Nigella's Pork with Cider and Mustard Sauce

The other week I was on a "Nigella Express" kick. After making the Chicken and White Wine Sauce with Bacon, I tried this recipe that uses two things I love: Mustard and Cider!

We liked it, but it was a little too similar to the chicken to have had the following night. As with the chicken, in an attempt to make a little more sauce, I added cream cheese, though not as much as in the chicken. I've got a jar of pink peppercorns that I wish I would have thought of. It would have been a nice addition to add them, slightly crushed.

Like the book, I also served with gnocchi. I've only had gnocchi twice, once in Italy and the second at a local "authentic" Italian restaurant. The ones I used were store bought, imported from Italy, but left me feeling a little deflated. The ones I've had previously were like divine little pillows of potato bliss, while there were heavy and stogy. I'm not sure if this is to be expected, or if I had overcooked them? Anyway, I think I'll leave gnocchi to the experts!

Nigella's Chicken with White Wine and Bacon Sauce

I was inspired by Jane's recent post to make Nigella's Chicken with White Wine and Bacon Sauce. Things were going well until I accidentally evaporated some of the sauce. To make up for it, I did a few variations:

1. First of all, I had decided to add some garlic, rosemary, and thyme. This was pre-chopped and in a bowl waiting to be added in at the end.
2. After my sauce had evaporated, I added another large splash of wine.
3. While it looked good, I felt that it was a little to thin and lacking something... CREAM! As I didn't have any cream, I used a trustworthy stand-by: Cream Cheese. I added one LARGE spoonful of whipped cream cheese and whisked it all together.
4. I then added the crumbled bacon to the saucepan, stirred, then returned the chicken to coat with the sauce.

It was really good. While it did have a slight yellow tinge, it is nowhere near as yellow as my photo. The color balance was off, and I can't be bothered to Photoshop it. The only complaint we had was the white wine I used. While it was good, it was a very floral/fruity wine and it needed something oakier to balance off the bacon. I used Ménage à Trois White, which would have been good without the bacon and with tarragon.

Here are a few things I might try adding in the future:

• Mushrooms
• Leeks
• Mustard
• Tarragon

As for the Butternut Squash (and this is more of a reminder for myself), I cooked it per the instructions in Nigella Express, only coating it in olive oil and then sprinkling it with sea salt, rosemary, thyme, and hot pepper flakes.