Apple Pork

I got caught out one time when on holiday with my husband’s family.  We were staying in a holiday cottage and I learned mid morning that 26 people were descending on us for a meal that night.

Not only was I flummoxed as to what to feed them, I was thrown by timings, we agreed on 7pm but some members were stuck on a sand bank and unable to make it till 9pm so I kept topping up my apple sauce and lowering the heat until I had a firm time.  My kitchen equipment was also sorely lacking and there was a lot of make do and adaptation before we served this very basic meal to a really quite appreciative family.

Ingredients

Pork chop / loin steak per person

Apple juice

Jar of chicken tonight white sauce or condensed mushroom soup

Lay the pork chops in a flat dish and cover with plenty of apple juice.  

Bake in a medium oven not allowing the apple juice to run dry, turning occaisionally.

Half an hour before eating add jar / soup to the dish and stir gently, turn heat up on oven.

Don’t let meat dry out.   Serve with mashed potato and veg of your choice.  Carrots or green veg add a great splash of colour.

On my return home I have varied this in different ways including,   sprinkling dried wild mushrooms in as I added the soup.   Also making a breadcrumb crust can add additional crunch.   I have discovered on particularly lazy days that Waitrose sell different crusts in little tubs.  Fabulously easy, looks and tastes a million dollars.

Home family cooking

Don’t you just find it so difficult to provide nutritious meals that all the family will eat.  I am a working mother also trying to find time to become a writer and sometimes preparing and cooking a meal the whole family will eat is not easy at the end of a hellish day at work.

 I hope that some of these meals will entice and delight your taste buds, whilst bringing a feeling of nostalgia to the table as you eat in a large family group.

I don’t always follow a recipe despite having a million and one different recipe books.  I prefer to use the books to inspire and adapt according to what is in the cupboard or readily available.  I measure in a very sporadic way, adding a bit here and not so much there depending again on taste and availability.  Often I will use a jar or ready prepared ingredient for time saving or taste.

I might credit the basic recipe to a book or TV chef but can never recreate the exact taste, as I don’t know which ingredient created the comfort taste the family craved.

Some recipes will be for the whole family, some will be for the children and some just simply for a quiet night ‘a la deux’.   Some will be taken from meals my children prepared or helped with. Some will be slow cooked to allow for working or a day out and some will be thrown together at the last moment.  All I hope will be delicious and easy to follow.

I will not include pepper and salt in a recipe as this is a matter of choice particularly where the children are concerned, if something particularly needs a bit of a kick I might add it but this is for your own liking and that of your family.

Cream can usually be changed to low fat fromage frais or low fat crème fraiche.  These recipes are not cast in stone.  You adapt them to your lifestyle and taste and they are here simply as a catalyst for your own creativity.

Please leave a comment if you try the recipes; there will be ample opportunity for your own additions so please let me know how they turn out. 

I am very much a gadget person and if there is an available gadget that I find invaluable I will use it and let you know where you can hopefully still buy them.

Enjoy

Tiggy