Potato-crusted pork with braised red cabbage
A creamy honey mustard sauce makes this unusual pork and braised red cabbage dish into something special.
Ingredients
For the braised red cabbage
- ½ red cabbage (roughly 430g/15oz)
- 25g/1oz butter
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 bay leaf
- 150ml/5fl oz cider
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp light brown muscovado sugar
- 1 red eating apple, quartered, cored and sliced into 1cm/½ slices
- flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pork
- 4 pork loin steaks
- 4 tsp wholegrain mustard
- 800g/1lb 2oz Maris Piper potatoes, peeled
- 150g/4oz butter, melted, plus extra for frying
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 banana shallot, peeled and finely sliced
- 1 tsp plain flour
- 450ml/16fl oz cider
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tsp light brown muscovado sugar
- 1 tbsp clear honey
- 100³¾±ô/3½´Ç³ú double cream
Method
Begin by preparing the braised cabbage. Remove the tough outer layer of the cabbage and cut out the core from the centre. Cut the cabbage in half again and finely slice down the longer side of the cabbage to give long strands. Heat the butter in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion until soft, but not coloured.
Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and bay leaf followed by the cabbage, cider, vinegar and sugar. Stir well, bring the liquid to a simmer and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally until the liquid has evaporated and the cabbage is tender.
Stir in the apple slices, replace the lid and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the cabbage is very tender.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180(Fan)/Gas 6.
While the cabbage is cooking, prepare the pork. Trim any excess fat from the side of the pork steak and season well on both sides with sea salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Spread a teaspoon of the wholegrain mustard over the pork.
Coarsely grate the potatoes and, with clean hands, squeeze hard to remove as much of the excess liquid as possible. Mix the squeezed potato with the melted butter and a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Take a quarter of the potato and pack it down on top of the pork to form a potato layer.
Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan. Fry two of the steaks for two minutes on each side, using two spatulas to flip the steaks, keeping the potato on top. Place the steaks onto a baking tray. Fry the remaining two steaks, place onto the tray and cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
While the pork is cooking, return the pan used to cook the pork to a low heat. Add the shallot and fry for two minutes, or until soft. Sprinkle over the flour and stir well with a wooden spoon.
Gradually add the cider, stirring constantly to remove any lumps of flour. Stir in both of the mustards, sugar and honey and simmer for 4-5 minutes, or until the volume of liquid has almost reduced by half. Stir in the cream and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until again reduced by half and the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.
Remove the pork from the oven and leave on a board to rest for five minutes. Serve with a pile of red cabbage and coat with the creamy mustard sauce.