Cidered Pork with Red Cabbage
2 hours 35 minutes
Slow cooking makes this hearty stew perfect for cool autumn days. Experiment with different types of apple – Granny Smith are tart and tangy and Golden Delicious are juicy and mild.
Elaine Russell
1 person made this
Ingredients
Serves: 6
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 500g lean boneless pork shoulder, cut into bite-sized cubes
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 green apples, peeled, cored and diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 2 tbsp raisins
- 2 cups (500ml) cider
- 1 cup (250ml) salt-reduced chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp fresh thyme leaves, or to taste
- pinch of ground cinnamon
- pinch of ground allspice
- 12 pitted prunes
- ½ red cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tbsp no-salt-added tomato paste
- pepper to taste
- 500g small pasta shapes, such as shells (conchiglie) or ears (orecchiette)
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Directions
Preparation:20min ›
Cook:2hours15min ›
Ready in:2hours35min
- Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan or flameproof casserole dish, add the cubes of pork and cook until they are starting to brown. Add the onions and continue to cook until the pork and onions are both lightly browned, stirring occasionally to prevent them sticking.
- Stir in the apples, carrot, raisins, cider, stock, bay leaves, thyme, cinnamon and allspice. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cover the pan. Cook over a very low heat for about 1 hour.
- Mix in the prunes and red cabbage and cover the pan again. Continue to cook gently for a further 1 hour or until the meat is very tender.
- Stir in the tomato paste with pepper to taste. Leave to cook gently, covered, while you cook the pasta.
- Cook the pasta shapes in a large saucepan of boiling water according to the packet instructions.
- Drain the pasta, then divide among six bowls. Ladle the cidered pork over. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Some more ideas…
Chunky borscht: Increase the stock to 1 litre. In step 3, add 3–4 grated cooked beetroot, 1 tbsp sugar and the juice of 1 lemon. Taste for sweet-sour balance, adding a little extra lemon juice or sugar, if needed. Ladle the borscht over pasta shells in deep bowls. Top each with a dollop of plain low-fat yogurt and a sprinkling of fresh dill.
Health points
Prunes provide useful amounts of potassium, iron and vitamin B6. They are also a good source of dietary fibre.
