AEG MASTERY RANGE

Having been running pop ups in venues all over London and further afield, for over three years, I like to think I've got the hang of ovens - I've used many, many different brands, types and styles of oven and however good they are and well they work I didn't think I could be truly impressed by a new oven. Until I went to see AEG's new Mastery Range at Grand Designs Live, and again at Taste of London. The new ovens that AEG have designed are like a new a sports car - one that's meant for F1 but has slipped through into the commercial market and is ready to be used in your kitchen today. They are SO exciting!

I've now had the chance to see the ovens in action twice. First off was under the guide of Jozef Youssef at Grand DesignsLive where I learnt all about the sous vide function of the ProCombi Plus steam ovens. AEG have created an oven where you can cook meat, fish and vegetables in vacuum sealed bags to give a perfect cooking result every time, whilst retaining all the flavor of the food. With to the 0.5 degree accurate temperature, you can vacuum seal your food with whatever herbs, sauce or flavours you want, pop it in the oven and it will come out exactly the same every time - delicious! Not only great for cooking, the vacuum drawer, which is part of the Mastery Range, is also brilliant for preserving foods. By vacu-packing fresh food, you can majorly extend the fridge life of herbs, vegetables, meat, fish and dairy, as by removing the oxygen it takes longer for food to go bad. Jozef rustled up some super tasty and zesty octopus salads, having cooked the tentacles sous vide, followed by bao buns (cooked with the steam function) stuffed with rich, melt in the mouth pork that had also been cooked sous vide. You really can cook anything sous vide, meaning you can create restaurant worthy dishes at home - look out for lots of sous vide cooked foods on my pop up menus soon! And did I mention they do a self cleaning range?! Yup, no more harsh chemicals, overnight soaking and scrubbing.  

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MIRANDA GORE BROWNE'S BLACKBERRY CRUMBLE BISCUITS

One of the best things about my visit to the London Produce Show last month was getting the chance to watch some live cooking demos and sample the delights that were being made. The first of these that I watched was Miranda Gore Browne, of Great British Bake Off fame, who whipped up some seriously yummy blackberry crumble biscuits, that were then passed round for us to try. They were excellent, and I'm not normally a biscuit fan! They had the perfect balance of crunchy and soft with the freshness of blackberries and the sweet blackberry flower they were served with. I've already made a batch at home and they were nearly as good as Miranda's! If you want to try them for yourselves, then here's the recipe so that you too can make them.

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LONDON PRODUCE SHOW

Last week saw the launch of a new event in London - The London Produce Show set up home in the Grosvenor House Hotel for 3 days, filled with fruit and vegetable producers from all over the world. The lovely ladies organising the event invited me down, via amazing boxes of fruit and veggies that arrived at my house, to the opening cocktail evening and the show the following day.

The first I knew about the show was when Liz got in touch via Twitter to ask if I'd like to come and if yes, what my postal address was. This was followed by a box waiting on my doorstep, that contained a bottle of rum, a cocktail shaker, dragon fruit, grapefruit, limes, mint and lychees. I made a dragon fruit and lychee mojito, which was just like a super healthy fresh fruit juice (with added rum!)

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MAY & JUNE A LITTLE LUSCIOUSNESS POP UPS!

I've got some more pop up dates in the diary! And tickets are still available for both.

I had a hugely successful pop up last Saturday, that my guests loved. It was such a fun evening, and I think (hope) that every went home with full tummies and smiles on their faces after a four course feast of seasonal produce (and lots of wine!). This is a little snapshot of the evening at my house:

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#CURRYSINTHEKITCHEN

Last week I was invited to the Underground Cookery School, near Old Street, for a cookery class with 20 other food bloggers, hosted by CurrysPCWorld, for #currysinthekitchen. All week I was wondering what the correlation between a computer shop and a cookery class was (bar the obvious fact that we food bloggers use computers to blog - which I didn't think was the link) but all became obvious when we arrived - CurrysPCWorld now stock kitchen gadgets! Ta-da - the reason we were there!!

Despite my best efforts to arrive cool, calm, collected and on time, I arrived half an hour late, flustered and in my normal state of everything at a million miles an hour. I was greeted by the CurrysPCWorld team, their PRs and the guys who run the cookery school, who had an apron waiting for me, ready to don for our cookery class. Camera out, apron on, I was given a glass of bubbles and told to help myself to trays of arancini, sausage rolls and smoked salmon on biscuits to nibble on before we got busy in the kitchen.

