Well, I had fun making plum jam and canning them last week. I did go the cheap route and re-used my mason jars from last year, so I had a few jars that failed to seal.
Three to be exact.
Yes, lesson learned. Just buy new lids and bands to prevent this from happening next time...
Luckily, my friend Tina had recommended some cookbooks that utilize plums in both desserts and savory dishes. So I was inspired to make this dish after thumbing through those books. But rather than using roasted plums halves, I wanted to use up my jars of plum jam instead.
So I made a marinade with the plum jam, and poured it over strips of pork butt.
After marinating for 8 hours, I baked it and then broiled it for a few minutes. I also cooked down the marinade to make a sauce for serving.
It was pretty darn tasty! Make sure you don't go all healthy and use a super lean cut of pork though, or it will come out dry.
Yields 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 4 lbs pork butt
- 3 plums, pit removed and diced
Marinade Ingredients:
- ½ c plum jam (homemade or store bought)
- ½ c soy sauce
- ½ c packed dark brown sugar
- 1 t garlic powder
- 1 T dried chopped onions
- ¼ t Chinese 5 spice
- ¼ t pepper
- 1 ½ t salt
Procedures:
1. Cut pork butt into long strips, about 2.5 to 3 inches thick. (4 pounds cuts into about 4 to 5 strips) Place strips of pork into a ziplock bag.
2. In a bowl, mix together the ingredients for the marinade. Pour marinade into ziplock bag of pork. Mix and allow to marinate for 8 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. (Make sure to take the pork out of the fridge about an hour before you are ready to cook, so that the pork is not icy cold and will cook evenly in the oven.)
3. Preheat oven to 325 F.
4. Line a large baking tray with foil for easy clean up later. Place the strips of pork in a single layer on the pan. Bake at 325 F for 15 min. Do NOT throw away the used marinade.
5. While the pork is baking, take the marinade from the ziplock bag and pour into a pot and cook over medium heat until it starts to simmer. Add the chopped plums and continue to simmer until the plums have softened and partially blended into the sauce. If it gets too thick, you may need to add a splash of water. Once the sauce is to your desired consistency, turn off the heat and set aside.
6. After 15 min of baking, take the tray of pork out. Switch oven to broil. Broil for 5 to 8 min or until slightly charred. Turn each pork strip over. Broil for 5 to 8 min or until slightly charred.
7. Allow pork to rest for 10 min. Then slice and serve with the plum sauce on the side.