Judgement Dave blog

The Christmas meal, though, provides a focal point and an oasis of pleasure in an otherwise chaotic day.

If your Christmas is anything like mine, then it kicks off early with a large gin. Then, I get out of bed, thrust open the curtains, and look out upon the glorious day, a wonky smile upon my rosy face.

This year though, I have to stay relatively with-it because, for the first time ever, I'm cooking the Christmas dinner. My mum isn't incapacitated or anything. I just feel that I can provide the family with a meal on a par with what she's been cooking up for the last thirty years. Bold words indeed. Better not f\\k it up.

To put my stamp on the occasion, I have made the, some would say, controversial decision to give turkey the bird. It's not that it has a bad flavour - it's just a bit bland, hence the need to douse it in bread sauce, cranberry sauce, then slosh gravy all over it. When you're celebrating, and lavishing large amounts of money on a meal, you should eat something succulent and flavoursome that can stand on its own two (or four) feet, like a nice side of pork or beef.

Some folk may argue that turkey is traditional, but I would point them to the history books, where it clearly says that us Brits used to eat goose until the 1950s, when refrigerators and fridges became more widely available. Turkey is an American tradition, like deep-frying cheese, chewing tobacco, Jerry Springer and virtually everything else that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.


So back to good quality British meat I say and, in particular pork, which we produce to a very high quality in this country. Since Christmas demands a certain degree of luxury, I'm going to roast the loin, and serve it with a wine and mustard sauce and sweet potatoes. Sounds impressive, but the recipe couldn't be easier. Everything goes in one tray, in a hot oven, and an hour later you have the perfect roast, and a table of salivating guests. I hope.

Note: This recipe uses roast sweet potato, but you could use normal King Edwards if you prefer.

Roast Loin of Pork with Sweet Potatoes
--------------------------------------

Serves: 4-6
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 1 hr

Ingredients
- 450g sweet potatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large onions, sliced
- 900g pork loin
- 1 head garlic, unpeeled
- 3 torpedo shallots, unpeeled
- 1 bay leaf
- 2-3 sprigs thyme
- 2 tsp honey
- 2 tsp mustard seeds
- 100ml double cream
- 100ml white wine

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6.

2. Place the sweet potatoes in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and parboil for 5 minutes.

3. Place the olive oil and onions in a roasting tin and put the pork loin on top. Put the garlic, shallots, parboiled potatoes, bay leaf and thyme in the tin, surrounding the loin and roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the pork is cooked through and no pink juices remain.

4. Remove the roasting tin from the oven and drizzle the contents with the honey. Return to the oven for 10 minutes.

5. Remove the contents of the roasting tin to a large plate and set aside to keep warm. You should be left with a liquor in the bottom of the tin.

6. Stir the mustard seeds, white wine, and double cream into the juices in the tin and heat through gently.

7. To serve, slice the pork and place on a serving plate with the vegetables. Drizzle over the sauce from the roasting tin.