There is a piece of pork crackling in the oven, its surface glistening with sea salt, crisping and curling into fat, golden blisters. It will be smashed into shards and used to season popcorn for the New Year celebrations tonight.
This is the day I look through my diaries to remind myself of what I have cooked over the past year. The gradual change towards eating less meat has continued. The year has seen more dishes with grains and beans than ever, fewer puddings and more knife-sharp pickles. I seem to have eaten more seafood than in living memory: seabass baked with tomatoes and anchovies; ceviche with watermelon and chilli; and a spring dish of tiny mussels and shallots to name just three. Not so many cakes, but a shallow, fudgy chocolate torte with sultanas, rosemary and sweet sherry remains in my memory. The backbone of what I eat, the vegetables and fruit, didn’t change and I note that more than 70% of the recipes in this column relied on neither meat nor fish.
The meat I have eaten has been a glorious, twice-a-week feast. Porchetta stuffed with blackberries and lemon zest as the autumn leaves fell; meatballs in deep, garlicky gravy with mashed swede; beef ribs with rosemary and garlic for a candlelit winter’s night. We have once again chewed every bone, found the hidden treasure buried under each roast chicken and then made soup with the remains.
My suitcase barely closed this year and my travels, particularly weeks spent in Japan and the Middle East, very much affected what I ate. What I cook changes significantly with each passing year, but what remains steadfast is the spirit of home, the happiness of a meal shared, and always, always, the simple joy of hands-on-cooking. Happy New Year.
Pork-crackling popcorn
The exact time it takes the crackling to crackle will depend on the quality of the skin.
Enough for 6
pork belly skin 250g
celery salt 1 tbsp
fennel seeds 1 tbsp
olive oil 3 tbsp
butter 50g
popping corn 125g
If your butcher hasn’t scored the skin for you, place it dark side up on a chopping board and score deeply, not quite through to the board, at 1cm intervals with a very sharp knife. A box cutter may be useful.
Place a wire rack over a roasting tin and sit the skin on top. Mix together the celery salt, fennel seeds and a generous grinding of pepper. Rub the seasoning over the pork skin, pushing it right down into the cuts. Set aside in a cool place, but not the fridge, for at least an hour.
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Trickle the olive oil over the skin. Place the skin, still on its rack and roasting tin, in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until it is golden, crisp and puffed up. When the crackling is ready, remove it and leave it to cool a little.
Pour any oil and pork fat that may be in the roasting tin into a deep, heavy-based saucepan or casserole. Add the butter and place the pan over a medium heat. When the butter melts, add the popping corn and cover the pan tightly with a lid. Leave it for 3-5 minutes until the corn has popped open, shaking the pan occasionally to stop it from scorching.
Using a heavy kitchen knife, shatter the crackling into small shards, then add it to the pan, folding it into the corn. Add a little more butter and salt if you wish and eat it immediately, while the popcorn is still warm.
Shortbreads with za’atar and cheese
Little biscuits, spiced with Middle Eastern za’atar, are perfect with sparkling drinks. We shall pass them round tonight, warm from the oven.
Makes about 16 small biscuits
hazelnuts 35g, shelled
almonds 40g, skinned
za’atar 4 tsp, ground
sesame seeds 4 tsp
black sesame seeds 2 tsp
smoked paprika ½ tsp
parmesan 70g, grated
butter 150g
plain flour 150g
water 2 tbsp
Toast the hazelnuts in a dry, shallow pan over a moderate heat, regularly shaking the pan so the nuts don’t burn. When the skin is dark brown and starting to flake, remove the nuts from the heat and tip them into a clean tea towel. Rub the nuts together in the towel until most of their skins have flaked off. Repeat the toasting and rubbing with any whose skins stubbornly refuse to come off.
Toast the almonds in the shallow pan until pale gold. Move them round the pan regularly to encourage even colouring. Tip them out, then toast the skinned hazelnuts.
Reduce the nuts to coarse powder in a food processor and set aside. Fold in the za’atar, sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, paprika and parmesan. I also add a little salt.
Rub the butter into the flour then introduce three-quarters of the seeds and parmesan mixture. Reserve the remainder. Sprinkle over enough of the water to allow you to bring the dough together into a soft ball.
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Lightly flour the work surface or a pastry board, then halve the mixture and roll each half into a thick cylinder, about 4-5cm in diameter. Cut each into 8-10 thick discs.
Tip the reserved seed mixture into a bowl or plate then roll the little shortbread discs in it, pressing down firmly so the seeds stick to the outside. Place the seeded shortbreads on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly crisp to the touch. Remove from the oven, and transfer to a cooling rack.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater
