Some things are just meant to go together: scallops and black pudding, hot buttered toast and marmite, candlelight and a jacuzzi bath. And pork and apples. And sage.
So, this evening, while Hurricane Bawbag is was doing its worst out there I was cooking up a storm in my wee kitchen, creating another delicious low-carb supper: pork with apple and sage, with savoy cabbage.
Pork with apple and sage
a knob of butter
a glug of olive oil
2 pork loin steaks, about 1″ thick
1 apple (I used a British cox as I am a bit of a fascist about eating our homegrown orchard fruit in this country – and cox’s are so tasty)
about 100ml dry cider
2-3 TBsps creme fraiche
a few sage leaves finely chopped
- Melt the butter with the olive oil over a medium heat, till the butter is foaming, but not burning
- Place the pork in the pan, and season with salt and pepper
- Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side
- While the pork is cooking, peel the apple and cut in half. Remove the core, by cutting a V shape with a sharp knife
- Cut the apple halfs into slices about 1/4″ thick and add them to the pan, squidging them in between the pork loins
- Cook for another 5 minutes or so, turning the apples over once or twice, till they are soft, and slightly caramelised at the edges
- Now chuck in the cider, sage and the creme fraiche and stir it around
- Turn up the heat and let it bubble away
- Ideally you want the sauce to reduce a bit so you haven’t got too much of it, and it’s not too thin.. if it’s all too wet, you might want to remove the pork for a bit, so it doesn’t dry out too much, but you still get the sauce reduced
This was delicious served with lightly boiled savoy cabbage. It could comfortably have garlic and onions added, but really it doesn’t need them – the sharp sweetness of the apple, combined with creaminess is a perfect accompaniment to the pork.
If you want this to be more low fat, use half fat creme fraiche (and less of it), and don’t bother with the butter. And remove all fat from the pork loin. But really? Why would you? I lost 2lbs this week – from eating good filling protein rich meals, with lots of greens, but no carbs. And believe me, this is much more fun than going low fat!
Shewolfinthevalley 
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