Sauteed pickled pork with caramelised fennel bulb and apple

Pickled pork is another one of those great-value cuts that eat and punch well above their tasty weight. It's like the moistest ham you could imagine. You cook as you would corn beef, then eat it either warm as is, as a cold cut or, sliced thickly then sauteed to caramelise.

Ingredients

1 splash	Canola oil
1 ½ kgs	Fennel bulbs, cut into 1/2 cm thick slices
4	Granny Smith apples, cut into 1/2 cm thick slices
¼ cup	Fennel fronds
¼ cup	Flat leaf (Italian) parsley
½ cup	Red onions, thinly sliced
½ cup	Tart apple syrup
2 Tbsp	Orange juice
1 dash	Extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ kgs	Pickled pork, cooked, cut into 1cm slices (Main)
½ cup	Walnuts, toasted

Pickled pork

1 ½ kgs	Pickled pork shoulder
2 Ltr	Water
1	Onion
1	Carrot
1 stalk	Celery
⅓ cup	White wine vinegar
1 Tbsp	Salt
1 Tbsp	Sugar
2	Bay leaves
10	Black peppercorns

Directions

1. Heat oven to 130C.
2. Toss the sliced fennel and apple in couple of separate bowls, dress with a little cooking oil
3. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Heat up a large skillet or frying pan to medium high heat. Cook in batches by spreading the fennel evenly over the bottom of the pan.
5. Leave to cook and only turn once you begin to see some golden colour appearing on the edges. Turn and repeat on the other side.
6. Once caramelised and soft, remove and place in a bowl.
7. Repeat exactly the same way with the seasoned apple slices. Again, once these are golden and caramelised on both sides, remove and add to the fennel.
8. Now gently mix through fennel fronds, parsley, red onion, and dress with apple syrup, orange juice and a splash of olive oil.
9. Place a large skillet on high heat, pour in a little canola oil and fry your pork until caramelised and crisp on both sides.
10. Remove from skillet and keep warm while you finish cooking the rest.
11. Lay fennel salad down on your plates, topped off with a couple of slices of the pork, scatter about some walnuts and a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.
12. If you have a sweet tooth, pour a touch more apple syrup over to seal the deal. Eat.

Pickled Pork

1. Place all ingredients in a large saucepan, place on the heat then bring up to the boil.
2. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for approximately 2 hours until pork is tender.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow pork and cooking liquor to cool.
4. I like to refrigerate the pickled pork in the cooking liquid, to prevent any drying out.