Laurent-Perrier champagne.

This is the best champagne I have ever had! We were given this at our wedding almost a year ago by my Aunt who had come over from the UK. We decided to save it and use it for a special celebration (not that our wedding wasn't one of those but we already had a lot of Veuve Clicquot purchased for that!). Last night saw the opening of the Laurent-Perrier Brut, and I have to say, it silenced me with how pleasant it was. Pleasant is such a gentle word, but that describes it so well, easy on the palate. 

Unfortunately champagne is one of those things that doesn't sit so well with me so I drink it in very small quantities and despite my husband's efforts we didn't finish the bottle. We stuck a silver spoon in the neck of the bottle to keep the fizz (which works!) and this morning it was still bubbling. I squeezed the juice from a grapefruit and we had a version of 'Bucks Fizz' with it this morning over breakfast. It was divine. Well worth trying. I was so curious about it that I went and Googled it and was very interested reading up on it's life since 1812.

I would break my consumption 'rules' for this any day! 

Roast pork and all the trimmings.

I found this piece of pork on the last grocery trip and it looked really good. It was one of those, grain fed, extra safe to eat pieces which tend to cost more, but they didn't have the piece I really wanted and this actually didn't end up costing more. It was a very good piece of meat, well worth it. 

I slow (er) cooked this, at 375 degrees, for nearly 2hrs, well, pretty much 2hrs. I did sear it first, after seasoning it, and this really helped make a nice crust on the meat. I also put a lot of salt on the skin to make crackling, and added more during the cooking process, and it really came out beautifully crisp. Seeing as the last time we ate crackling must be about 6months ago I don't feel so bad about how bad it is for you! It was a large piece of meat, with some fat in it, which meant it stayed nice and moist. You do need to check it with a thermometer to see if it's done if you aren't sure. 

I roasted whole mini white potatoes and pearl onions alongside the meat, turning them every so often to brown evenly. They took on the flavour of the meat too which was lovely. 

In the meantime I scrubbed some new carrots (that come with the stems and foliage still attached) and thinly sliced them. I let them boil until just done then drained them of the water and we ate them straight away. I also steamed the broccoli and cauliflower until just done and drained it. You really only need to switch the vegetables on about 10minutes before you want to eat so that they are fresh. 

Earlier on in the afternoon I had made a cheese sauce to go on the broccoli and cauliflower. I made it using quinoa flour and milk, with some mustard powder and American mustard (bright yellow stuff) and Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. The cheddar I had wasn't a very strong one so I put a little parmesan in too to help. I was able to heat this up in the microwave on a slow power very well, whisking it occasionally to distribute the heat. I was glad to have the washing of the cheese sauce pan out the way by dinner time! My husband couldn't taste anything different with the cheese sauce but I could definitely tell it was quinoa flour not wheat flour. It wasn't a bad taste, just different. I would make it again for sure, especially if I were making an effort to be gluten free. 

I used a Clubhouse pork gravy mixed with the drippings from the meat (minus the fat and oil which I skimmed off first) and some water from the vegetables. 

I served this with some guava jelly, apple sauce would do nicely too. What a wonderful way to start the weekend, and my husband's 2weeks off work! We even cracked a bottle of champagne we had been saving for a long to time to celebrate this and other things!

Sun dried tomato pesto chicken served with steamed asparagus and spaghetti squash with pesto.

On my most recent grocery shopping trip I picked up a sun dried tomato pesto, and with the knowledge that it was in the cupboard I came up with this meal idea. It was a great one. 

I thinned out the pesto a little with some crushed tomatoes/pasta tomato sauce making it a little easier to roll chicken in. I think you could do it as it is too and it would be great. If you do add some more tomatoes you may need salt too. Roll the drumsticks or whatever pieces of chicken you are using in it and place in a tray. Add any left over sauce on top of them at the end. 

Then bake in the oven until done. With drumsticks I find they are normally done in about 45mins at 400-450. Check on them as you don't want them to dry out if you overcook them. I added the tiniest amount of grated cheddar at the very end, so little it was almost unnoticed, maybe some more would give you a nicer crust if you like that. 

Instead of having pasta with it I decided on using spaghetti squash instead. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a yellow squash that comes apart in strings when you flake it after it's cooked, the strings looks like spaghetti and it is quite common over here to use that as a substitute for pasta. I cut up half a squash into large pieces so it would fit in a pan, added a small amount of water, put the lid on and steamed it till it was done. When you can handle them, flake the flesh out into the pan. You can either eat it just like that, or run some butter and pepper through it or as in this case, run some sun dried tomato pesto through it. You can eat it with any form of spaghetti sauce really, just for a change. 

I steamed some asparagus very quickly to go on the side. Done, dinner ready!

I think you could stuff large mushrooms or even small mushroom caps with pesto as a vegetarian option, and experiment with regular pesto too.