I have to say at this point, that although I had a super fun evening, I was a little disappointed at the level of cookery class we were given - it was all a bit... basic. I didn't learn anything. We were cooking a chicken curry, and a pear soufflé, but lots of the ingredients were pre prepared, due to time constraints, and it was more like a cooking demo than what I'd imagined the cookery class would be like.

We started with the chicken curry, for which we boned and chopped chicken drumsticks, then added various ingredients to the pan, most of which were chopped, mixed and ready made for us. Onion, garlic, ginger and chilli went in, followed by the curry sauce the chefs had made earlier for us, coconut milk, our chopped chicken, and some pre-chopped carrot and potatoes. A quick stir, and we poured it into mini Le Creusets, which went into the oven while we moved onto pudding.

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NEXT A LITTLE LUSCIOUSNESS POP UPS!

Last October I started doing a monthly pop up restaurant/supper club at our home in Acton Town and I've absolutely loved every minute of menu planning, food sourcing and all the cooking and preparation involved in putting on these events, as well as meeting all the lovely guests who've come to eat my food.  

My next pop up is on Saturday 29th March 2014, at our lovely house, in Acton Town, West London (Piccadilly line). The menu for the night is:

STARTER – Salmon three ways - beetroot cured with capers, sashimi with spring onions and pan fried with soy glaze

MAIN – Bavette steak, dauphinoise potatoes, greens and red wine sauce

PUDDING – Rhubarb hazelnut crumble, homemade stem ginger, hazelnut ice cream (this is the same pudding I served at my February pop up, but it went down so well, and rhubarb season should be made the most of, so I'm serving it again in March!)

CHEESE – Montgomery cheeseboard, spiced chutney and herby salted crackers

COFFEE and HERBAL TEAS served with sticky chocolate balls

If you'd like to come along but there's something on the menu you don't like, just let me know in the comments section of the booking form, and I can make you an alternative.


Tickets are available HERE.

You can come on your own, bring a date, grab some friends, or book out a whole table for however many of you there are! It's £30 a head for the evening, and it's bring your own booze, so feel free to bring a bottle of your favourite!

I do my public pop ups once a month, and the next one after this will be April 26th. Link to tickets and menu is HERE.

Hope to see some of you at one of my pop ups soon!!

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VALENTINES BLOG LOVE

Valentines Day is the one day of the year when I don't want to cook for myself and the boy! So rather than a load of lovey dovey Valentines pink recipes, I thought I'd share the love by telling you about some of my favorite blogs I read. I read a lot of blogs, from food to lifestyle to travel and beauty, and obviously I really like all the blogs I read (otherwise I wouldn't read them!) but I can't list them all here, as there are tons I really like. However, these are some of my favs that involve food, that I hope you can enjoy too.

My FAVORITE blog of all of them is Manger. Mimi lives in Medoc in France with her beautiful family and their 14(!) dogs, where she cooks my idea of food heaven, with the most incredible looking produce. Oh how I would love to spend a weekend at their house!! I was going through her blog pulling some photos to put in this blog, and I literally saved tens of photos as I just couldn't decide between them.

Just look at that meat:

 

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GLOBAL GASTRONOMY / CINNAMON KITCHEN

This post is so embarrassingly late, I don't know where to start with the excuses! My photos are also dark, but I promise it's worth a read!

In November (the 3rd to be precise), I was kindly invited to a wonderful feast, provided by top chefs at Vivek Singh's restaurant, The Cinnamon Kitchen, near Liverpool Street. It was the most wonderful evening, and was put on in aid of Action Against Hunger's Global Gastronomy campaign.

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A LITTLE SLOW FOOD LUSCIOUSNESS

On Saturday 2nd November, I'm teaming up with Slow Food London to bring you my first public A Little Lusciousness pop up! I've been in talks with Grub Club for a while about launching pop up restaurants, and it is so exciting to finally be able to tell you about it, and give you some more details!!

Slow Food is a global, not for profit organisation whose aim is to promote "the pleasure of food with a commitment to the community and the environment". They stand against the increase in fast food, and aim to get people to stop and think about where their food has come from. It's all about local sourcing, preparing home food and taking some time and care with getting food ready to eat. It is an ethos and an attitude towards food that they promote - one I firmly believe in, and one that I'm sure many people could learn something from. The Slow Food London food projects are really in line with my beliefs around homegrown, lovingly prepared food, so when the opportunity to do something with them came up, it seemed like the ideal time to launch my pop up to the public!

