RECIPE for leftover pork

What do you do with leftover roast pork? Once upon a time a Sunday roast dinner would carry on feeding a family throughout the week. We found ourselves - several days later doing just that.
Over the weekend we enjoyed roast shoulder of pork, and there was plenty of meat left.
Nothing was wasted; we made - A PULLED PORK SANDWICH and a second roast pork dinner.
In both cases, we wrapped the pork in foil and reheated thoroughly in the oven.
For the PULLED PORK recipe, you will need to shred the pork and coat lightly with the following ingredients (or use a ready prepared marinade):
One tsp smoked paprika, one tsp cumin, 2 small cloves garlic, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, a glug of tomato ketchup, 10-15ml honey, half teaspoon of black pepper & salt, one onion. Blend thoroughly then coat pork and place into a hot oven and cook until piping hot. Add crunchy lettuce and coleslaw to finish. 

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You'll find our successful weight loss story here.

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MONKFISH SCAMPI

We saw MONKFISH SCAMPI being cooked on a television programme. This is how old fashioned scampi used to be made, although now scampi contains langoustines.
As monkfish was the only option at the supermarket, we decided to have a go at making our own scampi. It was surprisingly easy to make too.
SERVES TWO (as a starter):  Cut around 180g of monkfish into 8 pieces (approx 2cm each). The monkfish bone is easy to remove, alternatively you can ask the fishmonger to take it out. Season with salt, pepper and even add a bit spice if you fancy e.g. curry, chilli, smoked paprika then flour, egg and breadcrumb them. We used Panko breadcrumbs for two reasons - they deliver a light and crunchy result, and we had them in the cupboard. We served ours with mushy peas, to which we added a teaspoon of mint sauce. Shallow fry the scampi until golden brown - 4 to 5 minutes should be enough.
You know we ate this type of food while losing weight. We're now keeping the weight off. It's about eating food you really enjoy, and filling up. No need for hunger!

Be who you want to be.

Do you know how many calories you can eat each day?

Our very first blog post about our weight loss journey - back in 2011.

You'll find our successful weight loss story here.
Tweak what you eat and lose weight.

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2014), all rights reserved.

Recipe for leftover lamb

If you are wondering how to use up leftover lamb, this SPICY LAMB WRAP recipe proved to be a big hit.
With around 100g of leftover lamb, we wondered what to make. There wasn't enough for the usual shepherd's pie.
I don't know about you, but cold lamb looks very uninspiring. However, it resurrects beautifully because of the fat content.
We opted for a wrap, but wanted something spicy and interesting.
Unlike most TV celebrity chef's we just do not have every ingredient to hand. Using the ingredients we did have transformed leftover lamb into a very tasty budget meal.
You can add a sprinkle of your own favourite spice - harissa, chilli etc - before you reheat the lamb, or season with salt and pepper.
The shredded lamb can be heated through in a hot oven, dry fried or microwaved. If you want crispy lamb, as we did, use the oven or pan.
The SECRET here was the combination of cheese and lamb, which makes it oh so spectacular, and something you would easily pay good money for.
Here's our recipe:

Making perfect gravy

If you're after the PERFECT GRAVY here is a gadget you shouldn't be without. Cooking a  Christmas roast dinner can be daunting - so why not try this gravy making tip.
We know some meats are much fattier than others, especially lamb, and we always use a fat separator to remove the fat. It's a well used gadget in our kitchen. Removing the fat does not remove the flavour.
Here's how we make our gravy. Unlike a traditional chef (roux) method - using flour and fat - we find this way of making gravy so much easier.
When you roast a joint of meat or a chicken, put chopped carrots, onions, celery and herbs at the bottom of the roasting tin. Sit the joint of meat on top of the vegetables, add water to cover the vegetables and roast in the usual way. We cover the roast with foil for half the roasting time.
Around half way through the roasting time, pour off half of the roasting juices.
Carefully tip the juices through the fat separator (you will see the fat layer forming at the bottom of the jug). When you pour the juices out, the fat remains at the bottom. Put the juices aside in a small saucepan.
After roasting the meat, take the remaining vegetables and roasting juices and press through a sieve. Discard the vegetables.
Next, pour the remaining juices through the fat separator and add to the saucepan. Add cornflour to thicken, bring to the boil and cook for a couple of minutes. Finally, season to taste - salt, pepper and a little Worcestershire sauce should be all that's necessary.

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Be who you want to be.

Do you know how many calories you can eat each day?

Our very first blog post about our weight loss journey - back in 2011.

You'll find our successful weight loss story here.
Tweak what you eat and lose weight.

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2014), all rights reserved.

EASY CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

Cream of mushroom soup packed full of flavour ! How can you make this without lots of effort? For a busy cook, this can be made the night before and finished off later. Take a look at the recipe below.
Using a little cream made a very light and tasty lunch just a little more decadent - without the calories. Each 300ml bowl of soup was around 200 calories; no need to spare the bread!
After ordering a mushroom veloute in a restaurant the other week, we thought we would try to make it ourselves. For a first effort, this was surprisingly good.

Be who you want to be.

Do you know how many calories you can eat each day?

Our very first blog post about our weight loss journey - back in 2011.

You'll find our successful weight loss story here.
Tweak what you eat and lose weight.

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2014), all rights reserved.

Here's the easy recipe:

SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN

This SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN recipe was from Ottolenghi's website.
The interesting technique here was to brine the chicken beforehand. It all sounds very technical, but I can assure you it was easy enough. It's not time consuming either, as you can prepare the brine the night before and leave the chicken to 'marinate' for 24 hours.
One good reason to brine the chicken is so that it remains very moist on the inside. The spicy coating was intriguing and very more-ish. You could easily adapt this so why not experiment?
What's the verdict - for a first attempt too? Does brining chicken make a difference? Would we make this again?

Fabulous Toad in the Hole

A good Toad in the Hole is crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. Never soggy.
There are so many recipes for this (Yorkshire pudding) batter. On this occasion we made a batter with just whole milk. Sometimes we use milk and water. Using all milk gave a soft doughy base and perfect, well risen crust. The best tip for a great result is to leave the batter to rest (see why below).
Here's the recipe we used: