A new month means turning the page on the calendar...which means a new recipe to try! I decided last month to take on preparing all the recipes in the Foodland Ontario 2012 Calendar. I picked my calendar up, for free, at the local grocery store. If you don't have the calendar you can cook along on Foodland Ontario's website. Their site is full of great information, recipes and beautiful photography. This month's recipe is a hearty stew. I'm not sure what happens in your house, but around here we love stew. Well, let me clarify that statement. My husband and I love stew - my daughters love eating a deconstructed stew...pieces of meat, pieces of potato. I've made chicken stew and beef stew but never a pork stew, this should be interesting.
Pork and Vegetable Stovetop Stew
(adapted from Foodland Ontario 2012 Calendar)
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon each crumbled dried rosemary and pepper
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 Ontario pork tenderloin (about 12 oz/375g) cut into 1 inch cubes
1 Ontario onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
2 cups chicken stock
1 medium Ontario sweet potato, peeled and cubed (½ inch)
2 Ontario parsnips, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1. Combine flour, thyme, salt, rosemary and peper in a shallow dish
2. Toss pork pieces in the flour mixture, making sure to coat all sides of the pork
3. In a large saucepan, heat 1tbsp of oil over medium heat, add the pork and cook until lightly browned (I this in two batches). Remove to plate.
4. Add remaining oil to the saucepan. Add onion and garlic, cook until lightly softened.
5. Stir in broth, and bring to the boil.
6. Add sweet potato, parsnips and pork, cover and bring to boil.
7. Reduce heat and simmer until pork and vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes.
8. serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.
We served our stew with a simple salad with mixed greens, apple slices and an apple cider vinaigrette. The sweet potatoes are an unexpected addition to the stew, adding a little bit of sweetness. The pork became very tender after the low and slow stewing. All around a lovely dish. I am not the only person out there in the blogosphere who has decided to cook their way through the Foodland calendar. Take a trip over to Southwestern Ontario Foodie's blog and find out about their experiences with Foodland's calendar and much, much more. I'm really enjoying exploring her site. We are looking forward to March's Chicken Stir-fry recipe.
