I came up with this recipe while reading one of my historic fiction novels (Lady of the Ravens is a rather good book, for any fans of the early Tudor period). Food at the time was surprisingly spicy, using ingredients such as the cinnamon, nutmeg and dried ginger, especially by the wealthy, who could afford to buy them. British cuisine traditionally serves pork with apples, hence I decided to use those within the recipe to make this bake. For a boozier take, feel free to use cider instead of the apple juice. Chicken legs would also work really well instead of the pork.
Ingredients:
70 g Butter, cut in half
250 g pork shoulder
2 tbsp flour, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste
1 leek, washed, halved and cut into half moons
500 g cabbage
1 courgette, cut into thin batons
1/4 nutmeg, grated
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dried ginger
2 garlic cloves, grated
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup Apple juice, plus more as required
2 cooking apples, cored and sliced into thin half moons
Method:
Dredge the diced pork with the seasoned flour. Melt half the butter in a lidded casserole pot and add the pork, browning on all sides on high heat. Remove the pork from pot and set aside.
Add the rest of the butter to the same pot. Once melted and foaming, add the leek and fry until soft.
Add the garlic and cabbage and fry for a few minutes until the cabbage has wilted. Cabbage freezes easily, so feel free to do this if you have any left and aren't planning on using it soon. If you already have frozen cabbage like i did, use this.
Add the pork back into the pot. Add the spices and apple juice and stir. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with a lid and put in the oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes.
Slice the courgette into matchsticks and add them to the pot. You may need to add a little more apple juice at this stage if it's looking dry. You are aiming for a little sauce at the bottom of the pot but not too much, unless you want to make this into a soup. If this is the case, feel free to add another two to three cups of apple juice. Just remember that you may need to adjust the spices too. Put back into the oven for another 20 minutes.
Slice the apples into thin half moons and place along the top of the meat. Cover with the lid and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees C until the apples are cooked through. If you are aiming for a soupier consistency, just stir the apple slices in instead of laying them along the top.
Serve with hunks of bread or boiled rice if desired.
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