Jamie Oliver's Pork Chops with Sage, Crispy Crackling and Crushed Potatoes.

 

Hi guys,

In today's post I have something very exciting for you guys..... another Jamie Oliver’s 30 minute meal recipe special!! Ta da!!! hehe I recently bought the book and let me tell you it was an awesome book!!!! I’m very excited and can’t wait to try every recipe out hehe

Jamie Oliver is one of my favourite chefs and I love his style of cooking, simple and so flavoursome : ) (i think I've mentioned this already in my previous posts : P)

So here is his Pork Chops with Sage, Crispy Crackling, and Crushed Potatoes! It was a really fun dish to make and was super delicious!!!!

For the Pork Chops:

4 x 180g good quality chops, skin on

8 cloves of garlic

1 tsp of fennel seeds

A small bunch of fresh sage, washed and picked

Runny honey, for drizzling

1 small red apple, cut into quarters and cored (optional)

For the Potatoes:

700g of small potatoes, I used the small white ones from coles (can’t remember what they are called)

½ lemon

1 heap tsp wholegrain mustard

A small bunch of fresh leaf parsley

      Method:  

1. To start cut the skin and some of the fat off the pork chop, and face them skin side down on a hot frying pan (high heat) to start the crackling process. Turn the crackling over and take them off the pan once cracking is done. This is Jamie’s way to making crackling as instructed in his book, my crackling came out chewy rather than crispy, maybe i didn’t follow his instructions correctly : ( I will follow my mums advice next time and season the skin with salt and put them straight in the oven to crisp up. I also add the apples into the roasting tray at the beggining with the crackling to allow enough time for the apples to caramelised.
2. Score the fat on the chops and season both sides with good pinch of salt and pepper
3. Lightly squash 8 unpeeled cloves of garlic with the heel of your hand and add to frying pan, fry for a few minutes and move to side of pan. Stand all 4 chops up in the pan with fat side down.
4. Scatter fennel seeds into a roasting try with the garlic and crackling (or if you are making crackling in the oven, add fennel and garlic to the same tray).
5. Once the chops are golden on the fat side, use a tong and lay them flat on the pan. Cook for about 4 minutes until both sides are golden.
6. Add the chops to the roasting tray along with the sage, and mix together. Drizzle some honey onto the chops. Make sure each chops is coated well with honey, sage and fennel seeds. Arrange the crackling onto of the chops and return tray to oven and roast for another 10 minutes until the chops and everything else looks golden and delicious.
7.  For the potatoes, wash the potatoes and cut off any ‘gnarly’ bits hehe. Cut any large ones in half and quickly stab any whole ones. Put them all into a large microwaveable bowl. Add ½ lemon and good pinch of salt and pepper and cover with double layer of glad wrap/cling film. Microwave on full power for about 17 minutes, or until cooked through.  Once cooked, remove the lemon, add 1 heaped teaspoon of mustard seeds, good amount of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Finely chop the parsley and add to bowl. Using a large spoon, break and crush the potatoes, mixing all the flavours together.
8. Serve the potatoes and chops straight from the roasting tray at your dinner table!!!!

Enjoy!!!

I hope you guys enjoy this recipe : ) I will hopefully posts more of Jamie's recipes soon, once I have tried to make them that is!!

In the mean time, keep warm!
Happy reading
Fat Pom Pom

Chokolait!

Hi guys,

It's wintertime and what better way to spend a cold winters day then drinking some of the most delicious hot chocolates and even more yummy chocolate truffles!!!

What better place to go then my favourite little place in Melbourne (and a chocoholic's dream come true hehe), Chokolait at the Hub Arcade in Little Collins Street, Melbourne.

As you can see above, one of the specialties of Chokolait is their freshly handmade dark Belgium Chocolate Truffles!! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......hehehe, so smooth and so delicious, perfectly dark, not too sweet or bitter : ) There were many to choose from and I'm not quite sure which one I had, but they were both delicious!!!!

I also had a fresh Belgium hot Chokolait! It was rich, smooth and a delicious!!!! One of the best hot chocolates I've ever had!!

I highly recommend this lovely little place for the chocoholics out there!!! Hehe and if your not a chocoholic, there are other things to enjoy here for you, like water....hehe sorry : P kidding they make lovely coffee here too!!!

