Cider Apple Pork with Mushrooms
Of course, cider and apples are very traditional with pork, but I wanted to add just a little something more. The result here is surely pretty and flavourful enough for any occasion and no undue stresses involved either.
The apple element is added in a very lazy way, but you can of course take the long route if you wish.
Ingredients
4 pork shoulder steaks
2 onions, finely chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic
4 rashers smoked streaky bacon
200g mushrooms, sliced
1 good tbsp. full fat créme fraiche
1 tsp. grainy Dijon mustard
1 generous tbsp. apple sauce from a jar
2 tsps. redcurrant jelly
150ml cider
Salt and pepper
Oven 160c or 140c fan
Method
Sweat the finely chopped onion with a drop of oil and a pinch of salt in a pan until translucent Using a pair of scissors, snip in the bacon and stir around until the bacon turns golden
Stir in the garlic and mushrooms Add the créme fraiche and stir for a minute or two whilst it bubbles and thickens
Stir in the Dijon mustard, apple sauce, redcurrant jelly and cider. Bring back to simmering. Taste, season with pepper and salt if it needs it (the bacon may be salty)
Now, lie the pork steaks in one closely fitting layer in a roasting pan and pour over the mushroomy sauce
Cover tightly with foil and cook in the oven for about one and a half hours, by which time the pork should be soft and yielding.
Serve the pork with the onions, mushroom, bacon, etc. piled on top of each steak and drizzle with a little sauce. Serve any remaining sauce in a jug so that people can help themselves.
Helpful Hints
Always allow for a little extra cooking time. It may not be necessary, but the pork will wait happily and it is very tiresome if you are famished and more cooking is needed.
I do not include a step where the meat is browned as it is unnecessary and makes vanishingly little difference to the end result
If you have a good grater (and a quality grater is worth every penny), the easiest way to add garlic is to grate it in.
You may not need all the 150ml cider, but you do want to add enough sauce to almost cover the pork in the roasting pan. The juices will increase in volume as everything cooks.
When you taste for seasoning the sauce may seem a little sharp, but the redcurrant jelly will counteract this as it melts during cooking.
A slug of Calvados would, of course, take everything up a grade.
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