Pork Fillet in Cinzano and One Pan Mess

I am becoming a little slap dash in the kitchen. I never have an exact plan of what exactly I am going to cook, the equation for what ingredients I use is partly based on what my hand finds first in the veg box, what sort of mood I am in and what meat I have to work with. Yesterday, decided that pan fried pork fillet in white wine was going to be the offering, I discovered [to my absolute shock and horror] that there was no white wine in the house. Even worse was to follow. We only had my beloved Cinzano. Let me explain my relationship with Cinzano, just so you understand what a huge sacrifice I am staring at, having to throw it into a pan of sizzling pork.

Cinzano [or at least the mere thought of it] is what gets me through the hours of doom and gloom [normally 4 - 6 pm in our house], during these hours I normally have one child on my hip needing consoling as their dinner is not yet ready, and the other either whining for attention or wrecking the house. During such times, I don’t bother with deep breaths or counting to ten. I think about which glass I am going to pour my Cinzano into, wether or not I am going to add lemon or lime, sip it neat, or add lemonade [yes, its not very classy, I know!].

So, importance of Cinzano established, you will understand why I almost had to wipe away a tear as it glugged into the pork filled pot.

I consoled myself with the fact that Cinzano contains herbs, so did not need to slop out to the garden to cut any.

Today I surpassed myself with my ingenuity in the kitchen. I had exactly 22 mins to whip up a meal which would feed us all and I only had one pan. Decided that the lamb fillet needed browning, then threw in all the veggies into the same pot, added some herbs and spices, hot water and threw in the rice. Went to collect the boy from the nursery, expecting to come back and find an inedible lump of goo, but it was actually quite tasty.