Pasta with Mushrooms, Asparagus and Walnuts

One of those spontaneous flavour combinations that occurred to me, and, minutes later, was confirmed as a perfect balance of warm and nutty, rich and earthy, and green and grassy.

Ingredients

• pasta for two (200-300g)
• a generous handful of walnuts
• two king oyster mushrooms (or 10 chestnut mushrooms)
• a bunch of asparagus (about 8-10 stalks)
• a few stalks of curly parsley
• 4 tbsp sour cream
• 1/4 tsp mustard

Cook the pasta according to its packet instructions. Dry-toast the walnuts in a small frying pan until crisp and golden; remove and set aside. Cube the mushrooms and fry until golden; cut the asparagus into inch-long lengths and add to the pan; stir-fry until cooked. Finely chop the parsley and combine, turning the heat off. Drain the pasta, mix well with the sour cream and mustard, then tip in the fried vegetables and give a last toss about. Season to taste and serve.

Walnut and Parsley Pesto (with Beetroot Pasta)

We have soooo much parsley this week. I picked up a huge bag for just a dollar, and now we're eating it with everything :) This was a yum and cheaper version of the classic basil pesto. We used it to jazz up some cooked beetroot and al dente pasta.

Ingredients:

• A large handful of walnuts
• half a bunch of parsley
• 25-40g of Parmesan
• olive oil
• black pepper

Toast the walnuts either under the grill, or in a dry frying pan, until crisp and fragrant. Clean the parsley and discard any tough stems. Finely grate the Parmesan, then whiz it together with the parsley and walnuts in a blender. Drizzle in olive oil until it takes on a pesto-like consistency, and season well with black pepper.

Pork with Waldorf Topping

This is a dish my mum always makes, and I can't remember if it has a 'proper' name. However the topping for the pork is very similar to the ingredients to a Waldorf salad, minus the mayonnaise, so that's what I've named it here. We usually use pork chops, but I really don't know why, as the topping makes it hard to see where the meat, fat and bone are, and they take awhile to cook through. So I think this recipe is best with a long strip of pork loin, and the topping packed tightly around it - a bit like a roast, but with the stuffing on the outside. (Apologies for the poor photograph, I'll try to take a better one next time.)


Ingredients:

• 300g strip of pork loin or fillet
• two slices of bread
• 2 small eating apples
• 3 sticks celery
• 2 generous handfuls of walnut pieces
• salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 190C. Lay the pork out in a baking dish, with a bare smear of vegetable oil underneath it to prevent it sticking. Whiz the bread in a blender to produce breadcrumbs. Dice, or core and finely slice the apples, Finely dice the celery and roughly chop the walnuts, if they are in large pieces. Combine the topping ingredients together, season well, drizzle with olive oil and toss thoroughly. Pack around the pork in the baking dish and roast for 25-35 minutes, until the pork is done to your liking and the topping is crisp.