Over the time I’ve spent running this blog, I’ve had a lot of conversations about food and cooking with friends (and strangers!) in my various communities. Some of them are asking me basic questions, seeing the fact that I run the blog as a source of authority. Some of them are right here with me, learning and making all kinds of delicious foods.
Today’s recipe comes from one of those discussions. A buddy of mine is a student at a culinary school, and he’s always coming up with new recipes to try out. We frequently get into discussions about them, bouncing ideas back and forth, and iterating on them. This recipe is one he made because he thought it was interesting, and asked me to give it a whirl.
The results below are my interpretation of his recipe, plus a few changes I made to the base. His was a good start, but I had to wing it for some aspects he didn’t specify, and made a few changes to spice it up a bit. Apples and pork are both kind of mild, after all!
If you try out this recipe, definitely leave a comment of what you think! It’s very much a work in progress.
Pork and Apple Soup
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Dutch Oven Oven-safe
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp Butter
- 3 Lbs Pork Loin
- 3 Apples Peeled, cored, and diced.
- 3 Stalks Celery Diced
- 2-3 Sweet Potatoes Peeled and cubed.
- ½ Tsp Rosemary
- ½ Tsp Thyme
- 2 Tsp Basil
- 2-3 Bay Leaves
- 6 Cups Chicken Stock
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 6 Twists Lemon Peel Use a peeler to cut strips of lemon zest.
- ½ Tsp Cinnamon
- ½ Cup Flour
- Salt and Pepper To taste.
- 1 Lb Bacon Cut into bits and fried crispy.
Instructions
- In your mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, ground cinnamon, salt, and pepper.
- Chop your pork loin into small chunks. Toss it in the flower to coat on all sides.
- Heat your dutch oven (or other large, oven-save pot) over medium-high heat, and melt the butter in it. Use this to sear the pork in a single layer, just searing the outside, not cooking through.
- Remove the pork. Deglaze the pan with a dash of the chicken stock. Add in the rosemary, thyme, and basil, scraping anything still stuck to the bottom loose.
- Preheat your oven to 325℉.
- Add the rest of your chicken stock to the dutch oven and bring it to a simmer. Once simmering, add half the apples, half the celery, half the sweet potatoes, and all of the pork. Add in more chicken stock (or water) if you need to, to cover the ingredients.
- Add in the cinnamon stick and bay leaves, cover, and put the pot in the oven to cook. Cook for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes of cooking, add in the remaining celery and sweet potato, and give the soup a bit of a stir. Return to cooking for another 30 minutes.
- For the remaining 15 minutes, add in the rest of the apple, the lemon peels, and the vinegar. Continue to cook until the potatoes are softened and cooked through.
- Serve, topping the bowl with bacon bits and a squeeze of lemon for added flavor to taste!