Quince is one of the best accompaniments for roasted meats. The sage makes it even tastier
ingredients for 4 servings (cost about 5 € pp with organic pork)
- Salt
- 800 g pork neck or shoulder
- 1 large or two medium quinces
- 150 g squash flesh
- 4 small onions
- 2 small fennels
- EV Olive oil
- Fresh sage (abundant)
- Coarse black pepper
Pork and fruits is a great combination. The most known pairings are with apples, plums, dried apricots and pears, but I think that nothing is better than quince.
Quinces have a lemony aroma and also a very tender and moist flesh which make them perfect for roasted meats. Today, I combined them with more autumn – winter products, such as squash and fennel to prepare a very tasty dish of roast pork.
We start with the meat.
The day before we cut the meat in 4 equal pieces and we salt it well. We put it in the fridge for at least 12 hours, better more.
The day after, we wash and pat dry the meat. We lightly grease it with oil and we roast it, covered with aluminium foil in a preheated oven at 160 Celsius degrees, till very tender. Count a little bit more than 2,5 hours.
Meanwhile, we bring to a boil a big pot with salted water and we boil initially the small onions, peeled but whole and then the fennels, cleaned and cut in slices till tender. We don’t want them to be completely cooked, as they will be roasted afterwards. We just want them to become tender, because they have a harder and more fibrous flesh than that of the squash and the quince.
About 2 hours after the starting of meat´s roasting, we add in the same pan the fennel, the onions and the quince cut in pieces. 15 minutes later we add the squash, also cut in pieces, along with 40 – 50 sage leaves. We salt them. We roast meat and vegetables till the desired point, removing some of them, if they are already done and continuing with the rest of the ingredients.
We raise the temperature to max and we bake meat and veggies till they become crispy.
We serve garnishing with the sage leaves and some coarse black pepper.