Enjoy the night out with the girls here, or take your date here after dinner, its a sure way to sweeten the mood ; )

Happy reading!
Fat Pom Pom

Chocolate Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

Hi everyone,

There is something that I have always wanted to do all my life but have never got around to doing it. I recently made an order on Baking Pleasures for some of the cutest cupcake holders aswel as some of the cake decorating tips and edible pearls!!!

I eagerly awaited the delivery package in the mail. It finally came....and that ladies and gentlemens, is the beginning of my first adventure of decorating my own cupcakes : )

As you can see from the picture above, I am very proud of my final outcome : ) my first creation!!!! After multiple attempts at piping, burst piping bags, and deformed looking butter cream flowers, I finally manage to make a few very cute looking ones!! I am sooo excited and happy by the outcome and would have uploaded more photos, but I promised you guys last time that I would try to take really nice photos, out of the hundred photos we took, this was the only one that looked perfect!! Special thanks to my boyfriend for editing the photos and making them look extra delicious, mmm aswel as designing the awesome labels for me, from now on all my photos will have either 'Food' or 'Beauty' labels on them!!! hopefully more catergories will come up in the near future!!!

Also, another special thanks to my little cousins Thy and Tanya, who helped me with the prep and cooking of the cupcakes that night!! We had heaps of fun taking turns piping the flowers, and had a good laugh at all the not so perfect flowers : P besides, it didn't really matter how it looked, because the cupcakes were super delicious!!!!!

Here is our little recipe:

Ingredients: (make 12)
125g soft margarine
125g caster sugar
150g sifted self raising flour
2 eggs
2 tbsp cocoa powder
25g melted milk chocolate

Lemon buttercream
100g butter, softened
225g icing sugar
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
1tbsp of lemon juice

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Place 12 paper cupcakes in a cupcake tin. Place the margarine, caster sugar, flour, eggs and cocoa powder in a large bowl and beat until the mixture is just smooth. Beat in the melted chocolate.

2. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases, filling them 3/4 full. Baked in the oven for 15 minutes, or until well risen. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

3. For the buttercream, place the butter in a mixing bowl and beat until fluffy. Gradually add in the icing sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice, beating well with each addition.

4. Spoon the butter cream into a piping bad with your choice of tip. Experiment away!!!!!!

This is only the beginning of my cupcake decoration journey, and there will be many more delicious and adorable cupcake recipes to come, I promise!!
Hope you guys enjoy this post as much as I did!!! In the mean time, keep warm and eat lots of cupcakes : )

Happy reading
Fat Pom Pom

The Mill

Hi guys,

Last Friday after work, me and my boyfriend headed to the city to look for a nice little place we could have dinner together. We made no reservations anywhere and thought maybe we could wing it and still find an awesome new place we could try : ) Thats not something I would usually do, I'm quite a planner, whereas my boyfriend, he's usually the one who wants to go somewhere or do something last minute, in a way we compliment each other where the other person lacks, and it always works out for us one way or another : ) besides I would never agree to this if I didn't already know we had a back up plan of some of our favourite restaurants in Melbourne which we knew would always have a spot for us (most of the time) hehe

Anyways, where was I, oh yeh we ended up walking to Hardware Lane, if you guys have not been there before, well its a small lane that runs between Bourke and Lonsdale Street, and they have an abundant of restaurants, cafes and bars for your picking, aswel as at night during dinner, they have a live Jazz band that entertains you while you are dining! The awesome thing about Melbourne is their many hidden lane ways filled with many wonderful and unique places : )

Hardware Lane was packed by the time we got there. We stroll through the whole lane filtering out the waiting staffs at every restaurant trying to sell us the deals of the night, and had a look at the restaurant menus on display at our own pace. We ended up picking The Mill.

