Ingredients:

One pork loin joint or six thickly sliced loin steaks (free range if possible, it tastes FAR better!)

1 small bottle of vintage medium-dry cider

200g shallots, sliced thinly.

A knob of butter (not margarine!)

Bundle of fresh thyme

1 garlic clove or a teaspoon of puree

1L mixed pork and beef stock (made from cubes/granules, or fresh if you have some)

Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt

Corn flour

2 tbs Creme Fraiche

Instructions:

Season the joint of meat or the steaks well and cook in the oven with half the thyme sprigs at 180 degrees centigrade, until they are tender (if using steaks place in a roasting tin so they are standing up and the fat is able to crisp nicely).

Meanwhile, fry the shallots in the butter until they are soft  Add the thyme leaves and cider and reduce until the alcohol has evaporated (you’ll be able to tell when this is by the smell).

Add the stock and continue to reduce until around 0.5L remains.

Stir a couple of teaspoons of cornflour into half a cup of cold water and add to the stock mixture slowly, stirring continuously to prevent it going lumpy.

Finally, take off the heat and add the creme fraiche and extra seasoning, to taste, stirring slowly. Return to the heat to simmer for a couple of minutes, along with any juices you may have in the roasting tray, whilst you carve the pork into thick steaks and serve.

Pour sauce over meat just before serving.

Note: you don’t want the sauce to become too thick as it’s far nicer when there’s enough to be soaked up by the rice to keep the meal moist.

Serves six.

Total time 2 hours (give or take, depending on the size of the joint) or an hour if you’re using steaks.

Serve with boiled white rice (you can add a small amount of wild rice for texture and appearance but this will require a longer cooking time than the white), fresh broccoli florets and peas.

If you liked this recipe you might also like the following:

http://notecook.com/main-course/meat/roast-sirloin-with-charlotte-potatoes-red-wine-and-port-a-gluten-free-recipe/