Cider-braised pork with Sage

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Looking round the garden a couple of days ago I noticed how fine the Sage was looking, and determined to cook something with it, using it at its best.

I decided I would braise a pork chop in cider, with plenty of Sage. This would be an easy dish to do, and very suitable for cooking for one person – as I have had to do these past few days, with Jane being away in France.

As a recipe it could hardly be simpler…

Peel and slice an onion. Place the onion slices in the bottom of a deep, lidded oven-proof dish, along with a few leaves of Sage. Place the pork chop on top of the onion and season it liberally with salt and pepper. Add a few more Sage leaves on top. Add a dessert spoonful of bottled stock (or half a stock cube). Fill the dish right up to nearly the top with the cider, retaining any that is left for topping-up later, if required. Cover and cook in the oven at 160C for two hours.

Cooking time for a dish like this is not critical, and 20 minutes either way wouldn’t make much difference. You just want to make sure that the pork if fully cooked. It should go quite soft when it is done. Check from time to time to ensure that the meat is as submerged as possible, adding a bit more cider (or water) as necessary.

This is the dish when it came out of the oven. I took the Sage leaves out before serving up. They had done their job.

I served mine with home-grown potatoes and carrots and some shop-bought cauliflower.

It was indeed tender and tasty. The taste of the Sage was noticeable but not overpowering – just as it should be. The onions were nice too – soft and “appley”.

In retrospect I feel that the look of this dish could have been enhanced with something green – maybe a sprinkling of chopped fresh Parsley?

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