Thursday, February 19, 2009

Pork Steaks with Brown Sugar Apples and Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My

This was our dinner last night, adapted from a new cookbook that I'm spinning around, Donna Hay's New Food Fast. I really like another Donna Hay cookbook I picked up on clearance a while ago. I think that's called Off the Shelf. Pretty sweet, actually, for recipes and I really like the design of her books. Clean, organized, but still packed with info.

I used a bit of Augustus, our pig. In fact, I used ham steaks, but they're fresh ham. Didn't have it smoked. Delicious. Ate the rest today for lunch. One big steak fed all of us quite handily. The apples were terrific--a fairly sophisticated (but easy) take on applesauce. You know, like applesauce with caramel, because plain applesauce is so like yesterday.

I'm always on the prowl for meals I can make after a long day of work. This fits the bill. The only thing I did ahead of time was put the pork in the marinade in the morning, but that took all of 2 minutes.

4 pork steaks, or one ham steak, large, about 1-2cm thick (probably a bit over a pound)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped sage (I used 2 teaspoons dried)
2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 red sweet apples, sliced thickly--about 1cm
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter

Mix marinade in a dish or ziploc bag. Put pork in. Set aside, or in fridge, or whatever works.

For apples, melt the butter in a large, heavy frying pan over medium high heat. Put the brown sugar in a bowl, and start tossing slices in the sugar. From the bowl, start laying them in the frying pan. No layering. Keep tossing and adding apples (I did about a batch and a half). Cook the slices 2-3 minutes per side until golden and soft, but not mush. Put on plates. Scrape out the caramel-y yummy sauce.

Wipe pan clean-ish with a wet paper towel and return to medium high heat. Drain the pork (save the sauce) and cook 3-5 minutes per side. Set aside to rest for a moment, while you throw marinate into the pan and reduce until thick (only a minute or two). When meat has rested for a few minutes, cut into portions (if you're using a big ham steak), and serve topped with a bit of sauce.

Would be great with a bit of spinach sauteed just for a minute--the sauce would be quite tasty on top of the greens.

Or with a giant cookie later, which is what I did.

Tonight it's leftover tomato sauce with short ribs and cinnamon. Recipe to follow. It's a slow cooker favorite and makes a couple of short ribs easily do 3-4 meals. I am a HUGE beef short rib fan. HUGE.

PS: Re the beets....Watch out for #2 with blueberries and PeptoBismol. It's always fun to have an appointment with somebody who is convinced they're going to die and you say, Nah, it's only the Pepto. I'm a superhero for a moment AND I get paid.

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