Hi, guys!
Andreea at the keyboard. I’m Mihai’s lovely and modest girlfriend and today I’m taking his place in this yummy little world.
I’m not nearly as good as Mihai in the kitchen area, but I do love experimenting and throwing anything at the tip of my hands in a pan. With great results in most cases!
After reading Peter Mayle’s series of adventures in Provence and dreaming on a 24-hour basis about the beauty and the richness of provencal menus, I thought I should experiment bringing Provence a bit closer to me (if I can’t go to Provence, I’ll bring Provence to me!).
So, I had some pork meat in my fridge and looked up the internet for a ‘Provencal pork recipe’. I found tons of recipes but I had to make a mixture of the most practical ones – I really couldn’t find fennel or thyme in a 1km radius from my home.
The experiment turned out to be such a delight that I had to convince Mihai to let me write a guest post here and share it with you all! If it truly resembles to Provence’s renowned dishes, I will tell you for sure when I get there (or if any provencal gourmet could confirm).
Bon appétit!
- 4 – 5 medium size potatoes peeled and diced
- butter
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- rosemary, add to taste
- 4 pork scruff slices
- 1 red medium onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 medium chopped tomatoes
- a few black olives (I used around 15)
- olive oil
- rosemary, add to taste
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- white wine vinegar
- For the potatoes. Preheat your oven at 200°C/392°F. Slightly butter an oven proof dish, add a teaspoon of olive oil and add the potatoes, season with salt, pepper and rosemary then place the dish in the oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- For the pork. First, season the meat with with salt and pepper and let it rest until you finish chopping all the other ingredients. Chop the onion, the garlic and the tomatoes so that you have them all ready to be cooked.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick pan and fry the pork for a few minutes on each side, until it turns brownish. Take it out and leave it on a plate to rest.
- Add the chopped onion in the heated (now empty) pan and fry it for a few minutes. I also added a little bit more olive oil (about a teaspoon). Then add the garlic and the rosemary and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Finally, add the tomatoes and the olives and let the mix cook for 5-10 minutes. During this time, add 1 ½ tablespoons of white vinegar and 1 ½ tablespoons of wine (I only had red) for a bit of flavour.
- Place the pork back in the pan and add about half a glass of water and 1 tablespoon of wine, then cover the pan with a lid. Leave it to cook like that for about 45-60 minutes (I like it well cooked so I slightly surpassed those 60 minutes), but make sure to turn the meat from time to time so that it’s well fried on each side. The meat should look beautifully brown when it’s ready and the water in the pan should have basically flashed into steam.