The menu for my pop up is as follows, with all ingredients being free-range and/or organic, and sourced from British suppliers that I continue to work with (including Devon large white variety pork shoulder from Wyndham House butchers, and cheeses from the wonderful guys at O Toma O Morte). It will be a very casual evening, and a great opportunity to spend some time with like minded foodies!

WELCOME COCKTAIL...

STARTER – Borscht with homemade soda bread.

MAIN – 24 hour shoulder of Devon free-range pork with special carrots, celeriac coleslaw and vegetables, with smokey BBQ sauce.

PUDDING – Sticky apple and pecan cake with butterscotch sauce.

CHEESE – Cheeseboard with pears, chutney and homemade biscuits.

I'll be providing soft drinks as well, but if you'd like something stronger, please feel free to bring a bottle (or two!)

All proceeds from ticket sales for the night will be going to Slow Food London Schools Programme, where the money will go towards funding a raised bed garden being built in a school for special needs children in London. You can read more about what Slow Food London do here.

Going forward, I will be doing a monthly pop up in West London, which will be promoted through the Grub Club site. It would be great if you can make it along to one of them, as I'd love to put some faces to names!! For tickets or more information please go to my page on the Grub Club website. Tickets are available now for the November event, and details about the December event will be up soon!!

Thank you!

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PRINCESS VICTORIA, UXBRIDGE RD

I must've been told about The Princess Victoria pub on Uxbridge Road by more than 10 different people over the last year, recommending that I eat there. And having booked a table about a month ago which we weren't able to make, it was high time I got myself down there to see how good it really was.

So that's where we headed for lunch on my birthday.

The Princess Victoria is halfway down Uxbridge Road, between Shepherds Bush and Ealing Common. It's an unassuming building, with frosted windows facing the road, and is somewhere you could easily walk straight past if you didn't know what was hidden inside. But don't let that put you off - once inside it really is quite impressive! Wood panelling lines the walls, and a large circular bar swoops into the first room you enter. Past the bar area is the main restaurant, full of solid wood tables with wooden chairs. A long serving table goes up one side of the restaurant room, with various homemade breads out, ready for service. 

It was Monday lunchtime when we went, and although not busy, there were a few people eating. I was surprised they were serving food at all, as most gastro pubs I know don't do Monday lunch.

We were offered a table in the main restaurant, but opted for a cosy table in the bar. The ratio of staff to diners was about 1:1, and the staff were all really friendly and welcoming.

I could've sat and tried to work my way through their entire menu, as it's really my type of food, made with responsibly sourced ingredients. But we had a lot of unpacking to do, so decided to share a starter and have a main each.

The menu at Princess Victoria is split into Charcuterie; Oysters, cured and smoked fish; Starters; Mains; and "From the ageing room....".

We went for the Tamworth pork and peppercorn pate with pickle and toast to start (I'm a sucker for a pickle, and this one was perfect!) I could've done with a little more of the crispy toast on the side, but that's probably just because I'm a little greedy! The pate had an excellent texture and just the right balance between salty and sweet.

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SUMMER PRAWN and PEA SOUP

This isn't actually a soup. Well it is, but normally soup has more liquid than other ingredients, so I suppose this more of a broth. Either way, it's the perfect lightweight, healthy meal that's quick and easy to cook. The original recipe came from Lyndsey Bareham's column in The Times, but I've made a few tweaks to give it my own twist.

Serves 2.

250g Jersey Royal new potatoes
1/4 vegetable stock cube
1-2 cups of water
1 lemon, zest and juice
200g raw king prawns, peeled
200g peas

100g green beans, chopped into 2cm pieces
1 tbsp creme fraiche

Rinse the new potatoes and chop into bite size pieces (about 2cm square). Put the potatoes in a wide saucepan (I actually use the wok to cook this in) and pour over enough water to just cover them. Sprinkle with a tiny corner of vegetable stock cube. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 8 minutes or so, or until the potatoes feel slightly soft when poked with a knife.

Add the zest and juice of the lemon and the prawns, stir, and cook for another 2 minutes. Now add the peas and beans and cook for 1 minute.

Remove from the pan, and stir the creme fraiche into the juice.

Serve in bowls with plenty of the liquid, a grind of black pepper, and a big wedge of lemon.

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SAFFRON - TALES FROM THE PERSIAN KITCHEN

A friend of our friend is on a mission, and she needs your help!

Yasmin Khan is raising money via Kickstarter to fund a cookbook and television documentary project offering a unique window into contemporary Iran, through the food the people love to eat. In order to make her project a reality, Yas needs to raise another £5k on top of the £3.5k she has already raised, and you can help her, by funding her through her page on Kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/46403768/saffron-tales-from-the-persian-kitchen.