We picked the following to eat:

Entree: 'Duck liver parfait with toasted brioche and date relish'

 Entree: 'Soup of the day' (can't quite remember what that was though, maybe pumpkin of some kind : P)

 Main: 'Orange and star anise confit duck on fondant potatoes and a cucumber and fresh herb salad finished with a pernod sauce'

 Main: 'Twice cooked rosemary and palm sugar smoked lamb racks on a potato galette with port jus and aspic mint'

Sides: 'Daily vegetables - Squash with hazelnut'

Overall, all the dishes were absolutely delicious and full of wonderful flavours! My favourite would have to be the Duck liver parfait with the date relish, mmmmmmmm.....yummmmo, every component of this dish complimented each other perfectly!!! Yum definitely will be back here again! Also the sauces served with both the mains was the thing that brought the dishes to the next level : ) gotta learn how to make awesome sauce someday!!

We had an awesome night and had no room left in our tummy for desserts hehe The Mill is a nice restaurant and being located in Hardware Lane, makes the dining experience there all the better : ) 

I hope you guys enjoy reading this posts. If you have not been to Hardware Lane before, do give it a try, there are many restaurants to choose from. Let me know which restaurant you pick so I can try for myself next time!!

In the mean time, be happy, smile and snuggle up to your love ones....its gonna be a cold and wet weekend!

Happy reading!

Fat Pom Pom

Something new....

Hi Everyone!!

Its been a cold month in Melbourne and winter has finally arrived!! Im not much excited about the cold weather but more that I have been able to survive the cold autumn weather without catching the cold or flu off someone else : ) I guess my tips for the Winter from my Better You post has paid off after all!!!! I know I know...i shouldnt get too ahead of myself, winter has just started heheh but Il keep you guys updated : )

Anyways, you guys may have notice that I have added something new to my blog....hehe I have added a new catergory!! I finally decided it was time to expand my blog and will soon be posting tips, diy and random thoughts about health and beauty!! I love everything about being a girl : ) wearing pretty dresses and shoes and getting dressed up for a romantic dinner with my boyfriend, or a night out with my girlfriends to try awesome dessert places or just shopping to look for new trends and make up and sharing tips with each other, I am yet to try that new eyeliner from Bobbi Brown guys!!! ; P

Of course there are also bad things! For me, being a girl who has always suffered from dry, eczema and easily irritated skin, I have tried alot (and I mean heaps) of different products, as in make up, skin care, cleansers, mask, and so on, and have found a rare few to be very beneficial and suitable for my skin. I have never been one to wear heavy makeup, and I take alot of pride and care in what I put on my skin, as well as my skin care routine. I believe that instead of layering your skin with products to cover the blemishes/problems, why not try to figure out the cause of these skin problems and invest your time to address these instead, and if possible find the most natural way to address these. My favourite saying of all time would be 'Prevention is better than cure" hehe anyone who knows me would be sick of hearing this by now!!

With my skin, I have spent years trying all different kinds of skin care products and make up products to cover up and fix my skin whenever they become really dry and irritated, I would have the same reoccurring skin irritation every month and it would get worse during winter, when the weather is really hot, or when I get stress or sick. And when it starts, it takes over 1-2 weeks to go away. That doesn't leave me with many days left in the year without this irritation. I guess this is somewhat good because I have never been able to wear heavy foundation/makeup. Anyone who has ezcema would know why! Maybe my skin will benefit in other ways from all these year of not layering my face with so much makeup : )

Finally, after many trials and errors, I think I have finally figured out a skin care routine that is perfect for my skin. I found the perfect product that does wonders for my dry skin, how to deal with my skin when it gets irritated, and even better still, find out what triggers these problems and avoid them!!!! Winter is here and the air is getting dryer that usual, my skin still gets dry and irritated from time to time but I am trying my best everyday to deal with this in the most natural ways, and most importantly avoiding those things that may trigger my irritations. I still love trying out new products, but these days, I tend to go for the organic or natural sensitive skin care products. Only because the skin on my face is really sensitive, and I don't want to waste all my efforts these past few years and go back to square one.

Everyone has different skin, some are blessed with perfect skin while others ain't, but I think the most important thing is we need to learn to work with what we've got, what works perfect for one might not be suitable for another. So in saying that, I will be posting very soon about the different products that I am using at the moment and the benefits/disadvantage (if any) as well as many other products that I have used, tips and DIY that I have tried and tested!! They may or may not work as well for you as they do for me, but if you have skin like mine, why not give it a try.

In the mean time, keep warm and drink lots of water!!!
Happy reading!
Fat Pom Pom