food, reviews and of course coffee
Cooked and had some chicken olives from Waitrose. These are boneless chicken thighs stuffed with a pork, apple, walnut and sultana stuffing.
Already prepared, all you need to do is cook them in the oven for about thirty minutes.
They were quite nice, but think I prefer the bacon-wrapped chicken legs stuffed with pork and pistachio that I have made before.
I do quite like duck and the obvious choice with duck is an orange sauce. Though I more often than not prefer to make my own sauces, sometimes you don’t have the time, sometimes you don’t have the expertise. Shop sauces can often be too sweet or usually too salty, so I don’t like to buy them. The duck with orange sauce from Waitrose though falls into the just right category, neither too sweet nor too salty.
I use to get a similar pack from Sainsbury, however they no longer stock it at my local branch (and don’t recall seeing it elsewhere either).
Having taken out the two duck breasts from the fridge, using a fork, prick the skin side of the duck breast.Duck can be quite fatty and as a result if you simply roast the duck breast it will be too fatty and greasy. So heat a frying pan, but don’t add any oil. Place the duck breasts in the pan skin side down.
Frying the duck breast in this way renders the fat out from the duck and as a result you get nice crispy skin and little fat or greasiness.
The breasts will also shrink slightly as they cook. There is technique that you can use to stop the meat curling up, but I can’t remember what it is! Something about cutting away something. If you know post a comment and let me know.
Once the skin is nice and brown, place the duck breasts skin side up in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven for about ten to twenty minutes (depending on how you like your duck).
Serve with the orange sauce.
The pork crisis in Ireland is hitting headlines all over the UK.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is currently saying
Pork from the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland should not be eaten at the moment due to contamination fears.
One of my favourite foods at the moment are Paul Rankin’s Irish Pork Sausages which are made in Ballymena, Northern Ireland by Doherty & Gray Limited.
How do I know this I looked at the packaging and this has the physical and web address on it.
No update or advice on their website about their products. If you are going to have a website, ensure that you use it to let us consumers know what is happening.
So how can Waitrose say:
Waitrose has withdrawn two sausage lines sold under Northern Irish celebrity chef Paul Rankin’s brand as a precaution, although a spokeswoman for the supermarket stressed that the origin of the meat was still being checked.
I would have thought it was obviously Northern Ireland, though I am guessing that this is not 100% certain it is Irish pork, I would hope that it was otherwise I am feeling I have been misled in buying the product – dioxin contamination aside.
Doherty & Gray should in my opinion at least post something to their website to let consumers know what is happening. I am seeing a large number of people visit this blog who have concerns, but I am in the same boat as them.
Disappointed to also see that the online arm of Waitrose, Ocado is still “selling” the Rankin sausages on their website.
No idea if you actually order them that they would deliver them.
Like others who have commented on my blog, I have recently eaten Paul Rankin’s sausages (just yesterday) and my family and I eat them on a regular basis. Despite the FSA assurance that the “risk” is slight, it is still a risk. If it isn’t a risk why are they now saying don’t eat the pork!