One enchanted evening......#paulaskitchensupper

I was really looking forward to writing this blogpost about my supper party. I envisioned lovely pictures of my gorgeously laid table, happy diners and plates of delicious food. However it didn't quite turn out like that.........

Picture the scene. Paula running around the kitchen. Pork slowing roasting in the oven. Six hungry children. Figs awaiting a drizzle of local honey & walnuts. Twelve guests arriving imminently. Wine cooling in ice buckets. Candles lit. Peas to be puréed. Rubbish placed in bin. Palm cut with can. Blood. Mild panic. More panic. Major panic. Deep gash. Accident & emergency. Triage. Stitches. Tetanus. Drama. Should have been a disaster but not so!

I arrived home to find my supper club running very smoothly. Course one prepared and served up by my great pals and sister. Course two was at the cusp of being ready, just required a few instructions by me to get it right! I jest of course everything was well under control. Huge thanks to @tracyobr for fantastic mashing & purée skills, @fishahoy1 for exquisite fresh scallops, home smoked salmon and amazing help in the kitchen, @helenamoloney for top class pork pulling and @geoffboyle for taking charge of the vegetarian courses, that beetroot tarte tatin was fun to make!

Plenty of cocktails, laughs, good food and fantastic company made for a great night. I want to share with you the recipe for the slow roast pork shoulder as everyone raved about it. A pork shoulder is a really cheap cut of meat that with some tender loving care transforms into mouthwatering tender pork. I used Jamie Oliver's jerk pork recipe which added fantastic flavour! Smoky, zingy, fresh, citrusy and spicy all at once! I amended the recipe slightly but the original is to be found in Jamie's Great Britain.

You will need;

A pork shoulder with the bone in
Sea salt & black pepper
Pinch of rosemary and thyme
1 whole nutmeg
Rapeseed oil
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Preheat your oven as high as it will go.
Score the skin of the pork.
Rub in the salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme and grate over the nutmeg. Add a good drizzle of olive oil and massage into the cracks and all over the pork.
Place the pork into a large roasting tin, skin side up and pour the apple cider vinegar and enough water to cover the bottom of the roasting tin.
Put into the hot oven for thirty minutes then turn the heat down to 130 degrees.

I roasted the joint for ten hours covering with a double layer of foil half way through the cooking time.
Pull the crackling off, get rid of any fatty bits underneath and use two forks to pull the pork apart.

For the jerk salsa you will need;

2 red chillies
1 bunch of spring onions
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of ground cloves
1/2 tsp of all spice
Juice of three limes
Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 tbsp of honey
Rapeseed oil
Large bunch of coriander

Whizz all of the above ingredients until you have a salsa consistency.
Pour over the pulled pork and toss through.

I served this on a bed of creamy mashed root vegetables with some wilted spinach. Wish I had some pictures to share with you but unfortunately I don't, you will have to trust me when I say it was really good!

So the last of the visitors have just gone and so brings to the end a great weekend minus the "can incident"! Thanks to all for great fun, much merriment and plenty of jokes at my expense! There will have to be a repeat performance, going to treat last night as a bad rehearsal!

Thanks for taking the time to read!