One thing I have definitely enjoyed during my time in Australia is the classic “Parma & Slaw” combination. Recently, as I was sitting in Starbucks with my roommate Shannon, we saw a recipe for a Pork Parma with this very interesting Fennel, Celeriac and Green Apple Slaw. After having just had a Parma earlier in the week, I decided to Glaze the pork, and serve with a side of fried polenta rounds to accompany the slaw.
Now, Fennel has always been one of those “scary” things for me. Always intrigued by the flavour, and influenced by the food network, in my second year of University I decided that I was going to jump right into eating BBQ’d Fennel. In all honesty, maybe I was too new of a cook, or maybe my palette wasn’t ready for that intensity, but I found myself steering clear of this licorice flavoured vegetable for the next few years. Now, at a much more mature age and ultimately refusing to give up hope, I have had fennel in a few restaurants, and am now comfortable experimenting with it on my own.
I have divided the recipe up below into the three main parts of the meal in the sequence that I found best for preparation. This recipe is definitely a little more time intensive than some of the other idea’s I have shared so far, but if you have a food processor that helps you to julienne your veggies you will save a heap of time making this dish approachable on any night of the week.
Step 1 - Preparing the Polenta
- Combine 1 cup apple juice, and 1 1/4 cups of vegetable stock and bring it to the boil. Add 1 cup of polenta, and a few chopped green chili’s and stir through for about ten minutes until the polenta gets nice and think and has had a chance to absorb all the water. Taste a bit of the polenta and add water if it’s still gritty. When the mixture is firm and thick, you are ready to roll it up into a cling wrap roll. Simply lie out a few pieces of cling wrap and then pour out the polenta. Wrap into a log shape and tie the ends. Place into the fridge while you move onto the marinating the pork.
Step 2 - Marinate the Pork
- Take about 1 cup of apple juice and pour over the pork. Add salt and pepper to taste and leave standing at room temperature while you make the slaw.
Step 3 - Preparing the Slaw
- Julienning is the key to this slaw!! The celeriac and the green apple should be julienned to give this slaw some really pretty character. Next, thinly slice the fennel, shallots, green chilies and mint. Add all the ingredients into a bowl. Pop that in the fridge. For the dressing, combine 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 5 tbsp good sour cream, 3 tbsp of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Leave the slaw and the dressing separate until about 10 minutes before serving.
Step 4 - Frying the Polenta
- Pull the polenta out of the fridge. This should be a nice firm log of polenta now. Cut into about 3/4 inch pieces and fry gently in a non-stick cooking pan for about 5 minutes on each side. Place on baking sheet and pop in oven until serving so they can heat through completely again and get a nice crispy crust on the outside.
Step 5 - Cooking the Pork
- Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium high heat. You don’t need to add anything before you place your pork into the hot pan, and pour all of the marinating juice over top. Flip the pork when some of the apple juice has started to brown (about 10 mins), and then turn down the heat and cover for approxiamtley 10 - 15 minutes.
Step 6 - Finishing everything together
- Once you have placed the lid on the pork, immediately add the dressing to your slaw and stir through. Grab the polenta from the oven and start to plate about 2 minutes before serving.
