Pork with Sage and Beans

THIS IS A BLUE RECIPE

The hardest part of this dish was cooking the beans – they took hours and hours! But it was worth it to get the creamy texture I wanted, and I did a big enough batch to freeze for another time.

I used white beans that are commonly sold here in Zambia, they look a bit like cannellini beans. I simmered them unsalted for about 3 hours, keeping an eye on the water level, eventually they will soften and then after a while longer the starches will turn the consistency creamy. Then I added salt.

Serves 3 – 4

4 large pork chops or steaks

1 large onion finely chopped

3 large cloves of garlic finely chopped

2 large carrots

4 large slices of salami finely chopped

½ pint of vegetable stock

1 large handful of fresh sage roughly chopped

2 cups of cooked beans with the liquor

Salt and pepper

Fry the onions until soft

Add the garlic and carrots and fry for a little longer

Add the pork chops and brown

Then add the rest of the ingredients

Check for seasoning.

Cook for about 1 hour – the longer you cook the more tender the pork should be

Finish off with a few fresh sage leaves.

Serve with boiled new potatoes and cabbage sautéed with butter and lemon juice.

Aubergine/Eggplant Baked Pasta

I know, I know, yet another pasta al forno dish! I can’t help it, I find baked pasta so comforting and easy for larger numbers. Make sure you make enough sauce otherwise it gets really dry when baked.

Serves 3-4

- One 500 gram packet of short pasta (rigatoni, macaroni, gomiti, penne etc)
- 1 tablespoon of light olive oil
- 800 gram tin of plum tomatoes
- ½ pint of yoghurt
- Tablespoon of pesto (the best you can get or homemade is ideal)
- 1 large aubergine (eggplant) finely sliced into rounds
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup of hard Italian cheese – a mixture of pecorino and parmesan would be great

- Heat the oil and add the tomatoes

- Cook down to make a thick sauce (this takes quite while, about 40 minutes) , add salt to taste

- At the same time cook the pasta in well salted water

- Add the pesto and mix well – remove from heat

- Add yoghurt and mix well

- Put the cooked pasta in a baking dish

- Pour over the sauce

- Top with aubergine and cheese

- Cover and bake for 30 minutes

- Cook uncovered for another 10 minutes until cheese is bubbling and the aubergine is cooked through

Since I live in the Southern Hemisphere, you would imagine that hot chocolate is not the best choice for the time of year being as it is hot and humid. However it is also the rainy season and when it rains it definitely cools down and then hot chocolate doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
I’d also heard that really good quality hot chocolate is a great pick me up and is filling, as well as tasting wonderful.

The first time I tried this it was very satisfying and stopped me snacking all afternoon, however in the morning I was hungry a couple of hours after (but I also didn’t use quite enough chocolate that time, maybe that’s why). Either way, make this with low fat milk or soy milk and your calorie intake can’t be massively high. I also imagine almond milk would be really good too.

Use a chocolate bar high in coco solids, a standard large one should last about 4 cups.

2 heaped dessertspoons of grated chocolate (or break into chunks) *
¼ tsp each of dry ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg
1 couple of drops of vanilla
2 tsps of golden cane sugar
½ mug of milk

Heat all the ingredients together in a small saucepan until the chocolate has completely melted. Make sure you stir well to blend everything together – enjoy!

*Experiment with amounts of chocolate because everyone's taste is different*