My mother, while a good cook from a long line of women who showed their love through their steady supply of working class suppers, did rely on Duncan Hines and Pillsbury quite a bit during the years she was raising me and putting herself through nursing school. One particular dinner I remember as being ’sophisticated’ was her pork and apples.

This wasn’t really a supper I looked forward to because it was too bland for my palate. However, give yourself 20 years or so and everything your mum made suddenly seems completely different. Then I began to read John Baxter’s Immoveable Feast and his witty and loving tribute to the things fine and mundane which make up a meal. I had completely forgotten about mum’s apple pork until I hit page 122 where Mr. Baxter describes making this simple but satisfying dish. Bingo- I had my Sunday Lunch.

Sunday Lunch is usually comprised of something adapted from Gordon Ramsay (and thank you Mr. Ramsay, we have re-instated Sunday lunch in the Quayle house) but I decided to grab some things on hand and see if I could bring out a taste I could live with as a grownup. As it turned out, I ended up with a Sunday lunch that pleased both American and Brit just as it did both Australian and French in the book.

Immoveable Feast speaks of three ingredients: pork, butter and Clochard apples. I used marg, pork, half a vidalia onion and one fuji apple.  I prefer fuji apples to any other because of their sweetness and you can get the biggest ones at either Lotus in the strip or Seoul Mart on Atwood Street (S. Oakland).

I cut up the pork first into bite sized pieces and fried it in a decent knob of marg and added the diced onion and sliced apple (skin on). As Mr. Baxter suggested, I turned the heat down very low and let it cook 20 minutes. Accompanied by boiled red potatoes, this dish was a crowd pleaser as the pork sweetened and tenderised with the apples and I found myself proud that I’d pulled off my mum’s ’sophisticated’ dish.

As for Immoveable Feast- I just finished it a few minutes ago and it’s a must read for anyone interested in French culture, food or just a good honest story.