Pork and Bramley Bake

Pork and Bramley apples are natural partners, and this versatile one-pot supper makes an easy family meal.

Serves 4

450g/1lb washed potatoes in wedges
2 small red onions, in wedges
4-8 whole cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 tbsp olive oil
450g/1lb (approx 3) Bramley apples, cored and cut into wedges
4 small pork chops, or equivalent thickly sliced pork steak
A little water or apple juice to moisten
1 tbsp fresh sage leaves or 1 tsp dried sage
A few flakes of butter, or olive oil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/Fan 180ºC/400ºF/ Gas Mark 6.

Place the potatoes or parsnips, onion, garlic and oil in a large roasting tray or dish. Toss together and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, stir in the Bramley wedges, sprinkle with a little water or apple juice and the sage, then lay the pork steaks on top.

Season, dot with a few flakes of butter or a little olive oil, then return to the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the pork is golden and the Bramleys and vegetables are tender.

Serve with seasonal vegetables.

Variation -

This is a similar dish we enjoy regularly in winter: Use thickly sliced parsnips instead of potatoes, replace the red onions with ordinary onions and include a couple of cloves of finely sliced garlic instead of the whole cloves.

Bring all these to the boil in a little apple juice or lightly salted water and simmer for a few minutes while the oven is heating up.

When beginning to soften, turn it all into a buttered baking dish/shallow casserole, add one or two peeled, cored and sliced apples and spread out; settle the chops on the top and sprinkle lightly with a mixture of crushed coriander, allspice, black pepper and salt crystals.

Dot with butter / drizzle with a little olive oil, cover and bake as above, uncovering for the last 10 minutes or to allow the chops to brown and the fat to crispen.

Serve with baked potatoes and other seasonal vegtables.

Deelish.