#readcookeat recipe : Tüffel un Plum (Orange Blossom Days)

Last week, I recreated a recipe from Patricia Scanlan's Orange Blossom Days (click through for the review) called Cocido Madrileño. It was a hearty Spanish stew made with chickpeas, smoked sausage, pork belly and vegetables (amongst other things) and was cooked, in the book, by a Spanish character called Consuela. As the book is set in an Andalucian holiday complex with characters from America, the UK and Germany, as well as Spain, it was a great novel for #readcookeat recipes. Even better, they mainly tie in with my passion for globecooking. Here's another foodie mention, this time from Anka, a German character.

p222 In fairness, Anka had the log fire burning and their father's house was warm when the weary travellers finally put the key in the door. The fridge was full, and a big casserole of Tüffel un Plum, his favourite stew of smoked ham, prunes and potatoes, was simmering in the oven. The familiar scent of cloves and bay leaves made Jutta's mouth water and she realized she was starving after all the travelling.

I barely even needed to look up a recipe - which was just as well as I had a hard time tracking one down online. I used some pork that was in the freezer and the result was delicious.

Tüffel un Plum

ingredients :

2 large onions
drizzle of olive oil
600g pork
400g potatoes
a handful of prunes
1tbsp mustard seeds
1tsp ground cloves
1tsp ground horseradish
3 bay leaves
salt, pepper
1 litre beef stock

I started off by frying the onions in a drizzle of olive oil to give them some colour and extra flavour but they can go straight in the casserole dish/slow cooker raw if you're short on time.

Transfer to a casserole dish and add some chunks of potatoes. I used red potatoes for a change and didn't peel them.

As with the onions, I browned off the meat on all sides to give it some colour and flavour, before adding it to the casserole dish.

Scatter over the prunes.

Heat the mustard seeds until the start popping, then deglaze the pan with some water - this gets all the stuck-on bits of meat off which adds extra flavour and also makes washing-up easier so it's win-win ! 

Toss in the salt, pepper, bay leaves and spices - cloves, bay leaves and horseradish are all traditional flavours in the recipe but you could leave them out if you don't have them to hand.

I used up some more of the concentrated beef stock from the latest Degustabox.

 

I added it to the deglazed pan juices and gave it all a good stir before pouring it into the casserole dish.

Pop on a lid and leave it to bubble away in the oven for a couple of hours at 180°.

 

The pork is so tender you can break it apart with your fork and the prunes are soft enough to just slip off the stones. It's the perfect winter warmer for the colder weather.

Linking up with the #readcookeat challenge at Chez Maximka.