Louisiana Pulled Pork Gumbo with Lancashire Biscuits

Serves 4, slow cooker preferable but not essential

Gumbo

• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1.75kg pork shoulder
• 3 large onions chopped
• 1 chorizo sausage (skin peeled and chopped into chunks)
• 1tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 x jar tomato and chilli sauce, 1 x tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 glass red wine
• 500ml chicken stock
• 1 tin of mixed beans, 1 tin of chickpeas
• 3 mixed yellow and red peppers chopped
• Cornflour for thickening if needed
• Salt, pepper and chilli to taste

Biscuits

• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1/2 cup suet
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1 cup greek yoghurt with honey (or natural yoghurt or buttermilk)

Heat oil in large pan and add onions, cook on low heat until soft.  Add chorizo and smoked paprika.

Take pork shoulder and trim the excess fat then place in pan to brown on all sides (if large piece then cut into 2-3 smaller pieces).

Add tomatoes (jar and tin), wine and stock and bring to boil. 

At this point if you have a slow cooker add it to the cooker and put on high and leave for 3hrs.  If no slow cooker available reduce heat to very low and stir occassionally again for 3hrs.

Remove the pork and allow to cool, once cool enough to handle shred with forks and return to slow cooker.  Add peppers and beans and cook for another hour, thicken if required prior to serving.

Whilst gumbo is on its final simmer, mix together the ingredients for the biscuits adding more flour if dough is too sticky.  Take a small handful of mix and roll into a bowl and flatten on a baking tray so they are no more than 4-5 cm.  The mix makes around 16.  Put in an oven to back on 180 degrees for 30 mins until raised and look like scones.

Serve gumbo in bowls with 2 scones per person to mop up the sauce.

Stuffed mushrooms

Picture to come

I use these mushrooms as an easy starter, or a side dish to go with steak.  Even cook them on the barbeque in summer.

• A selection of large flat mushrooms (if really big 1 per person, if for a starter and smaller, 2 per person)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 onions finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic chopped or put through a press
• 1 ring chorizo chopped into small pieces (at least quarters or smaller)
• Smoked paprika
• half glass white wine
• 1 pack boursin or other garlic cheese 
• grated cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Gently remove the stalks from the mushrooms to leave the caps in tact.

Melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave, take each mushroom cap and dip upside down in the butter (be careful not to burn your fingers) so that the mushroom looks like a bowl with the outside coated in butter.  Put the mushrooms upside down like this on a baking tray or dish with sides so that they can be filled.

Saute the onions with the garlic until soft.  Add the chorizo and continue to fry off.  Add the smoked paprika and ensure all is coated.

Put in the white wine and turn the heat up to full so it boils.

Add the boursin and keep stirring until it melts.  Put the heat on low and let it simmer for a little while until the sauce thickens a little.

Divide the mixture up between all the mushrooms so each one is filled.

Cover the baking dish with tinfoil and cook for 20 mins.  

Uncover and put a little grated cheese onto the top of each mushroom, put back into the oven for 5 minutes until the cheese is melted.

(To cook on a barbeque, wrap the mushrooms in 4s in tinfoil parcels)

Spicy pasta meatballs

• 4 Pork and chorizo burgers (or any speciality burgers from a supermarket)
• 6 Pork and chorizo sausages (or any speciality sausages from a supermarket)
• 2 large onions cut into chunks
• 4 rashers of bacon cut into small pieces
• 8-10 large mushrooms cut into chunks
• 300ml red wine
• 2 jars tomato sauce
• smoked paprika
• dried chilli to taste

Heat a large flat bottomed pan on the stove with some oil in.

Cut each burger into eighths and roll gently into ball shapes.  Cut the skin of the sausages and take out the meat and roll into balls equal in size to the burger ones.  Put all the formed meatballs into the pan and lightly brown them then put them to one side.

Saute the onions in the empty pan for around 5 minutes until soft and then add the bacon and cook as well.  Finally add the mushrooms and saute until cooked.  Add around a teaspoon of smoked paprika and stir until all is coated.  Add the chilli to taste (just a pinch makes it nice and spicy).

Pour in the jars of tomato sauce and add the red wine.  Bring to the boil and then simmer and add the browned meatballs.  Cook on simmer for around 30 mins.

15 mins into the simmer, put on the pasta of your choice.  Then once cooked serve with Parmesan cheese and enjoy :)

Spicy chicken and chorizo pasta sauce

• 3 chicken breast fillets chopped
• 225g whole chorizo (remove paper skin, cut in half and chop into chunks)
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 peppers (any colour you happen to have in, cut into chunks)
• small pinch chilli flakes or powder (to taste)
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 jar dolmio or other pasta sauce
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 200ml red wine
• handful chopped basil

Use a large flatbottomed pan for this one, a big frying pan or a chefs pan is good.

Heat the olive oil on a medium heat and add the onions and garlic and saute slowly until soft and golden brown.

Put in the chicken and cook until all white.  Add the chorizo and fry until it starts to lose a little liquid.  Add the peppers and continue to saute.

Next sprinkle in the paprika and chilli, then add the tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes and red wine.  Simmer for an hour, then just prior to serving add in the chopped basil.