Pork with cherry sauce

You know how all – or nearly all – my recipes are “easy and fast”? Well, this one isn’t. Not difficult, per se, but certainly not fast.

I tend to buy things in bulk, especially chicken, pork and minced meat. So very often I have to think of how to cook chicken, pork and minced meat. The other evening I thawed a big chunk of pork loin and, once it was ready, had no idea what to do with it. So I called my mother who said to use the fruit I had at home to make a sauce.

About a week ago, we picked our rainier cherries. I have never seen a rainier cherry before, so might have picked some that weren’t completely ripe. And there they sat, uneaten. I tried to put them with an apple and a banana to make them ripen, but nothing happened.

So I decided to make a nice savoury sauce with these sad, abandoned cherries and I believe I managed to transform them into something pleasantly edible 🙂

Dice the pork and marinate it in garlic infused olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss it and then put it in the fridge to rest.

Now for the cherries. First step: de-pit them.

Add salt, pepper, thyme, cinnamon and cloves to the cherries. Chop up your onion and sizzle it with just enough butter. When it starts to become translucent, add the cherries and the brown sugar and let them juice out their water.

When the cherries start becoming dry, add half a glass of white port. Let them absorb it, then add half a glass of red wine.

Lower the heat and let the sauce cook. If it starts to become too dry, add some water.

Now for the pork! Chop up your pancetta and coarsely break the walnuts

Place both the ingredients in a non-stick pan and let the pancetta’s fat melt and roast the walnuts.

When all the fat has melted and the walnuts have become darker (about 3-5mins) toss the marinated pork with flour until it’s all nicely coated and sear it really well in the pancetta-walnut pan.

When the sizzling starts to become quieter, the liquid in the pan is finishing. Now is the moment to add some butter!

The butter will be absorbed by the flour. When it is, add a large glass (or two) of water. I didn’t add white wine this time because, as my mother said, with the cherries and the red wine in the sauce, the whole thing would have become too acidic.

Lower the heat and, depending on how large your chunks of pork are, leave it until completely cooked. Mine took about 15 minutes.

Your cherry sauce is probably ready by now, too! Taste everything for salt and add if needed.

I served the pork with some wild rice because it reminded me of a North American dish. Something to eat while watching the bison grazing and coyotes calling. And what not.

It’s not the most visually appealing but boy was it good! I loved the cherry zing and the walnut crunch and the tasty tasty pancetta coating on the pork. Absolutely wonderful! Bon apetit 😉