Yas's mission is to travel around Iran asking locals to share their favorite recipes, in order to show a different side of Iran - one that doesn't often make the headlines. Yas will be cooking recipes with locals Iranians and getting the stories behind the recipes from them for her book. The money she is aiming to raise will cover, amongst other things, the costs of a professional photographer who will be on hand to capture the beautiful landscapes, stunning scenery and gorgeous dishes they'll be cooking. As she says on her Kickstarter page, "At a time of increased military tensions, a project which humanises Iranian people and promotes cross-cultural understanding could not be more important. Saffron aims to do just this, guiding readers on a fascinating journey into the hearts (and stomachs) of Iranians today."

I, personally, am a big fan of the flavours used in Iranian cooking - think fresh herbs, fruits cooked with meat, and flavours such as pomegranate, saffron and lots more of my favorite things. Sample recipes quoted on her page include Mirzeh Ghasemi - smokey roasted aubergines, gently fried with plum tomatoes, garlic, turmeric, eggs and olive oil; and Shirin Polo - buttery steamed rice jewelled with carrots, orange peel, pistachios and saffron - YUM!!

So if you want to see more of these delightful recipes, get involved and pledge some money to make it happen!

Kickstarter is an online platform for creatives to raise money for their projects. In order to protect the project manager and investors, the money is only invested if the full amount requested is reached, so please do get funding!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/46403768/saffron-tales-from-the-persian-kitchen.

Good luck Yas!

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SUPER FAST PRAWN CURRY

Sometimes (in fact quite a lot of the time) when I get home from work, I really want to cook something for supper that’s easy to make, full of flavour, and has some of my 5 a day in. There are lots of things I could cook that require an hour’s love, or 2 hours slow cooking, but often I just want to get home, put something on that will be ready within half an hour, or less, and eat before it gets too close to bedtime!

This is my go to recipe for exactly that. It’s super quick, very easy, packs a massive flavour punch, and goes down equally as well on sunny evenings as it does on cold winter ones.

Serves 2 or 3

Olive oil
1 onion
Half teaspoon of coriander seeds
Black pepper
1 clove garlic
1 stick of lemongrass
1 teaspoon medium curry powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
Pinch of saffron
1 tin coconut milk
Juice and zest of 1 lime
400g raw prawns
1 pack bean sprouts
Handful coriander leaves
1 red chilli
Lime, to serve

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a deep frying pan, over a medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and fry for 3-4 minutes until it is turning translucent. Reduce the heat slightly; add the coriander seed, black pepper, crushed garlic clove, and finely sliced lemongrass, and fry for a further 2 minutes. Now stir in the curry powder, turmeric and saffron strands, and pour in the coconut milk (try to avoid the half fat stuff – I don’t know what they do to it to reduce its fat content, but whatever it is, it means it doesn’t cook as well, and tastes pretty strange).

Once the coconut milk is gently simmering, mix in the zest and juice of a lime, and the raw prawns. Stir everything together and simmer for 2 or 3 more minutes, or until the prawns have turned pink. Remove from the heat, chuck in the bean sprouts, and serve in bowls with rice noodles or rice, a few thin slices of chilli, a sprinkling of coriander leaves, and a wedge of lime.

And there you have it – supper ready in less time than it takes to get home from work.

What’s your go to meal when you want a super speedy supper?

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A NIGHT OF GAME AT PUTNEY'S DUKES HEAD

You might have read my recent post about supper club coordinators extrodinaire, Grub Club. Well they very kindly organised for me to go and try out one of their supper clubs, so I invited my brother and his fiance, her sister and boyfriend, and the boy along, to try it out. We had a raucous Wednesday night, full of game dishes and excellently chosen wines. My little brother is a wine salesman and came along to choose appropriate wines to match our meal. He's written a few words for my blog about the wine - see the end of this post.

The night took place at The Duke's Head in Putney in the private upstairs room. A lovely, tranquil (until we arrived) space, that suited the occasion perfectly.

This particular evening was all about game meats. We started the meal with an amuse bouche to share of duck rillettes, carpaccio of duck and smoked duck egg yolk with asparagus. This was my favorite course of the meal, with all 3 components presented beautifully.

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EASY BREAD - NO YEAST NEEDED

I first came across this recipe a few months ago via Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage, and have since made many variations of it, ending up with the perfect, fail-safe loaf of bread.

