Join Us Sign In

Powered by California Local

Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Persimmon pork stew shows off Fuyu's savory side

Recipe: Blend of colorful winter fruit, vegetables beats winter blahs

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED DEC 16, 2018

Fuyu persimmons brighten pork stew, a perfect dish for an almost-winter day. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Fuyu persimmons have a colorful savory side.

Crisp like an apple but with more sugar, flat Fuyus complement other late fall and winter flavors with an intriguing caramel-like sweetness.

They also add something else to a dull brown stew: A punch of color. When cooked, Fuyus retain their brilliant orange hue. There are no winter blahs in this stew.

With an abundance of backyard Fuyus, I created this persimmon pork stew, experimenting with the mix of fruit and vegetables that complement the cubes of leftover pork roast. Chunks of persimmon, sweet potatoes and carrots add a lot of orange to the bowl as well as flavor. Because the meat is already cooked, this stew comes together in under an hour.

Fuyu persimmons also are abundant right now in farmers markets. One note: Don’t try this dish with astringent Hachiya persimmons (the pointy varieties); their tannin overwhelms the stew.

This stew has an unusual blend of flavors.

Persimmon pork stew
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 pound fully cooked pork roast, cut into cubes
¼ cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons mild-flavored extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
8 white mushrooms, washed and quartered
½ cup red wine
1 ½ cups chicken broth
½ teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
½ teaspoon thyme
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1 large Fuyu persimmon, cored, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)

Instructions:
Coat cubes of pork roast with flour, mixed with a few dashes of salt and pepper in a plastic zippered bag.

A sea of orange vegetables.

In a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat on top of the stove, heat 2 tablespoons oil. Brown pork cubes in batches, so not to crowd the pot, until nicely crisp. Remove from oil with slotted spoon; set aside.

Sauté onions and mushrooms in the reserved oil, adding more if needed. Once onions are soft, stir in red wine and deglaze the pot. Add chicken broth, seasoning and thyme.

Return pork cubes to pot. Add sweet potato and carrots. Bring the pot to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook 30 minutes.

Add persimmon. Cook 15 minutes more until persimmon and sweet potato cubes are tender, but not mushy. Adjust seasoning, adding a little more salt and pepper if desired.

Serve hot.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipes recipe gardening Sacramento cooking seasonal cooking winter fruit persimmons fall orchard fruit

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Local News

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Sites We Like

Garden Checklist for week of Sept. 15

Make the most of the cool break this week – and get things done. Your garden needs you!

* Now is the time to plant for fall. The warm soil will get cool-season veggies off to a fast start.

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.

* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.

* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.

* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with "eyes" about an inch below the soil surface.

* Late September is ideal for sowing a new lawn or re-seeding bare spots.

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!