Autumn. The ‘Time of Plenty’. I really love that season. Not only for the foggy and cool weather after a hot summer. But also because the variety of fresh food is bigger than at any other time of the year.
Here’s a recipe I’ve tried out just recently. Sorry for the missing pics: Normally I cook alone and then I don’t think of taking pictures as well...
This is what you need:
800g Pork Sirloin, whole pieces
Salt
Pepper
Hay
600g mixed Mushrooms
2 little Onions
Butter
2dl Cream
1dl White Wine
500g fresh Pasta
Prepare as many sheets of aluminium foil as you have Sirloin pieces, big enough to wrap the pieces. Cover each of the foils with hay. Preheat the oven up to 180° C.
Spice the Sirloin pieces fairly with salt and pepper, then sear them for 3 minutes in a cast iron pan with little olive oil. Wrap the pieces in the hay and the Sirloin pieces and roast them in the oven. After 25-30 minutes take them out and let them rest for another 10 minutes. Then unwrap the Sirloin and wipe off all the hay.
Brush the mushrooms and cut them into pieces. Peel and chop the onions. Melt the butter in a cast iron pan until it boils, then put the mushrooms in. Stir gently, so they don’t get burnt. After two minutes put the chopped onions in and wait until they glaze over. Now pour the wine, and when it’s boiling pour the cream. Let boil until the consistency is right.
Prepare the pasta, then serve all together. Decorate the table with fresh grapes and figs. You can add leaves and maroons as well. Enjoy the meal.
Some advice from my side:
You can get hay from a local farmer, they feed the cattle with it. Normally they can spare one bag of it, a cow eats a lot more of it every day. Also pet shops have hay, but there you have to pay for it. If you want to take fresh grass and dry it, lay it in the sun. Don’t store the hay in a plastic bag, paper is ok, fabric is perfect.
Depending on the size of the pig, a piece of Sirloin is roughly 400-500g. So you should be fine with it. If you can get Sirloin of wild pork, that’s even better. But don’t go hunting a boar yourself unless you have a hunting licence...
Get mushrooms that grow in the temperate climate zone. Shi Take don’t match the general taste of this meal. Porcini, chanterelles and Champignons de Paris are ok. If you dare collecting the mushrooms yourself, please show them to someone who’s familiar with them. In Switzerland there are approved mushroom-inspectors that tell you which ones are edible when you show them what you’ve got. And don’t take the red ones with the white dots, they can make you see funny colours and scary faces if you eat them. Also you might get tummy aches...
Some of the ideas I took from this website - all in German...
