Little Joies for the Weekend...

Couple of weeks back, I had a small dinner cooked at home for no reasons - I just happened to have half a botlle of home made tomato sauce that I made some time back in the fridge and some choucroute or sauerkraut if you like in the pantry, and so it just happened...Alsatian dish in the tropics.

 A simple starter - clams cooked in white wine, tomato sauce and dried chillies. My own-styled chilli clams. Delice...

 The pork belly was first seared in oil, stewed with vegetable stock and white wine for two hours in a casserole and then open-baked in its own stock for another few hours to get a crispy skin and and incredibly tender and juicy inside. Served on choucroute accompagnied with steamed potatoes and a sprinkle of italian parsley.

A simple but stunning salad of cherry tomatoes - simply blanche the cherry tomatoes in boiling water, peel the skins and marinate in a vinaigrette.

To prepare the choucroute (serves 4):
Strain a can of choucroute under running tap water to clean it of the brine. Set aside.
In a pan, melt some butter or vegetable oil, brown chopped lardon or smoked pork belly bacon chips, 2 cloves of garlic and then some chopped white onions if you like.
Pour in the canned choucroute, stir well and season with pepper (and salt) to taste. Keep warm.