Pork and Apples

What is going on with Melbourne's crazy weather at the moment? One day it's hot and you're wearing shorts and t-shirts and thinking of summer, the next it's cold and wet and you need the heater on to warm up!

Today is unfortunately one of the latter, so something warming and filling is needed for dinner.

Pork and apples are a fabulous combination and can make an ordinary dish wonderful. The key for this recipe is to cook the apples so that they are just starting to fall apart, but not to overcook the  pork. You want it to still be juicy and tender in the middle.

I have used pork fillet for this recipe, but you could equally use chops or cutlets, but might need to adjust the cooking time. The apples could be any variety, but Granny Smiths are great because they add a bit of tartness to the creamy sauce. If you don't have any on hand, use whatever is in the fridge.

Because we have so much spinach in our garden at the moment, I served ours with some wilted greens. The sauce is so good that you might want to just have it with some fresh sourdough or mashed potato to soak up all those amazing juices.

 

Pork with Apples and Cider

400g piece pork fillet
Plain flour for dusting
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbs butter
2 green apples, cored and cut into 8 wedges each
A drizzle of olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 sprigs of thyme
1 1/2 cups dry apple cider
1/4 cup cream
1 Tbs brandy (optional)

Cut the pork fillet in to 3 or 4 even sized pieces and dust with flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Shake off any extra that doesn't stick to the meat.
Heat the butter in a large pan with a lid until sizzling. Fry the apple slices for about 1 minute on each side, or until lightly golden. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add a drizzle of oil to the pan and brown the pork fillet on all sides until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.

To the same pan, add the onion, garlic, thyme and vinegar and sizzle until the vinegar is reduced by half.
Turn down the heat and add the cider. It will bubble up like crazy, but that's fine!
Once the bubbling has settled down, return the pork to the pan, cover and simmer gently for about 30 mins.
Stir every so often to turn the meat over and make sure the pork is covered in the sauce.
After 30 mins, return the apple to the pan and leave the lid off the thicken the sauce slightly.
Cook for another 10 mins, or until the pork is cooked through and the apple is soft, but not quite falling apart.
Slowly stir in the brandy (if using) and cream into the sauce and season to taste. Gently reheat, but don't boil.

Serve with some steamed greens, mashed potato or some nice crusty bread to mop up all the delicious juices!

 And To Drink...

If you're cooking with cider, then you really need to drink it too! This French cider was given to me by my beautiful husband for my birthday this year. It came from the wonderful wine store at Albert Street Food and Wine. It was lovely and dry, but still had plenty of appley flavour and fruitiness to it.

As you'd expect, the fruit flavour in the cider, complemented the apple in the dish. Because I used this cider to cook with too, they had similar flavours. The dryness of the cider and the fizzy bubbles also helped to tone down the creaminess, so it wasn't overpowering.

A wonderful cold weather match!

In summer, or at least when the weather warms up, this cider, or any dry cider for that matter, would be great on its own, sitting outdoors in the sun. Team it with some cheese and crackers for a great afternoon tipple!