I usually am listening to music when I type up these posts. Today I have Halloween Wars on (Zombies vs. Vampires….oooh) and this completely ridiculous ad came on. I wasn’t paying attention, but looked up when I kept hearing “row, row, row”.

So, I searched for it on youtube and of course it was there. Completely ridiculous and silly funny.

There. All I can say is that the evil television made me do it.

Let’s get to the food.

Ever since I had Spiced Pork With Figs at a Tapas restaurant years ago, I’ve been trying different recipes to find a really great one. This recipe here is pretty great.

I served the pork as a main course and wondered what to serve as a side dish. I did a quick look over what I had on hand and put together this spaghetti dish. The nuts, arugula and olives are a really good foil to the sweet, brandy tinged figs.

Spiced Pork With Figs

Ingredients:

2 whole pork tenderloins, trimmed of fat or sinew (each about 1 1/4 pounds) and sliced lengthwise in half, then into 10 cm segments
1/3 cup soft brown sugar
2 tsp five-spice powder
2 teaspoons of kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 Tbs oil
2 Tbs butter
1 cup orange juice
250g dried figs, sliced
2 Tbs brandy

Directions:

1. Combine sugar and spice on a piece of parchment. Roll each tenderloin in the mixture to coat.

2. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat and heat the butter and oil. Cook three pieces of pork at a time until browned on each side, about 3 minutes. Repeat with remaining pork.

3. Return all pork to the pan with the figs, orange juice and brandy. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

4. Remove pork from the pan and slice into pieces. To serve, arrange pork on plates with a little of the pan sauce.

Serves 6

Pasta With Kalamata Olives, Arugula, Walnuts And Parmesan

Ingredients:

1 lb spaghetti
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbs butter
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 bunch baby arugula (rocket)
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
Cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil and butter. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.

3. Place cooked spaghetti into a large bowl and toss with remaining ingredients.

Have you seen this adorable video? It is so much fun. You just have to love Elvis Costello. And Elmo, too.

I have loved Elvis Costello since I first heard (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes from his debut album, ‘My Aim Is True’. Alison still gives me chills.

So many wonderful songs by this man, but Veronica really knocked me over when it came out in 1989. I remember stopping everything, every single time it came on, to take it all in.

This is a really nice demo version of Veronica.
Elvis Costello-Veronica (Demo)

Check out Elvis Costello and buy his music on his Website.

Cheers!