Recipe No. 6 – Mustardy Pork with Apples.

 

It’s often assumed that red meat shouldn’t be part of a low-cholesterol diet but while it’s true that some meat products are high in saturated fats lean red meat can be quite low in fat (4-8% with the visible fat trimmed). So the advice from all the experts is to eat red meat in moderate amounts and choose the lower fat options when you do. For instance a lean roast pork leg joint would have about a quarter of the fat content of a grilled pork belly joint. Red meat is a superb source of protein, Iron, Zinc, Magnesium and vitamins,especially the B group. Indeed it is the major source of Vitamin B12 which has a key role in the functioning of the brain and nervous system and in the formation of blood. So the advice from the British Nutritional Foundation is :

Choose lean meat. Generally, the more white you can see on raw meat, the more fat it contains. 

Cut off any visible fat and skin before cooking meat and try not to add extra fat or oil.

Try not to eat too many meat products such as sausages, salami, pâté and beef burgers, because these are generally high in fat including saturated fat. They are often high in salt too.

Try using smaller quantities of meat in dishes and more vegetables, pulses and starchy foods e.g. cut down on the meat in casseroles and stews but add extra pulses, pearl barley and vegetables.

Try to grill, roast or microwave meat  rather than frying. Roast meat on a metal rack above a roasting tin, so fat can run off.

So on with the cooking!!!

 

Ingredients

• 4 Pork steaks [trimmed of excess fat]
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2 Apples – cored and cut into 8.
• 1 Onion, halved and sliced.
• Handful of sage leaves – torn into pieces.
• 200ml chicken stock.
• 2 Tablespoons wholegrain mustard.

 

1. Rub the steaks with a little of the oil and season.
2. In a large frying pan brown the steaks on both sides for about 2 minutes each. Set aside.
3. Add the remainder of the oil to the pan and fry the onion, apples and sage for around 5 minutes until the apples have softened.
4. Pour in the stock and spoon in the mustard, return the pork.
5. Simmer for around 10 minutes until the pork is cooked through and the sauce has reduced by around a third.

 

I served the pork with mashed potatoes and spring greens.

After Friday’s poor outcome this was a triumph, full of flavour with the mustard complementing the apples and pork. The pork itself was very tender and had a good flavour, I used ASDA Extra Special Pork steaks and they lived up to their name. An excellent weekend lunch.