!

We have eaten far too much Dunham Massey ice cream with homemade chocolate sauce that I do remember – but along with pizza making we leave chocolate sauce making to Mr Rigg.  My attempt resulted in a near disaster!

Tonight we are making Jamie’s lasagne – the sauce part is busy bubbling away in the oven with the fragrant scent of cinnamon filling the house.  This lasagne has a mixture of beef and pork mince, roasted butternut squash and flecks of crispy pancetta. 

Image: Jamie Oliver

We’ve also made slow cooked chilli con carne with leftovers for lunches – delicious with wraps, sour cream and grated cheese.  This one is worth a post sometime soon when I’ve reinstated a camera into our lives. 

I’ve bought locally grown quinces to make quince jelly after trying some on crumpets at work – yum!  Tomorrow night we have friends over for dinner and are planning a Moroccan chicken tagine with couscous – another Jamie recipe.

Image: Radish NYC

My week has also included a two-day headache (ugh!), an exciting time in the life of my website, lots of log fires, happiness that Mr Robin is back and singing in my garden,  and a visit to the dentist (I’ve had a numb cheek and face all afternoon).  Hoping for a less painful week next week. 

I also came across this lovely blog, a post from the same blog on an incredible looking gourmet shop in New York (wish there was somewhere like this near me!), and amazing lunchboxes.

Image: made by OOTS

Making chilli con carne on a miserable rainy day

This afternoon I have been making Chilli Con Carne.  It’s a slow cooked chilli using chunks of stewing steak rather than mince – it appeals to me more.

I’ve taken a recipe from Sarah Raven’s Food For Friends and Family and as always tweaked it a little.  We’ve been eating lots of variations on my Roasted Summer Vegetables recently and had some left over – so they have been added, hopefully bringing an extra delicious taste to the chilli.

After four hours gently bubbling on the stove it is finally ready.  All we need to do now is cook some rice, reheat the chilli and eat it with generous amounts of soured cream and grated cheese. 

I do like it when dinner is made in advance – although it took me a good half an hour to prepare and many more hours to cook, it feels like an easy dinner.

Please excuse the bad camera phone photos – I’m dying without a real camera!!