Tag: Dried Apples

Silesian Heaven – 2

  • Silesian Heaven  – Śląskie niebo
  • Previously I cooked this dish more as a gulasz (casserole).
  • I really liked the mixture of dried fruits: apples, apricots and prunes.
  • Use dried pears also if you can source these.
  • The fruits are rehydrated overnight.
  • I thought why not use this mixture as the base of a roast pork dish as in an old Polish style or as in More Pork and Prunes.

INGREDIENTS

  • Piece of pork loin or leg for roasting
  • 300g of mixed dried apples, apricots and prunes
  • Plain flour & pepper
  • A little oil to seat the joint

METHOD

  • Place the dried fruits in a bowl and cover with boiling water.
  • Leave overnight.
  • *
  • Preheat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Roll the joint in flour and pepper.
  • Seal lightly on all sides.
  • Place all the fruits and liquid at the base of  an oven roasting tin – one with a lid.
  • Place the joint on top.
  • Put the lid on top.
  • Cook in the oven for the time required for the weight of meat.
  • *
  • You can take the lid off nearer the end of the cooking time.
  • *
  •  Serve the meat surrounded by the fruits.
  • *
  • NOTE – how much the fruits are cooked will depend on the size of the joint.

  • Served here on a serving dish by Allenton & Son

Option

  • Prior to serving, cover and keep the meat warm.
  • Remove the fruits and place in a saucepan with a little more water.
  • Heat with stirring to make them more  a thick sauce.

Silesian Heaven

  • Just back from a short holiday in Wroclaw which is in Silesia, Poland.
  • In a restaurant in the Old Town  I had Silesian Heaven  – Śląskie niebo – which was delicious.
  • Dried fruits such as apples, apricots, pears and  prunes are cooked with pork.
  • I have several recipes for pork with prunes – this has even more fruitiness.
  • This would have been a recipe for the winter months using all these dried fruits.

IMG-20230217-WA0003 (2)

  • I looked up several recipes for this.
  • I decided that shoulder pork would be the best option.
  • I used dried apples, apricots and prunes – I did not find any dried pears.
  • The recipe has to be started the evening before by soaking the dried fruits.
  • Some recipes cooked the pork and fruits for the same time BUT this makes the fruits like a thick sauce – this way I think is better.
  • NOTE
  • The prunes and apricots I used were the soft kind now more available –
  • If using the traditional very dried fruits you could adapt the timing of the fruit addition to earlier in the cooking.

Ingredients

  • 1kg of shoulder pork – steaks
  • 250g of prunes, dried apricots and dried apples
  • 750ml of vegetable or chicken stock
  • Sunflower oil for frying
  • Salt & pepper
  • Juice of 1 lemon

Method

  • Cover the dried fruits with boiling water.
  • Leave overnight.
  • *
  • Preheat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
  •  
  • Fry the pork on both sides.
  • Place the pork in an ovenproof dish.
  • Pour the stock over this and stir.
  • Place a lid over the dish.
  • Cook for around 2 hours.
  • Season with salt and pepper.
  • *
  • Add the dried fruits and the liquid.
  • Add more liquid if a lot has evaporated.
  • Stir and put back in the oven for another hour.
  • *
  • Pour the lemon juice over top before serving.
  • *
  • Here served with pearl barley – but buckwheat or rice would be good or  boiled or mashed potatoes or potato dumplings.

Royal Doulton – Burgundy plate

OPTION – To be tried later

  • Use a joint of pork and roast over the dried fruits.
  • Similar to the recipe for Pork & Prunes.