A while back I saw Millie’s Fresh & Organic tweeting about some tasty pork ribs that they had in stock. Being a ridiculous rib fan (they’re cheap and if you slow cook them they’ll fall off the bone) I had to go and see what was on offer.

I picked up a pack for less than £2 already marinated in a BBQ marinade. I didn’t have time to slow cook them this time, so I put them in the oven as normal. When they came out they were still really tender and there was loads of meat on them.

The free range meat comes from Tancred Field Farm near Whixley, so all the meat is locally produced as well. Meat always tastes better when the animals are subjected to less stress and less stress means not subjected the animals to long travelling times to the slaughterhouses. You can find out more about the Tancred Field Farm meats at Millie’s in this blog post.

What I full recommend is that you get down to Millie’s and try some of their delicious meats! We had some lovely bacon, sausages and eggs from there for our Sunday fry up and it was all really good. I like to think I am doing something to help independent business and the local farming community by doing this.

Go to Millie’s website here. You can find them on Vicar Lane, Leeds.

I loathe looking at the sorry excuses for scotch eggs or picnic eggs in the supermarket, with their tired, grey looking pork and similarly bad looking eggs. My mum made these a few times when I was child – quail egg’s are the perfect size for scotch eggs! I’ve been using locally sourced Debbie and Andrew’s Harrogate 97% pork sausages as my sausagemeat, it’s great quality and reasonably priced – and best of all available in Morrison’s.

{Makes 9}

Ingredients

• 9 quail’s eggs
• 400g sausagemeat
• 4 slices wholemeal bread
• 1 medium-sized egg
• 2tbsp mixed herbs
• 1tbsp vinegar
• 1/2tsp onion salt
• 1tsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C, then slice bread into small squares and drizzle with the olive oil. Place in oven for 8 minutes, until crunchy. Finely blend in a food processor to make breadcrumbs.
2. Boil eggs in boiling water plus the vinegar for 2-3 minutes for medium/hard boiled and 4 minutes for hard-boiled. Then place them in a bowl of cold water.
3. Mix the sausagemeat with the mixed herbs, onion salt and add a dash of salt and pepper.
4. Take some of the sausagemeat, make into a ball shape, then squash out flatly, placing a quail egg in the middle and wrapping the sausagemeat around it. Add more sausage meat to close the any gaps around the egg. Repeat with the other quail’s eggs.
5. Whisk the egg in a bowl, then line the quail’s eggs up on one side, and a plate of breadcrumbs on the other. Keeping one hand for egg and one for breadcrumbs, dip the sausagemeat eggs in the beaten egg and then in the breadcrumbs.
6. Fry the scotch eggs for about 10-12 minutes, moving all the time to ensure they’re evenly cooked. Alternatively, you could try baking them for about 15-20 minutes at 180°C.

Slow cooking ribs just makes them fall off their bones, so they’re wonderfully tender and really take in all the flavours of the sauce. The best thing is you can go out for the day and these will be almost ready when you get home. Lip-smackingly good!

{Serves 2 people}

Ingredients

• A pack of pork ribs
• 1 jar Sharwood’s Hoi Sin & Five Spice Cook-In Sauce (425g)
• 120g tomato ketchup
• 30g bulldog sauce (optional)
• 1tbsp paprika
• 1 large chilli, deseeded and sliced
• 10 drops tabasco sauce
• 10 drops Worcestershire sauce
• 200ml water

Instructions

1. If the ribs aren’t already separated, slice carefully between the bones with a sharp knife.
2. Place the hoisin sauce, ketchup, bulldog sauce, chilli, paprika, tabasco, Worcestershire sauce and water together in the slow cooker dish and stir well.
3. Add the ribs. If the ribs aren’t fully covered by the sauce, add more water. Put the lid on and turn the slow cooker on low. Leave for 7-8 hours.
4. Pre-heat grill to high.
5. Pour the sauce from the ribs into a saucepan and reduce sauce by half.
6. Spread ribs onto baking tray covered with foil and spread reduced sauce on top.
7. Place under grill for 5 minutes, then turn ribs over and grill for another 5 minutes.
8. Serve with salad, or corn on the cob, rice, whatever takes your fancy!

Using onion salt instead of onion in the sausage meat stops the pastry going soggy. The expert who taught me the recipe for these sausage rolls (my very talented mother) showed me that adding a little water to the tray makes the puff pastry a little bit puffier. I find the supermarkets often sell low quality sausagemeat so I tend to buy their finest sausages, which have a higher meat content.

Ingredients

• 4 good quality thick pork sausages
• 2tsp finely chopped fresh sage
• 1tsp mixed herbs
• Pinch onion salt
• Pinch garlic granules
• Salt and pepper to season
• 1 ready rolled pack puff pastry
• Egg yolk
• Splash of milk

Instructions

1. Cut the sausages open and mix together with the sage, mixed herbs, onion salt and garlic granules then season the mixture with salt and pepper.
2. Lay out the puff pastry on a floured pastry mat.Leave room at the bottom of the mat to roll the sausagemeat.
3. Divide the sausagemeat out into thirds. Roll out one of the thirds into a long sausage on the floured mat, making it the same length as the pastry’s longest side.
4. Gently lift the sausagemeat roll onto the pastry and gently fold the pastry over tightly and seal the edges together with a little water.
5. Take a knife and slice close to the join, but not too close or the roll will fall open! Gently roll the sausage roll over so the join is at the top and again fold and smooth the edge down with a little water. Roll around again so the the join is at the bottom and push down.
6. Take a paring knife and slice 4cm wide slices down the roll, ensuring the knife is clean between slices.
7. Lay them out on two well greased baking trays and tidy up the sausage rolls by making them more rounded and tucking all the sausagemeat and pastry back onto the ends. Then take a pair of scissors and snip two triangles in the tops of each of the sausage rolls.
8. Mix the egg yolk and the milk together and wash over the tops of the sausage rolls with a pastry brush.
9. Drip about 1/2 tsp water onto the baking trays and run around the edges of the tin.
10. Put them in the oven at 220C then turn down to 200C after puff pastry starts to puff (about 3 minutes), and cook for a further 8 minutes until golden brown.
11. Remove from the baking tray, using a table knife to gently lift any that have stuck, and cool on a wire rack.
12. Beware of stray fingers as they taste delicious warm!

These make great snacks or starters, serve with sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce for dipping. These take a while to make, but it’s well worth the effort!

40mins – Prep time: 35 mins – Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients

• 250g pork mince
• 200g prawns
• 1 pack wanton wrappers for deep frying (about 30)
• 3 spring onions
• 4 water chestnuts
• 2cm fresh ginger
• 1/4tsp five spice
• 1tsp light soy sauce

Instructions

1. Put wanton wrappers on a plate and cover with a damp cloth to keep them moist.
2. Finely chop the spring onion and water chestnuts.
3. Peel the ginger and chop finely too
4. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except for the wanton wrappers.
5. Peel a wanton wrapper from the block and brush a little water over it to moisten.
6. Using a teaspoon, spoon about 1 rounded spoonful onto the middle of the wanton wrapper.
7. Fold wrapper in half diagonally and seal edges.
8. To cook, heat a saucepan with about 4cm of oil in. Cook wantons in batches for about 3-4mins or until the wantons are golden.