Happy Experiment!

Ok, it's been a while and I apologise. What with the Swimathon a few weeks back and work, family and footy commitments, oh, and the allotment (which I'll come to later) it's been all go at Bloke HQ.

Anyways, first to the experiment. The Missus is out at the theatre today and The Pookster is in bed so, as usual, that means it's pasta for one.

Now, I've talked about my pasta fast food before here http://blokeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/bloke-pasta-with-chorizo.html and this is just a variation on the theme but it's also using some leftovers and the result is, if I say so myself, pretty great.

Recently, I've mentioned something called pringá; a Spanish slow-cooked pork that we discovered in Seville (details here http://blokeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/03/foodie-weekend.html). Well, I'd kind of made rather a lot so, as I always do if I have leftovers of anything freezable, it was bagged, labelled and frozen.

Also leftover from yesterday was some mixed olives in oil with herbs and chilli.

This all got me thinking that there was a pretty special marriage (never mind William & Kate) waiting to happen right there.

So, after defrosting a batch of the pringá, I finely sliced a fat clove of garlic and a spring onion and softened them, along with some dried chilli, in the oil from the olives. I kept the olives to one side where I roughly chopped them, along with some fresh parsley, to be added later.

While all this is going on, I cooked some pasta for about 12 minutes in well-salted boiling water.

With a few minutes to go on the pasta, I added the pork, olives and parsley to the onions, garlic and chilli to warm through.

I then drained the pasta, tipped it back into the pan and stirred through the meaty, spicy sauce, added a little black pepper and served up with a very nice South African Chenin Blanc.

Oh, quick note about the allotment. I now have broad beans, peas, radishes, sprouts, yellow courgettes, squash and carrots planted out and fending for themselves. I've also managed to blag a shed from an empty plot which I'll be moving onto my plot tomorrow.

I've currently got onions, leeks, peppers, chillis, green beans, tomatoes and courgettes growing in propagators in my conservatory which will be going out in the coming weeks. Oh, I've also got a couple of varieties of spuds growing in a planter (which I keep topping up with compost as the plants grow) in my garden. Hopefully it won't be long until I've got a bumper crop of fresh produce to cook and eat over the summer.

Right, back to my Chenin Blanc.

Enjoy!