Chicken & Pancetta Bake

Recently, the weather has really started to pick up; the skies are intensely blue and the sun is shining down. It's times like these that I really appreciate living just a 5 minute walk to the coast, where I can go for a relaxing stroll - it almost feels like I'm on holiday sometimes. Feeling inspired by the almost-Mediterranean climate, I wanted to create a meal that mirrored it. 

Duck Pastrami

Traditionally, pastrami is made using beef but, when I was looking for the meat to make it with, duck stuck out as something a bit more unusual and exciting. I wanted to go for a Chinese-style flavouring, so in the brine I used spices that would mirror those in Chinese cuisine. The chilli doesn't come through that well, so if you want a bit of heat in there I'd recommend to try adding some dried chilli flakes to the spice rub on the outside... just be careful of how much you use.

Char Siu Pork Belly

This is such a simple meal that's infinitely improved by a bit of forward planning and allowing the pork belly to marinate for as long as possible; ideally 12 hours. And, because of it's simplicity, get the best ingredients you can afford.

Roasted Peppers

Recently, I seem to be cooking with roasted peppers a lot more, particularly when I make rogan josh paste and red pesto. So, when I found a couple of peppers in the bottom draw of my fridge, that weren't looking particularly great, I thought I'd give it go myself rather than throw them away. As well as using them in curry pastes and pesto, these can be enjoyed as part of an antipasti or on top of a pizza.

Did I mention it's stupidly easy to do?

Rillettes du Porc

I don't think I've ever bought a cookbook at it's original sale price; I find it much more satisfying to buy them cheap. Some great places are car boot sales (as low as 10p), charity shops and second hand book shops. Even WH Smiths can have some good offers on. I picked up Small Adventures in Food by James Ramsden for £1.99 from a cheap shop and immediately started reading it on the train home.