Elvis's skil·let al·mond pork

As a nod to the celebrations our American friends are having today, the 4th of July, Independence day, we dedicated the food of our day to Elvis.

Lunch was, of course, the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich . Albeit with slight modifications ; actually it was a peanut butter and mashed banana sandwich cooked in the panini maker at work, but the thought was there!

For dinner I turned to a wonderful book, a book I love to see on the shelf but rarely use : Are you hungry tonight? Elvis' favourite recipes by Brenda Arlene Butler. When I saw this book at the shop there was no way I could resist!

It was actually hard to decide, burgers would have been classic and obviously a fine choice for the forth of July. As would hot dogs and apple pie. You see the generalisations we make?!

But turning to the section "Meat and Potatoes" I saw there was a recipe for which I not only had almost all the ingredients but also thought I might enjoy eating! Skillet almond pork.

I made it like this, which is a bit of a variation on the original recipe, but it turned out rather well :

Skillet Almond Pork
250g thin cut pork steaks, beaten thin and flat with a meat mallet
A selection of dried or fresh herbs, finely chopped or rubbed (I used parsley and dill)
Olive oil
2 teaspoons of butter
1 teaspoon of flour
1/2 cup of cider
1 chicken stock cube
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of slivered almonds, toasted

Sprinkle the pork with some salt and the herbs and leave for an hour. Heat a pan and add a splash of olive oil and half of the butter, when hot quickly brown the pork in batches, removing to a plate to keep warm as you cook the rest.
To make the sauce, or gravy as I like to think of it, melt the remaining butter in the pan and add the flour scraping the bits from the pan as you make the roux. Add the cider, stock and mustard and simmer, scraping the bottom of the pan well to form a thickened sauce. Adjust the seasoning, pour over the pork and sprinkle with the almonds.

Serves two with mashed potatoes and buttered cabbage.