Creamy Pan Fried Pork with Apple and Leek

How can it be that a Pork based meal served with a delicious creamy sauce is still healthy and low in calories. Of course if you want to lash out and serve this dish with rice, a pasta bake or mashed potato not only will it take this meal to another level it will increase the calorie count. That is entirely up to you and when feeding a family that is a very viable option and along with vegetables, is almost essential. 

My deep dive into Dr. Clare Bailey and Justine Pattison's Fast 800 book continues once a week, and this recipe ticked all the boxes for me, delicious, creamy, nutritious and yet low in calories. It's the perfect mid-week meal.

Apple and leek are a classic and lovely combination to serve with pork. This meal was also very filling and I really enjoyed the pork cooked this way. It will be on rotation at our place because it is so easy to cook and is like receiving a culinary hug when eaten.  This recipe is a real winner.

Serves 2 

355 calories per serve

Ingredients:

2 pork loin steaks (each around 135g or close)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small apple, quartered, cored and sliced

1 medium leek, trimmed and cut into roughly 1cm slices

200 ml chicken stock (made with 1/2 a stock cube)

1 tsp Dijon or wholegrain mustard

45 g full-fat Crème Fraîche or Sour Cream

Method:

Dry the pork with some kitchen towelling, and season both sides with a some sea salt and a good grinding of black pepper.

Heat the oil in a medium sized nonstick frying pan over a moderate heat, add the pork steaks, and fry them for 3-4 minutes on each side. They just need to be lightly browned on both sides, cooking them too much will toughen the pork. Transfer them to a warmed plate and cover with alfoil.

Keeping your pan on the hotplate, add the apple and the leek to the frying pan and cook for 2 minutes until just beginning to lightly brown and soften. This will happen quite quickly.

To the leek mixture, add the stock and the mustard and bring to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes, by which time the leek should be soft and the liquid reduced by about two-thirds. Keep stirring constantly during this time.

Add in the Sour Cream or Crème Fraîche until it is melted, and mixed into the other ingredients and slightly bubbling. Have  taste and check to see if any extra seasoning is needed. I didn't add any extra salt, but that is a matter of personal taste.

Almost done!

Add the pork back into the pan, along with any pork juices on the bottom of the plate, and warm through for a minute or two, then serve.

I served this meal with a large helping of green peas and sliced zucchini fried in olive oil. It would also be perfect with some freshly cooked leafy greens.

Cook's notes:

I used sour cream for this recipe as I couldn't find any tubs of Crème Fraîche when I was shopping for ingredients. The supermarket shelves were missing many items because of all the recent rain cutting the highway North and South of here. However, sour cream still worked very well and is a good substitute for Crème Fraîche.

The creamy sauce is very versatile and I think it could easily be made even more delicious by replacing 2 tablespoons of the chicken stock with a good white wine. 

This dish doesn't require garlic for flavour as many creamy sauces do.

If you prepare all of your ingredients in advance, this meal takes no time at all to cook. It all happens quickly once you start.

It would be easy to double the ingredients if you are cooking for four, or eat leftovers the following day.

It's sometimes difficult to buy the exact amount of meat required in a recipe, unless you have a good butcher, so I cooked a little more than the recipe required for the two of us and it was perfect. The more pork the better.

I love that in this book we are given the correct number of calories for each recipe, which makes meal planning during the week a lot easier. 

I used unseeded Dijon mustard because I avoid seeds, however use seeded mustard if you wish, and if you love mustard I think you could double the amount, but taste as you go. 

Please add a scattering of chopped parsley when serving if you wish.

I fried some sliced zucchini in olive oil with black pepper, and cooked some garden peas to serve with this meal, however any green vegetables would be perfect as we need to ensure we are eating our 5 serves of vegetables every day for good health.

Pork is an incredibly versatile protein that can be cooked quickly and easily for weeknight dinners and in a variety of ways. However, I think that chicken thighs and mushrooms could be substituted for the pork and the apple in this recipe with delicious results.

I hope you try this simple to cook recipe, and I would love to hear what you think. You can tag me on instagram at happy_retirees_kitchen if you wish.

Warm wishes,

Pauline