Apples! Redux
I want to thank all the people who responded to my call for recipes including apples - your comments were very inspiring. The least I can do in return is share some of the stuff I end up actually doing with my apples. Here's what I did today:
Sage and rosemary flavoured pork and apples:
4 large pork chops
3 apples, halved and cored
2 parsley roots, peeled and diagonally sliced
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1½ tbsp each olive oil and butter
12 leaves of sage
2 sprigs rosemary, broken into 6 pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Heat the olive oil and butter in a saucepan and fry the halved apples, parsley root slices and onions at medium heat until they begin to caramelise slightly.
Layer fruit and vegetables with the pork chops in a Römertopf (unglazed ovenproof ceramic dish with lid), seasoning between layers with sage leaves, rosemary, salt and pepper.
If you like, top with a few slices of panchetta or other dry cured ham.
Cover the dish and bake for 45 minutes at 185° Centigrade.
I served mine with basmati rice and steamed buttered sugar snap peas. A good heavy bread and some steemed beans would do the trick as well.
Yum! The flavours blended perfectly and the meat was so tender you could cut it with a fork.
Rosemary and sage flavoured applesauce
Ask each family member to peel and core 4 apples - in my case that gave me 16 apples.
Cut into small pieces and place in a deep saucepan.
Plunge two sprigs of sage and the leaves of two sprigs rosemary in among the apples, add about 100 ml cold water and bring to the boil.
Let the apple sauce simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently until the apples break up and the sauce is done.
Sweeten to taste if wanted - I leave mine unsweetened and freeze smaller portions in plastic bags for use later on, that way I can sweeten it to taste later according whichever dish I wish to use it for.
Thank you for inspiring me - I hope this may return the favour to some. :)