The following recipe is mainly a festive one which we did last Christmas. Nevertheless, i guess it is so nice that you can try it anytime you need a more special dinner.
When my mother was here for Christmas we had the opportunity to use her skills for a Christmas dinner table we had to attend. So the idea and recipe is basically hers and i tried to recreate it once more with not the same success i have to say.
As we have said in the past, Christmas is a period where in Greece Pork is the traditional meal and not turkey. Even if that is changing in the last few years we still try to hold the traditions as much as we can.
It is fair to say that i did put a lot of pressure to her to come up with something nice. And she did…
Not sure, if it is the combination of prunes and apricots or the really good pork pieces i had or even the new pressure cooker we used but the food was absolutely mouthwatering and the proof for that were the constant, offensive messages i got on my social media accounts to post that recipe.
The recipe isn’t easy to be honest and you need to look out for some details but definitely it is worth trying. The following ingredients were enough to give a good taste to around 15 people on the day
What we have to say is that the food was prepare in a pressure cooker we got for the first time. I haven’t cooked in a pressure cooker for a long long time and it took me some time to get used of it. However, i think the pork was cooked great and it was one of the softest ones that i have ever tried. It made me think why i wasn’t cooking in a pressure cooker before…
Lastly i need to say that the only reason that i am posting this recipe is because of the immense pressure and bullying i was taking online from some “fans”… You can check the comments to see for yourselves..
INGREDIENTS FOR PORK WITH PRUNES AND APRICOTS
- 2 kilos of pork in big chunks.
- Around 250gr of Prunes without stone
- Around 250gr of appricots without sugar
- 1 small glass of almonds
- 300gr of unsmoked bacon. Typically 6 rashers sliced in big portions
- 250 gr of organic mushrooms
- 150gr of blueberries
- Around 100gr of ginger
- 200gr of white wine
- 200gr of single cream
- 3 meat stock cubes
- Olive Oil, salt, pepper
- 2 large onions
- A handful of pine
HOW TO COOK PORK WITH PRUNES AND APRICOTS
Put some olive oil in the pressure cooker and add the pieces of pork together with the large pieces of onion. Stir them until they are brown from all sides and then add the wine. Add then the trimmed ginger.
In a bowl we add the prunes together with the apricots and cover them with the white wine. Leave them there for at least half an hour.
In the cooker we add the meat cubes as well as salt and pepper Fill it with water until it covers the meat (and a bit more) and then close the lid. Keep the fire in the medium to strong heat. When the steam starts to come out then lower the heat to just enough and let it cook for an hour. After an hour wait until pressure is removed before you open the cooker. (Make sure you read all the instructions carefully if you dont know how to cook with a pressure cooker)
In the meantime in a small pot we add the almonds and we boil them for around 10-12 minutes. Then, letthem to get cold inside the water and start to peel them. If they dont get peeled, boil them a bit more.
We need to have a big deep pan as we will add a lot of ingredients on it. Alternative a deep pot would do. Throw some olive oil on it and the whole mushrooms on it and fry them a bit. When they are done remove them from the heat.
In the same pan add the prunes and appricots and stir them for 2 minutes. Like the mushrooms, remove them from the pan and add them in the same bowl.
Lastly add in the pan the almonds and fry them in the same oil for just a minute.
When the meat is ready, add the prunes/appricots together with the mushrooms and the almonds and keep boil them for 5 more minutes. Becareful dont over do it and they start melting! They need to keep there texture.
In the same time we need to have the blueburry sauce. In a big bowl we remove all the ingredients from the pressure cooker and now we have there only the broth. We use the wine where we had the fruits and add there the cream.
Take the mixture and add it on the broth we have inside the pressure cooker. Heat it up just enough so the mixture gets a good texture.
Remove some of the mixture and add it to a small pot together with the bluberries. Boil them until they become a good sauce with the blueberries to melt.
In the pressure cooker we add again all the ingredients and leave them there until we serve the food. Ideally you want to serve it in a large plate so all the ingredients are visible and clear. Use a small pot for the blueberries sauce next to it.
