Made up Pork Stew FTW!

Okay, before this becomes yet another recipe lost to RDD, I am going to do my best to recite whatever the heck I just did tonight because after he consumed it my husband pronounced it “delightful” without any prompting.  Here’s how it happened.

This came in our last CSA shipment – note that first modifier. FRESH ham steak – not an actual cured hunk of ham, but the fresh stuff which essentially just means a hunk of pork cut from the region of the pig the ham comes from. Soooo? What exactly do I with that? I decided to forget about the “ham” part of the description and focus on the fresh part, and treat it like some other pork chunk like shoulder. I could always go for one of my new stand-by’s, Pam Anderson’s Pork Stew with Sweet Potatoes, but I just made that a week or so ago and it was time to change it up. I also loved that Cider Braised Pork with Caramelized Onions from Sassy Radish, so I thought maybe I could put some similar flavors to work for me. So, here it goes before I forget…

Preheat oven to 450.
Cut pork into 1″ cubes.
Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.
Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
Brown the pork on all sides, remove from skillet.
Add a cup or so each of chopped onion & celery, cook till softened.

(Avoid cutting finger/fingernail with knife and ensuing search for missing fingernail bit. If unavoidable, wash wound, bandage, and wonder why it really didn’t hurt until 20 minutes later.)

Add two cloves minced garlic and a pinch of rosemary, cook 30 seconds.
Add 1/4 cup flour, mix.
Put pork back in pan along with a cup or so of sliced carrot.
Add two cups chicken broth or stock and one cup apple cider.
Stir, bring to a boil.
Cover surface with foil and cover pan with tight-fitting lid.
Put pan in oven, wait one hour.
After abour 1/2 an hour or so, boil a large pot of water with some salt.
Cook some egg noodles, drain, add a pat of butter.
Remove stew from oven, serve over noodles.

Delightful!

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