Pork, Apple and Parsnip Stew

Something has to change.  We almost have two freezers full of delicious leftovers and yet we keep adding to our stocks by continually cooking really nice food.   Once the Olympic Food Challenge is over we will have to try to eat at least one "ready meal" a week.  We'll also have to try even harder to cook just enough food for the three of us and not be so greedy with our portions.

Because of a scheduled gap in my Olympic Food Challenge timetable, we have been able to start the freezer cull tonight and what a way to start.  Hopefully you will recall the pork and apple crumble that I made a few months ago.  As normal I made too much and the remaining filling for the dish was frozen.  When we defrosted the pork it turned out that I hadn't been too generous with my quantities.  We had considered bulking out the sauce with mushrooms but when shopping for them I found some parsnips and knew immediately that they would be a much better addition to the meal.

As well as the parsnips, I also added some light vegetable stock as I remembered that the crumble had been a little bit dry and freezing never improves this.  I served the finished stew with boiled potatoes and steamed broccoli, which coincidently is the same vegetable combination that we had with the crumble.  Having now eaten the filling twice we will definitely be making pork and apple crumble again*.

*Once we have got this wonderful summer out of the way and we can return to nice comforting wintry cooking.

Pork and Apple Crumble

Isn't it strange where inspiration comes from.  Last week on Twitter I noticed a conversation, which went a little like this;

@PeopleOfUK "What are some of your food must-haves and obsessions?!"

@fflowerstar "Apple Crumble & Pork, obviously not together! If one follows the other though I'm in food heaven!!"

@EwanMitchell "I bet you could do a really nice pork and apple crumble."

The conversation moved on to include pork and apple crumble cook-offs and the promise of home delivery of ramekins of tasty food but the thought stuck in my head.  It must be possible to make a really nice pork and apple crumble.

I think Mum and Z were a bit disappointed at first.  When I announced that I was making Pork and Apple Crumble they must of heard "I'm making Pork, and Apple Crumble."  I started with the pork.  I fried cubes of pork shoulder in batches, after dusting it in seasoned flour.  I then fried onions, bacon and garlic before putting the pork back in the pan and adding a chopped leek.  After frying the mixture for a couple of minutes I added a bottle of cider, brought the pan to the boil and then let it simmer, covered, for around an hour.

The crumble topping was made with flour, butter, mixed herbs and parmesan cheese rubbed together until they resembled bread crumbs, or that's what I thought.  The butter was far too warm, as was I, and the whole lot came together as a big dough ball.  Extra flour was added and a lighter touch used and soon I had what was needed.  The pork was transferred to a baking dish, a layer of thinly sliced bramley apples was laid on top and then the whole lot was covered with the crumble.  This was then baked for around thirty minutes.

The finished crumble was great but it needs some tweaks for its next outing.  The pork was really well cooked but the sauce had reduced too much so the dish was a little dry.  I also used too much of the crumble mixture which meant it wasn't crumbly and crunchy all the way through.  So, can you make a really nice pork and apple crumble? Yes you can.