This recipe came about more or less by accident. I had planned to try a cake recipe but shortly after I had cooked and eaten this I realised it should probably count as this week's recipe. I wasn't following a recipe but simply threw together a one-pot meal based on what I had in the kitchen.

We have had a pressure cooker for several years but all I have used it for so far is to make soups or stocks. Until today I hadn't used it to cook an actual meal. I had recently bought some pork cheeks and thought a one pot pressure cooker meal might work.

I started by frying some red pepper, onion and garlic for a couple of minutes before adding the cheeks. I then poured a tin of tomatoes into the pressure cooker and added some mixed herbs, a pinch of salt, a generous pinch of smoked paprika and a grind of black pepper. I put the lid on the pressure cooker, brought it up to pressure and cooked for half an hour. I turned the heat off and let the pan cool down enough to let me remove the lid. I added some tomato puree, a bit of cornflour for thickening and a tin of beans.

The meat had gone soft and tender and readily came apart, which was what I'd hoped would happen. The sauce tasted very familiar and after a couple of mouthfuls I realised it was very similar to a recipe from our old Floyd on Spain book: a stew using tomatoes, red peppers and chorizo. I had accidentally recreated something which tasted almost identical to a family favourite recipe which I hadn't had for years.