Bacon wrapped stuffed pork fillet

I'm a firm believer that everything is better with bacon. It adds an extra layer of flavour and succulence, stops food from becoming dry, looks good and, well who doesn't love bacon? So when I got this pork fillet I knew exactly what to do with it.

Pork fillet is a fantastic cut of meat, it cooks quickly and so is great if you don't have much time to cook. The main drawback is that unusually for pork it contains very little fat, this means it can become dry and tough. A problem which can be solved with bacon, stuffing, or both.

To give my pork bags of flavour I decided to stuff it with olives, basil and feta cheese and wrap it in streaky bacon. It tasted fantastic, the pork was perfectly cooked and it wasn't at all dry. Result!

Recipe

Ingredients:
For the stuffing:

• A large handful each of basil and black olives.
• 100g (half a pack) of Feta cheese

For the pork:

• 1 pork fillet (sometimes called tenderloin) about 500g.
• 200g good streaky bacon.

Method:

• Preheat your oven to gas 5/190c/375f.
• To make the stuffing chop the olives, basil and Feta and mix together well the set aside. (it should be quite finely chopped but some bigger chunks are good).
• To prepare the pork first lay bacon rashers out on a board next to each other and place the pork fillet on top.
• Using a sharp knife slice the fillet lengthwise but not all the way through and open it out.
• Pack the stuffing mixture into the pork, try to get as much in as you can.
• Close the pork and roll the bacon around it.
• Roast for 45-50 minutes then rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Speedy Spaghetti Carbonara

When I've been out all day and come home tired and hungry I turn to Carbonara to satisfy the hunger pangs. Why? because it's incredibly quick and absolutely delicious, I've yet to find a single person who doesn't enjoy a good Carbonara. This simple meal of bacon, eggs, Parmesan and pasta is universally popular and the great thing is I almost always have all the ingredients at home, so there's no need to go shopping.English and American versions often add cream, Italians don't and as it's their invention I do it there way, although I can't deny the creamy version does taste good too. I've also added some courgette to mine 1. because it was lurking in the fridge and needed using and 2. because I don't like having no vegetables at all in a meal.
I learnt the trick to making a decent carbonara sauce from watching Jamie Oliver. It is important to take the pasta off the heat before adding the eggs, this prevents them from scrambling and gives you a silky smooth sauce. The other important thing to remember is to add freshly ground black pepper, lots and lots of it, this dish needs it!

Courgette carbonara recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 400g spaghetti or other pasta
• 250g bacon chopped
  
• 2 courgettes chopped
  
• 4 eggs lightly beaten
  
• Large handful of parmesan grated
• Finely chopped parsley (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Put your pasta on to boil.
• While the pasta is cooking fry your bacon and courgettes in a large pan.
• Once your pasta is cooked remove from the heat and toss in the beaten eggs, work quickly and make sure all the pasta is coated.
• Add the remaining ingredients reserving a little parmesan and mix well.
• Serve with a sprinkling of the reserved parmesan.
  

Homegrown Rocket (arugula) pasta with fresh tomatoes and bacon

I've always enjoyed growing my own veg, I find it incredibly satisfying to start with a tiny insignificant seed and nurture it into something I can cook and eat. I love watching my plants develop and look forward to the day I can finally reap what I have sown. It is not possible to get fresher ingredients than those I have grown myself and I know exactly what's on them, so there's no nasty chemicals on my plants!!

Unfortunately when we moved house a few years ago we lost our garden, our new house has a tiny garden, this means that a big veg patch is out of the question. I still try though and have managed to grow this beautiful tub of Rocket (I think it's the same thing as arugula) there are also a few carrots growing in tubs and one lonely bean plant!
I wanted to make the most out of my rocket so I came up with a pasta dish in which it featured as the star ingredient. As tomatoes are perfectly in season at the moment (they're really tasty and very cheap) I wanted to use them as well, I also used bacon, Parmesan and a touch of cream to make this dish.

It was delicious, the peppery Rocket really stood out and brought the whole thing alive, I think this is definitely going to be a regular meal at my house although it's only worth making in the summer with the fantastic vegetables that are abundant at this time of year.

Cheerful tray-baked chicken

I love how bright and colourful this dish is, it looks fantastic and best of all it's really easy. As it's finally warming up a bit now (at last!) I felt like cooking something summery, I had some chicken in the fridge, yet more leftover pesto which seems to keep appearing! and some really good bacon. after a quick trip to the shops i also had a good selection of Mediterranean vegetables: an aubergine, courgette's, tomatoes, mushrooms and olives.

All I did was rub pesto over the chicken and wrap it in bacon. I chopped the vegetables tossed them in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, white wine, a few herbs, salt and pepper. whacked them in a baking tray, put the chicken on top and into the oven on quite high until it was nicely cooked. I basted everything every now and then to stop it going dry and it came out great and so simple.

I served my chicken with couscous and poured the juices from the tray over the top.
This is such a good way to cook and has endless variations, it would be great with fish, or pork chops and any selection of veg that takes your fancy, (try to choose a good selection of colours). Asparagus and fish would be a good combo about now.