Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Pork Pie, Bloggers, and Fritters

colloquial cooking's pork pie dinner

::: Constables Larder has moved to http://constableslarder.com :::

Claire, author of the Colloquial Cooking blog, invited a few of us over to dinner the other night to try out her pork pie stuffed with berkshire pork shoulder and ham and made with a lard crust. Pork? Pie? Now those are two of my favorite words! I'm looking forward to her posting the recipe because it was magnificent. [UPDATE: recipe is here!] She paired it perfectly with a frisee salad, lightly coated with vinaigrette. I went back for thirds.

Also at dinner were Marc of No Recipes, his lovely partner Liz, and Stephane from Chefs Gone Wild. It is always fun meeting up with food bloggers and geeking out over food. I am always reminded how much I have yet to learn when it comes to food. That is one thing I love about cooking: there is an eternal learning curve and always new challenges around the bend (as long as you're willing to shake things up a bit).

This was also a last outing before the new baby arrives, so I was enjoying my taste of freedom considerably! mmmm red wine. pork pie. red wine. pork pie.

Marc also whipped up a killer sticky toffee pudding, with rum-soaked dates, to go with the English theme. That's him on the bottom left opening a stubborn bottle of vanilla with pliers. There is no stopping the MacGyver power of No Recipes.

Thank you Claire for a wonderful dinner, and get that pork pie recipe up!


Speed Meal: Corn and Zucchini Fritters

The Bill Granger corn fritters recipe, paired with a rice vinegar, jalapeno and sugar dipping sauce, was one of my favorite discoveries last year. A few nights ago, when work required a very fast meal thrown together, I went back to the recipe and was reminded how delicious and simple this is.

The ingredients are listed here [link], and on that page is also a link to The Wednesday Chef where I first discovered it.

This time around, I used a fresh green jalapeno for the dipping sauce. It is not as pretty, but tastes just as good. I also grated up two zucchinis to add to the mixture (squeezing the grated zucchini to reduce moisture), and swapped parsley for cilantro. Loved it.

The recipe is a synch. Toss the dipping sauce ingredients in a pot and let it cook down a bit. Toss the batter ingredients in a bowl and mix, then stir in the vegetables, and then cook in a heavy-bottomed pan (a big cast iron skillet is perfect) with a splash of oil.

We paired this with a simple salad and chilled prosecco. I was one happy camper.

corn and zucchini fritters

12 comments:

kat said...

Oh my I want a big piece of that pie!

Stacey Snacks said...

Sorry I missed that, it looks like a good time and a great pie!

I like the fritters too.

Peter M said...

All these NYC foodie dinners and drinkfests are prodding me to move to NYC...I would so fit it in!

Make a toast for me next time.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a wonderful menu and your fritters look delicious, Giff :)

Maria said...

Thirds?! It must have been delicious ... love how you get togehter with fellow bloggers.

The fritters sound like a great quick meal option. Love the flavors and my children would too!

The Short (dis)Order Cook said...

I want that pie! I hope Claire posts the recipe soon.

Great looking fritters. I love stuff like that.

Cynthia said...

I have to get that recipe for the pork pie! I'd like to make it to surprise my best friend who is British-born and dreams of pork pies!

Anonymous said...

The entire blogosphere is abuzz with this legendary pork pie recipe... Perfection!

It was a great evening Giff! Always happy to see you. You should have taken some leftover pork pie as baby bait! Hope everything is okay on that front!

Anonymous said...

That is one of the best pork pies I have ever seen. And with berkshire pork! Cracking stuff.

Anonymous said...

Is Marc going to share his recipe for that sticky toffee pudding? Sounds very good.

Anonymous said...

I'm so behind on my reader, I'm just now reading this... LOL

Rumela said...

The pork pie dish looks amazing and I am sure it will taste as good as the picture. I would love to try them. the dish also seems to be nutritious. Thanks for the recipe.