Fri 3 - Piggy

Three doses of pig today.  I started with a sausage bap from the Butcher At Leadenhall, which as the name suggests is a butcher in Leadenhall Market.  They have a small takeaway counter and a few tables for customers.  The no frills bap (no butter, squeeze of ketchup) had been lightly toasted, and was a success due to the high quality of the two sausages enclosed within.  A satisfying start to Friday.

I visited Paul at lunchtime, the French bakery chain that started near Lille which has recently undertaken a rapid expansion in the UK.  I visited the Leadenhall Market branch and ordered a Montagnard sandwich; a poppy seed encrusted mini-baguette filled with coppa ham, comte cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and an olive paste.  It was a tad dry but the olive paste and juicy tomatoes helped it along.  The real downfall was that the considerable coating of poppy seeds which overwhelmed the flavours of just about everything else.  The bread was decent enough, it just didn't match the filling.

I was cooking only for myself tonight.  Feeling a bit carbed out from all the bread today, but with my palate whet for more pig, I cooked pork chop with a sauce made from onions, cream, cider and mustard.  I served kale on the side.  When I got home I realised that we'd run out of butter, so I dressed the steamed kale leaves in lemon and olive oil, a bit too heavily with the lemon it transpired.  I managed to get a decent crackling on the chop by wedging it skin side down in the frying pan (between a couple of kitchen utensils) on a medium heat for about half an hour.  Thanks to the electronic thermometer that I received as a gift at Christmas, the meat part of the chop was also perfectly cooked.  The sauce was ok too, leaving me feeling full and rather pleased with myself.  I should add that the pork itself was purchased from Moens, and was outstanding.

I hope it snows this weekend, enough to cause total transportation meltdown, resulting in Monday out the office.  Fingers crossed . . . oh, here's the review of Lady Gaga's folk's new restaurant, if you haven't read it elsewhere.