Caitríona Redmond: Apple sauce really makes my cider and mustard pork

Caitríona Redmond: Apple sauce really makes my cider and mustard pork

Who knew that apples could be so versatile? If you grow your own apples or even if you’ve managed to glean a few windfalls I hope that my tried and tested methods will help you save a bit of money on fresh fruit this autumn. 

All of these kitchen adventures have saved me a packet but also given me plenty of memories of working together with the family to preserve what we have grown.

It’s harvest time for my apple tree at the moment and because all the apples ripen at the same time I need to preserve and use the fruit because I certainly don’t have the space to store 200 fresh eating apples. 

I’m often given windfalls from local allotments and family members who grow apples as well.

Storing apples requires a cool dark space. Apples keep incredibly well in the fridge for over a month. It’s great news for longevity but they take up quite an amount of storage.

The first thing I do after picking is to check over each piece of fruit for bumps and bruises because they don’t last as long in storage. Any apple that’s looking a little bit worse for wear goes into my stewing pile.

For the perfectly firm and unblemished apples I use a home dehydrator which transforms most fruit into a wonderful chewy texture. I thinly slice the fruit crossways and dunk the cut slices into a bath of water and lemon juice to prevent the slices from browning too early. 

The finely sliced apples become apple chips or crisps in less than 24 hours. This can also be done in a fan oven set to low (approx. 60 degrees heat) over several hours until the apple has shrunk in volume and become brittle

Once dried, the fruit slices will keep in a sterilised and well-sealed container for many months. Slicing and drying is a cycle that is repeated many times over a fortnight, but it certainly gives a little peripheral heat in the house when the temperatures outdoors are beginning to drop. 

The kids take the apple chips to school lunch because they are chewy and sweet and guaranteed not to go brown or bruise in transit.

There’s a sense of purpose and excitement that we get from picking and preparing the fruit to last for the winter. The kids compete to pick the most and run a mile when they discover spiders. 

These are the memories that we will treasure for years. “Do you remember when” is an often-used term.

Which brings me to the final, sneaky item that we make from the apples, juice. It’s such a treat to juice our own fruit and bottle up the goodness on the spot. 

We used to make cider but after one kitchen explosion too many I stick to apple juice and leave cider making to the experts. I plunge the bottles into a bucket of ice to keep the apple juice crisp and tart.

Home Truths: Apple Sauce

The flavour and texture of butter or quality oil in baked goods is second to none. If you’re on a low-fat diet or simply don’t have any butter in the house to bake with, unsweetened stewed apple is a clever alternative. 

It’s naturally fat free and can be used on a 1:1 volume ratio to completely replace butter content. As a home baker it’s not something I recommend.

I prefer to work with 50% butter and 50% apple sauce ratio: I have a baking recipe that calls for 200g of butter, I instead use 100g of butter and 100g of apple sauce. 

So long as the recipe doesn’t require whipping the butter I can get away with the replacement just fine and the cake remains just as moist as it would have been with all the recommended butter used. 

Baked goods don’t tend to last very long in my house anyway and, believe it or not, my family haven’t noticed the difference yet.

Cider & Mustard Pork

recipe by:Caitriona Redmond 

I used to steer away from lean pork loin because it can be expensive, but when you break it down, a pork loin contains a lot of meat protein and is low in fat.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 pork loin (about 600g)

• 50g plain flour

• Salt and pepper

• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

• 200ml cider

• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped

• 75g frozen peas

• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard

Method

1. Slice the pork thinly. Put the flour, with a pinch of salt and pepper, into a sandwich bag and add the pork into the bag. Shake until it is well coated.

2. Take a large saucepan and place on a medium heat. Pour in the sunflower oil and fry the pork until golden on each side. It won’t be completely cooked through. Remove from the pan and sit on kitchen paper to drain.

3. Add the onion to the pan and sizzle for 5 minutes before adding the chopped garlic. Return the pork to the frying pan and pour in the cider and carrots. Simmer for 15 minutes before adding the peas. Allow the peas to heat through, then stir in the mustard.

4. Serve with steamed potatoes or rice.