Sunday lunch: beetroot soup, roast pork shoulder, apple and blackberry steamed pudding

Ingredients

• 750 g cooked beetroot, large dice
• 3 bay leaves
• 1½ onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1½ tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 900 ml chicken stock

To garnish:

• 75 g hazelnuts
• Pinch fine salt
• 1½ tablespoon water
• 60 g caster sugar
• 3 spring onion, finely sliced
• 100 g soft goats cheese
• 1 green apple, sliced into batons
• Olive oil

Roast pork shoulder with crackling, mash, cabbage, braised apple and apple sauce with a mustard cream gravy :

• 3.5 kg pork shoulder, boned, rind left on
• Sea salt
• 2 red onions quartered, lengthways
• 2 white onions quartered, lengthways
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 lemons, quartered, lengthways
• 2-3 tablespoons sage, chopped
• 1 savoy cabbage, shredded

For the apple sauce:

• 500 g Cox apples, peeled, cored, finely diced
• 150 ml water
• 20 g caster sugar
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• 30 g butter

For the braised apple:

• 3 red apples, cored sliced into ¾"(2cm) rounds
• 300ml dry cider

For the mash:

• 2 libras floury potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 4 oz butter
• 100 ml cream

For the mustard cream sauce:

• 100 ml double cream
• 2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard

Steamed apple and blackberry sponge pudding:

• 4 green dessert apples, peeled cored and quartered
• 2 oz caster sugar
• 8 oz blackberries
• 1 tablespoon blackberry jam

For the sponge:

• 4 oz butter
• 5 oz caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 7 oz plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Zest of 1 lemon

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How to bake a roast pork?

Preparation

• Fry the onions and garlic in olive oil until very soft. Add the vinegar, beetroot, stock and bay leaves and simmer for about 15-20minutes.
• Purée and pass through a sieve. If it is too thick add more water or stock until the desired consistency is reached.
• For the praline, toast the hazelnuts in a dry pan. In the same pan gently melt the sugar and water together until it turns a golden caramel (swirl the pan occasionally). Add the salt and hazelnuts then poor onto silicon paper and leave to cool. Once cooled, roughly chop.
• For the other garnishes, finely slice the spring onions on the angle and cut thin slices (approximately 3mm) from the apple then slice into batons (there should be a small amount of skin left at each end).
  
• To serve, ladle the soup into bowls. Drop some onions into the middle and top with a few criss-crossed apple batons. Dot small pinches of goats cheese around the outside interspersed with the praline. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.
• Roast pork:
  Score the rind of the pork with a very sharp knife (or get the butcher to do it). Pour a kettle of boiling water over the rind then leave to cool. Pat dry and liberally massage the rind with coarse sea salt. Rub all over with a little vegetable oil and put in the oven on a trivet for 15 minutes at 220°C. Turn the oven down to 150°C and cook for another 2 hours. Remove the pork from the oven and take out of the pan. In the pan sauté the onions and lemons until just caramelised. Drizzle over the honey and sprinkle with sage. Place the meat directly in the centre of the pan and return to the oven for 1¼ hours. Once cooked (the crackling will be crisp and the meat tender) leave to rest, covered with foil for 15-30 minutes. To make the mustard cream sauce, deglaze the roasting pan with the cider reserved from the braised apples. Reduce and then add the cream and mustard. Whilst the meat is roasting, all the trimmings can be made. For the apple sauce, put all the ingredients except the butter into a pan and cook over a medium heat for 15mins, until the apples are tender, but not dried out. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the butter and a pinch of salt. If required, loosen the sauce with water to reach the desired consistency. For the braised apples, place the apple slices into a pan and cover with the cider. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, cover with greaseproof paper and allow to cool. Once cooled, remove the apples from the cider and reserve the cider for the cabbage and gravy. Prior to serving reheat the apples in the oven with a knob of butter. For the mash, cook the potatoes in plenty of salted water until tender. Drain and then use a ricer to mash. Beat in the butter and cream. Then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
  For the cabbage, melt a knob of butter in a pan and add the cabbage. Then add a little cider (~50ml) and ~150 ml chicken stock. Cook until the cabbage is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.
  To serve, separate the cracking from the meat and cut into pieces. Carve the pork into thick slices. Sit one apple ring per person on a couple of spoonfuls of apple sauce. Dish up the cabbage and mash. Cover liberally with mustard cream sauce.
• Steamed apple and blackberry sponge pudding:
  Butter and flour a 2 pint pudding bowl (this is the minimum size bowl you can really use). Cut the apple quarters in half lengthways and then again through the middle to give 16 chunks per apple. Melt a know of butter in pan then add the apples and sugar. Cook for 2-3mins then add the blackberries and jam. Stir in and remove from the heat and leave to cool. To make the sponge cream the butter and sugar until white and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs. Finally sieve the flour, cinnamon and baking powder then fold into the mix with the lemon zest. Put half the apple and blackberry mix into the bowl then top with the sponge mix. Cover the bowl with a sheet of greaseproof paper and a sheet of foil folded together to create a pleat to give space for the pudding to rise. Tie the "lid" on with string. Steam for 1¼ hours. To serve turn out the pudding onto a plate and top with the reserved fruit.

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