FOR THOSE WHO ATE AT READ'S! Meal one (served 5): [1] Salmon with Szechuan sauce. [2] Pork + Sweet Potato Pudding. Meal Two (served at a housewarming to 13 people): [1] Chicken + Tarragon Cream sauce. [2] Microwaved Pork Joint. [3] Rice + various vegetables. MEAL 1: This one was served before I left Cambridge! 1st meal had a fish course and a meat course: 1. Salmon with Szechuan sauce. 2. Pork + Sweet Potato Pudding. Some of the ingredients came from the local chinese shop (down Mill Road, around 100 yds before the railway bridge). [1] Number 1 was adapted from a chinese recipe that called for deep frying some other fish in a pint of vegetable oil. Rejected that idea (a) on health grounds (b) because unsuitable for salmon which was nice and cheap in the shops. Kept the sweet, gingery sauce nearly unchanged. Result approved by all, as follows. Served 5. Ingredients: (a) One 3-4 lb salmon. About 1/2 of a coffee mug of red wine vinegar. (b) 1 tablespoon light soy sauce. Two onions. 1 large chunk of ginger. 2 garlic cloves. 2 tablespoons sweet sherry. 1 teaspoon sugar some black pepper. 1 chicken stock cube. (c) 1 tablespoon flour. (d) 1 loaf fresh bread. (e) 1 small lettuce. bunch of spring onions. 4 tomatoes. (f) Hot szechuan bean sauce. Stick ingredients (a) in large oven pan with an extra mug of water, cover with alu foil and cook in oven 180C/350F for initially 30 mins then peek every 15 mins til done, mine took 45. Stick ingredients (b) in food processor and chop up finely. Place in saucepan and add the liquid from part (a) with some extra water. Boil gently to cook the onions. Thicken the sauce with the flour (c). Salmon may be kept hot in a 80C/175F oven for quite a long time without harm, but don't let it dry out - it should of course be deliciously moist. Make a salad with ingredients (e) and serve with the bread (d) to go with the salmon. The bean sauce (f) would normally go in with the other ingredients (b) (2 tablespoons), but my guests included one allergic to chillis, so I let people help themselves. [2] Pork + Sweet Potato Pudding. (a) circa 1kg/2lb of cheap boneless pork joint from the supermarket. (b) 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce. 1 tablespoon soy sauce. 2 onions. 4 garlic cloves. (c) 2 1/2 lbs of sweet potatoes. (d) hot Szechuan bean sauce. (e) 1 1/2 coffee cups of brown rice. 3 coffee cups of water. 1 tin sweetcorn 1 tin petits pois. 1 tablespoon turmeric. Stick (a) in food processor in large chunks (remove the skin first) and chop up for a minute or two to make a superior pork mince. Remove, and use the food processor again to chop up and mix (b). Mix (a) and (b) by hand in a bowl. Peel & chop up (c) into slices. Place layers of sweet potato/pork mince mix in one of those unglazed earthenware casseroles (Schlemmertopf?) that you soak in water before using to keep the contents moist when cooking. I also put a layer of vegetable oil around the inside of the pot to prevent sticking. Place the pot into a pan with some water in the bottom of the pan to further keep things moist, and cook in the oven at 180C/350F for 2 1/2 hours. Bean sauce (d) could be added (2 tablespoons) to (b) but again I served it separately. While the main pot is in the oven, make a `dirty rice' with ingredients (e), gently boiling them for about 3/4 hour - I like doing this in a heavy cast iron pot which can be used to serve it up. May need to add a little water while cooking the rice brew. MEAL TWO: This one was created for the first housewarming party in Leeds. (I intend to have more than one because I am a coward about catering for more than about a dozen people at a time. This meal served 13 people quite generously, as one should at a party..) [1] Chicken + Tarragon Cream sauce. [2] Microwaved Pork Joint. [3] Rice + various vegetables. [1] Take 15 chicken joints and fry them in batches in a little olive oil to seal in the juices. Stick in 3 large pots with some water, generous tsp. of tarragon and a chicken stock cube in each pot, plus fry up an onion or two and add to the pots likewise. Simmer until cooked. Thicken the sauce with some flour paste. Finally add 1/4 pint of cream to each pot and stir well. Cream + tarragon complements the chicken flavour well. [2] Take the largest pork joint you can find in the Leeds market, spike it several times with Ye Trusty Paring Knife, put garlic cloves in the holes, stick in microwave which fortunately has one of those cuddly little thermostat gadgets that you just stick in the meat and it cooks it for you. Set the thermostat to circa 65 centigrade (temperature you want the core of the meat to be at - pork should be well done) and the power to "roast". Eat it when it's ready, circa 100 minutes for the mega 2.5kg joint. [3] Get Mother to do the veggies in the oven. For the rice, take 1 kg of dry rice and 3 times its volume of water in a fourth large pot. Simmer until the rest is ready.