I can't stress how easy this is to make - no kneading, no yeast. Just mix and put it in the oven. The most difficult part of the recipe is remembering to turn the oven on BEFORE you start making the bread, as it takes such a short time to make, your oven might not get hot enough, quick enough!!

Makes 1 loaf

Preheat the oven to 170C (160C fan)

220g self-raising wholemeal flour (my favorite is Allinson flour, made in the UK)
180g self-raising white flour
2 teaspoons table salt
1 level tablespoon caster sugar
50g sunflower seeds
100g walnuts
75g dried cranberries
50g sultanas
50g dried apricots
400ml San Miguel

Mix the flours, salt and sugar in a bowl. Break up the walnuts, either with a rolling pin or a quick blitz in the magimix. Chop or magimix the dried apricots. Add the nuts, seeds and dried fruit to the flour mix and pour in the beer. Mix it all together.

Butter a bread tin, then dust with self-raising flour. Pour the bread mixture in.

Cook for 70-80 minutes, or until golden brown.

Leave to cool then serve with butter and salt, or a lovely creamy goats cheese.

I wrap my bread in greaseproof paper to store it, and although it normally gets eaten within 48 hours, it will keep for up to 4 days, although the crusts will get crunchier.

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LEMON, LAVENDER AND BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE

This recipe came about almost by mistake, while I was cooking various sweets and treats for a bake sale last week. I was going to make a blueberry cheesecake, but was given a jar of lemon and lavender marmalade, so thought that it would be a great addition to the cheesecake.

I used Cheristow Lavender's Lemon and Lavender marmalade, but sadly they don't sell it on their own website.

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BAKE SALE - SATURDAY 9th FEB at THE VIBE BAR

This Saturday coming I will be selling cakes, sweets and treats at the brilliant Jumble and Pearls vintage fair, at The Vibe Bar on Brick Lane. I will be there from 11-6 on Saturday 9th February, so do come along if you're in the area, and say hi! There are over 15 stalls, selling vintage ladies clothes, men's ethical clothing, jewellery and much, much more.

I will be selling - banana cakes, blue baked cheesecake, berry cheesecake, ninja bread men, salted caramel peanut brownies, fruit and chocolate brownie slabs, pecan choccy bites, coconut ice, salted chocolate truffles, caramel flapjacks, and heart shaped shortbreads.

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BEEF AND BEER PIE

Beef and beer is pretty much up there with cheese and wine in food and alcohol pairings for me. And this pie is a luxurious, winter warmer combo of the two. 

Not only is this pie delicious, but it's not difficult to make, and it's a super supper on a cold day. I have used shop bought puff pastry, which is cheating a little bit, but tastes great all the same!

1 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion
1 red onion
4 cloves garlic
Sprig of thyme
300g closed cup chesnut mushrooms, wiped clean
600g diced free-range beef; braising steak or topside
1 tbsp mushroom ketchup
500ml bottle of Guiness
300ml game or beef stock
1 tbsp grainy mustard
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp flour (if required)
1 pack of shop bought puff pastry
1 egg
Parmesan

Heat a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the oil. Chop the onions finely, along with the garlic and add to the pan. Reduce the heat and sweat the onions for at least 5 minutes, until they become translucent. Add the thyme, stir and add the whole mushrooms. Cook for another couple of minutes, then add the beef. Increase the heat and stir for another 5 minutes. Pour in the mushroom ketchup, bottle of Guiness, half of the game or beef stock and the mustard. Stir, and bring up to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat so that the liquid gently simmers. Add the bay leaf and plenty of salt and pepper. Leave to gently simmer for 90 minutes, until the beef is meltingly tender and the sauce thickened. If the sauce reduces too much, add more stock, and if it's too runny, scoop some sauce out, add flour, mix, and return to the pan.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Take the pie filling mix off the heat, and allow to cool slightly.

Pour the pie filling into a pie dish. Take your puff pastry and place it over the top, tucking any corners in. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and a sprinkling of grated parmesan. You can also make individual pies in pudding bowls.

Cook for 15-20 minutes until the pastry has puffed up and is golden brown.

Serve with mash and peas, and all the lovely juices from the bottom of the pie dish.

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SMOKEY BARBECUE SAUCE

Barbecue sauce goes well with lots of meals. We eat it with this pulled pork recipe, but it's equally as lovely with chicken, prawns or anything straight off the barbecue. It will also keep for a couple of weeks in your fridge, so the recipe below makes enough for more than 1 meal.

