Pork, Apple and Fennel Soup

Meeting up with friends and family at the weekend, and the subject of food and cooking came up, as it often does.  I was talking about making things like gnocchi and albondigas and everyone seemed impressed (once I had explained to them what these things were) and it occurred to me that most people stick to a few dishes that are tried and tested, and often passed down through the generations.

I'm not sure where and when I learned how to cook. Indeed, as a student I was often mocked for my terrible food, but somewhere between then and now I have started to experiment with ingredients and recipes, and also doing the blog has encouraged me to make new things every week, so even things that have worked really well and would be put on the short list for being made regularly, have only ever been made once, because of the drive to come up with new and exciting soups, cakes and other dishes.

Today's recipe isn't, however, one of those experimental and obscure recipe, but it is s delicious combination of summery vegetables and pork into a lovely soup.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Ingredients
1 Onion
1 Fennel Bulb
1 Stalk Celery
1 Apple
400g Pork
500ml Cider
700ml Stock
150ml Single Cream
2 Sprig of Rosmary
1tsp Wholegrain Mustard
Plain Flour
Flat Leaf Parsley

Method

1.  Finely chop the apple, fennel, celery and onion.  In a largem heavy pan, heat some oil and fry the vegetables over a low heat for 10 minutes, until they are sweated down but not too brown.  Remove them from the heat and put in a bowl for later.

2.  Cut the pork into cubes about 1cm across.  Toss them in the plain flour.  Heat some more oil in the pan and then brown the meat.  Once it is browned, add the stock and cider to the pan, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to bring the soup to a simmer.

3.  Add the vegetables back to the soup, along with the rosemary and mustard.  Put the lid back on the pan and contine to simmer for 30 minutes.

4.  Just before serving, stir in the single cream, and then pour into bowls, garnish with parsley and enjoy!