Sunday, March 02, 2008

Going Italian

There's nothing more relaxing than listening to Moondance on a lazy weekend, cozily snuggled under the sheets, with a good book and a cuppa aromatic coffee ... :) (plus a lot of cooking!) What's your idea of a quiet, relaxed weekend?

This weekend was great, went out with a bunch of corridor mates to see the Tuthankhamun exhibition at the O2 Arena, interesting really as I never thought I'd be intrigued by the ancient history of Egypt. Would definitely like to visit there someday ...

Slow cooking has always been one of my favorite method of cooking as it involves minimal supervision and usually achieves maximum flavor! It's also very ideal for students/working young adults as a healthier/cheaper alternative of eating out. It's worth considering investing in one of these smart cookers with 3 heat adjustments!

I got mine earlier this year and so instead of doing my usual Chinese, I stumbled upon this Italian pork stew while flipping through one of the cookbooks in Borders with my usual latte :) The ingredient list is straightforward, with non of the complicated foreign-sounding spices that tends to discourage people to abandon the recipe altogether.

So here's the recipe list, if memory doesn't fail me:

Italian Pork Stew

Ingredients:

1 large onion, cut in wedges
2 bell peppers (orange and red ones), sliced in long matchsticks
300g-500g potatoes, cut into large chunks
1 can of tomato puree (400g)
1 litre of chicken stock (or use chicken stock cube for convenience)
Slabs of pork, about 800g-1 kg (shoulder/spare rib), do not cut into cubes
Salt and pepper, to taste
Thyme, 2 tsp
Olive oil, 2 tbsp
Pasta (optional)

Method

1. Heat oil in pan till hot and brown each side of the pork slabs quickly (not cooked). This should take about 1 minute each side of the pork. Remove the pork slabs once its slightly cooked on the outside.

2. In the remaining oil, stir fry the onions till soft and slightly translucent.


3. Add in the potato chunks in and continue swirling them around the pan occasionally for about 5 minutes

4. Then add the tomato puree with the chicken stock in to boil for about 10 minutes. Don't forget to and salt, pepper and thyme to taste too!

5. Finally, add the colorful pepper in the mixture and let it cook for about 1 minute. Then, bring transfer the whole mixture into a pre-heated (3 minutes or so) slow cooker, placing the pork slabs on top before covering it.

6. Set the heat to 'High' for about 3-4 hours or 'Medium' for about 6-7 hours and it's done! The beautiful aroma should linger about the whole household and perfect for a cold winter's dinner. Serves 6.

I served mine with some pasta too and the soup was amazing. The pork slabs don't need to be cut as it might turn mushy after slow cooking. It does that automatically after the long cooking hours, soft and tender, falling off the bone!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i shall try that one day ahahaha

but my electric stovetop is not very trustable..tend to overcook or worse still spill all over

haur