Don't let the list of ingredients put you off. This is a one pot sauce and not at all complicated. If you don't have mushroom ketchup, add extra Worcestershire sauce. And if you don't have any tomato passata, you can use ketchup, but if you do this, you need to halve the amount of sugar you use.

2 tbsp butter
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
1 tbsp fennel seeds
200ml rice vinegar
150ml red wine vinegar
600ml tomato passata
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp mushroom ketchup
70g brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
2 bay leaves
Sprig of thyme
1 tbsp english mustard
1 heaped tsp paprika
Salt
Lots of pepper

Heat the butter in a medium sized saucepan, over a medium to low heat. Chop the onion and garlic and add to the pan. They don't need to be chopped with any care, as the whole lot will be blended at the end.

Cook the onion and garlic gently until they become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the fennel seed and fry for 2 more minutes, stirring as you go. Now add the vinegars, tomato passata, Worcestershire sauce, mushroom ketchup, sugar, honey, herbs, mustard, paprika, salt and lots of pepper, and bring up to a simmer.

Stir regularly and leave simmering for around 30 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced by half and starts to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves, and blend the sauce. Serve cold with whatever you like, and enjoy!

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PULLED PORK WITH PICKLED VEGETABLES

Before I start telling you about this wonderful recipe, you need to know that it takes 24 hours to cook the pork. I don't want you to read this, and think what a good recipe it would be to cook for your supper tonight. You need to be a little bit organised, but believe me, it is worth it, and once the meat is in the oven, there is very little to do for about 22 hours.

The other thing this recipe requires is a phone call to the butcher. You need a pork shoulder with the bone in, so call ahead and ask them to keep one aside for you, as they normally remove the bones from pork shoulders. Last time I cooked this I got a shoulder of Gloucester Old Spot from a lovely butcher in Tetbury called Jesse Smith (www.jessesmithbutchers.co.uk). This time, I am having my free range pork shoulder delivered by our local London butcher, Wyndham House (www.wyndham-house.com), who deliver for free in the area for orders over £10.

Pork shoulder is a very good value cut of meat, and comes in at around £6/kg, with a 6kg joint serving 18 people, with leftovers!

1 pork shoulder, 4-6kg
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp salt
Pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

If you want to eat this for Sunday lunch, you need to start thinking about it on Saturday morning, at around 11am. Remove the meat from the fridge, to allow it 2 hours to come up to room temperature.

Half an hour before the meat goes in the oven, preheat the oven to 220C (200C if you have a fan oven). Score the skin of the meat with a sharp knife, but be careful not to cut straight through the skin into the meat. Mix the fennel seeds, paprika, chilli, salt and pepper, stir in the oil, and rub all over the meat and into the cuts you've made in the skin. Put the joint into a large roasting tray, skin side up, and pop in the oven. You don't need to cover the meat with any foil.

Leave to cook for 30 minutes at 220C (200C fan oven), then turn the oven down to 100C (80-90C fan oven). It now needs to cook for 23 hours. You will need to take it out a couple of times and spoon the fat that it produces back over the meat - you can do this once before you go to bed, and once when you wake up.

I have read several recipes that ask for the meat to be turned upside down (with the skin on the bottom) but I don't do this, and I do not think it's necessary. Leave the meat to cook skin side up.

When the meat has 1 hour to go (ie. it has been cooking for 22 1/2 hours), start prepping the pickled veg.

2 red onions
1 fennel bulb
4 limes
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fennel seeds

Slice the red onions and fennel into very thin strips (the 2mm blade on the magimix is ideal). Drop the onion and fennel into a pan of boiling water for 10 seconds, remove and drain well. Add the juice of the limes, the vinegar, salt and fennel seeds and mix thoroughly so all the onion and fennel is coated. Cover and leave in the fridge for an hour or two, or until the meat is ready. Drain the vegetables before serving.

Once the meat has cooked for 23 1/2 or 24 hours, remove from the oven. The skin should have turned into crackling but if it is still soft, then put it under a medium grill for 5-10 minutes, but watch it like a hawk as it can burn in seconds!!

Take the crackling off the meat and hide it somewhere safe (otherwise, in my house, it all gets eaten before the food's ready)! Wrap the pork shoulder in 3 layers of tin foil, as tightly as possible, and leave to rest for between 30 and 60 minutes.

The meat can be carved with a spoon and fork, as it will just fall apart.

Serve in a bun with a pile of pickled veg, some homemade spicy, sticky BBQ sauce (recipe to follow) and some crackling.

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