It was creamed chicory, or endive if you're that way inclined which I have used in the title for disambiguation.
I can't remember what it was that he cooked it with - perhaps fish, it would be great with haddock; perhaps chicken, could have been pork.
Anyway, I had had a pork crackling joint in the freezer for a few weeks having bought it from the reduced section and immediately frozen it. It's a pound in weight and cost be £1.19. We don't eat a lot of meat, pork even more rarely, but at just over a quid I simply could not resist.
Pork Joint
Ingredients: Pork Joint & Sea Salt
Defrosted, sprinkle of sea salt over the skin and into the oven at about 150C (300F?) for about an hour and a half. Low heat to cook through and keep the meat succulent, flick over to grill for a few minutes to crisp up the skin and get it crackling.
Remove from the oven, wrap in kitchen foil and let rest.
Apple Sauce
Ingredients: Cooking Apple & Cider Vinegar
What with the creamed chicory, I'm not doing a gravy, but I do want something else to accompany the pork.
Apple Sauce. Simply peel and core a cooking apple, cube up and set on a low heat in a pan with a little cider vinegar to help prevent browning. Leave it to mush up.
For a warming sauce, simply add allspice, perhaps cinnamon, maybe even a little cumin. We had leftovers, which just got a little cinnamon and a scoop of ice cream for dessert.
Creamed Chicory
Ingredients: Chicory, Butter, Cream & Chives
Other Vegetables: Savoy Cabbage, Potato & Butter
Cook your vegetables. I went with mashed potato, savoy cabbage and this creamed chicory idea.
I'm sure I don't need to explain the two former, but the latter is a case of taking a chicory heart per person, slicing lengthways, frying off in a little butter and pouring in some chicken stock to reduce. How much? Well, sufficient to cover, I guess, then reduce. You'll have to do more reduction if you use a lot, less if you use less. Once reduced, stir in some cream, some chopped chive and just reduce to thicken.
While that final reduction is going on, mash up your potatoes, cut the pork and serve out the apple sauce.
Well, this creamed chicory is genius! Absolutely gorgeous and most definitely a "do again".
