Sunday lunch - a bit differently

Falling Cloudberries is to me like love fulfilled after several hardships. I had wanted to buy this book for ages, I heard so many raving reviews, but after searching tons of bookshops personally, by phone and on-line, near and far, I had to give up my hope of getting it. Until a day came along when I discovered an option which would solve my problem without throwing myself in the hands of credit companies (I'm a credit-phobic, you know), and happily ordered it from amazon.
It arrived on a lovely winter day, just before Christmas (actually as a Christmas present from my parents) and I snuggled down on the sofa with a mug of hot chocolate and started reading. I was enchanted by the pictures and the promising recipes. They all sound so homely and cosy to me, and I could imagine the family dinners they were served at at Tessa's home quite clearly. The chapter about Cyprus is the fondest to my heart as my honeymoon was there and it was truly one of the best weeks of my life.
The moment I open the book fills my heart with peace, and the possibility of living life so peacefully and casually as the book suggests, seems to be within reach. And suddenly a day of pottering in the kitchen seems like the only possible way to spend a Sunday, without feeling guilty of neglecting other chores.
As I had quite lost my "mojo" recently, that was exactly what I needed last weekend. And since the prospect of having another roast meat with potatoes didn't quite appeal, I was looking for something simple, yet very tasty. And so I found this:

Veal loin with mustard, pancetta and cabbage

I had to improvise a "bit", because all I had was a beef loin (I guess, I'm not too familiar with the parts of beef, to be honest) in the freezer which needed using up, and since my local shops don't stock pancetta, I had to be content with bacon.
The meal is very simple to make: fry the piece of meat on some olive oil in a pan, salt and pepper, then smear over some Dijon mustard - again improvisation as I had only hot, not mild as the recipe suggested -, cover with bacon slices and leaves of savoy or Chines cabbage (I used the former) which had been blanched. Now, as I've never seen caul fat here, I elegantly left out this ingredient and just tied up the meat with a piece of string and placed it in the oven for 1.5 hours (could have been a bit longer as it was not veal but we were hungry), turning it over in the meantime and adding a glass of white wine as well.

The result was fantastic, the boring cabbage was lifted to a higher dimension by the marriage of mustard and bacon. In fact, I was sorry I didn't add more leaves, which I certainly will when I make it next time: for there will be a next time, I'm sure.
I served it with a simple salad of mixed leaves and cherry tomatoes and Bill's olive and rosemary bread. A wonderful combination.


The leftovers were devoured for lunch on Monday and if I may say that, the meat was even better then. Next time I'd make it the day before.

Of course I cannot go past this quickly by Bill's olive and rosemary bread from Every Day. It's a flat bread actually, might even be called a foccaccia, and it's simple and wonderful. The recipe calls for spelt flour which I forgot to buy (I only have wholemeal spelt at home regularly) so I made it from all plain flour.

half a kilo flour
1 tsp honey
300ml tepid water
7 g instant yeast
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sea salt + more for sprinkling
rosemary sprigs and pitted olives

You start by combining half a cup of flour, honey, water and yeast, setting it aside for 10 minutes. Then combine it with all the other ingredients but the rosemary and olives (I did it in the KA) and knead until it is shiny and elastic. Cover and let it rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Knock the dough back and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Knead quickly then stretch it out on an oiled baking tray and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Poke holes in the dough, placing a rosemary sprig or olive in all of them, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.


Bake at 220C for 10 minutes, then at 190C for a further 12-25 minutes.
It's a soft, tasty bread and looks like it keeps very well.