I got the inspiration for this dish by this Spanish recipe by Lauren Aloise, but I had to make quite a bit of changes as we are not so fortunate in South Africa to always get the produce our counterparts get in Europe – like Iberian pork cheeks for example. I also took the starch out of the dish and made a separate starchy dish to go with the main course.

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So I Googled for “Pork and Bean” and came across this Corsican Bean Soup with Greens and Pork recipe on Food & Wine which sounded very interesting. Unfortunately I couldn’t source all the ingredients and had to make do with what I had. I also decided not to use the word Corsican in the title as I was not too sure how strict you have to follow this recipe to call it anything from Corsica.

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A visit to the  Asian grocery store in Milnerton’s China Town inspired me to try and cook an authentic Chinese Red Cooked Beef  dish for date night.  We do not eat Chinese food that often – the American Chinese versions of chow mein and chop suey that you get in most Chinese restaurants here does not appeal to us.  As is often the case, if you want to get close to any authentic ethnic cuisine you have to cook it yourself.

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I decided to cook Moroccan food for date night last week as my preserved lemons were a month old and  finally ready to use.  I love Paul Wolfert’s recipes so decided to make her Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives for our Moroccan date night.

This is a classic traditional Moroccan tagine recipe.  I won’t call my effort a tagine though as I did not cook it in a tagine pot.  Every time I pass Le Creuset I want to buy one but then I hear the “but how often will you use it” voice in my head.

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