Tuscan Pork Stew

By Addie

Tender chunks of pork slowly cook in a nicely seasoned, wine-infused sauce. Add some crushed red pepper flakes for a little added kick.—Penny Hawkins, Mebane, North Carolina

Ingredients

• 1 boneless whole pork loin roast (1-1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) Italian diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups frozen pepper stir-fry vegetable blend, thawed
• 1/2 cup dry red wine or additional reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup orange marmalade
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• Hot cooked fettuccine, optional

Preparation

Step 1

In a large skillet, brown pork in oil until no longer pink; drain. Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker.

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, broth, vegetable blend, wine, marmalade, garlic, oregano, fennel seed, pepper and pepper flakes if desired; pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until meat is tender.

Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into stew. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until gravy is thickened. Serve with fettuccine if desired. Yield: 8 servings.
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REVIEWS:

This was very, very tasty. I buy the 5-6 lb. pork loins when on a good sale. Slice and cube, then weigh out and freeze the pork in 1-1/2 lb packages. I can't always find the pepper stir-fry blend so I used fresh red, green and yellow peppers sliced thin and about 2 sliced onions.

The whole family loved it, from a 10 year old and up.

Good, easy recipe. However, the pork itself was rather tasteless. I would brown it in garlic and oil the next time, as well as adding some pearl onions to the recipe.

A unique, yummy dish! We did not serve it over pasta, but rather ate it as a stew with rolls.

This was a little disappoiinting. The sauce was tasty, but the pork was too bland. I used a bag of frozen red, yellow and green peppers and a bag of frozen summer vegetables (2 kinds of squash, onions, green beans and celery) for added flavor. Next time, I'm going to marinate the pork cubes in the tomato/marmalade/wine/spices overnight, then put everything in the crockpot. Also, plan on usihg much more cornstarch than is called for. I doubled the amount and the sauce was still too thin to be called "stew". I will re-rate after I've made these amendments.

Upon initial tasting, I thought hmmm nothing special. But when eating it after it had sat a couple of days, it was really great. Served it over rice. I would add more red pepper flakes. I cooked in oven for a couple of hours instead of slow cooker

This was really good, very flavorful. My husband really enjoyed it and wants me to make it again. I didn't have orange marmalade so I used apricot preserves..excellent. The meat turns out dry but if you shred it after it cooks its much better.. I find crock pot meat to always be dry. Thanks for this recipe, its a keeper.

Even with mushrooms, extra vegetables and fresh herbs this was pretty boring. All I could think of was this dish was a Beef Burgundy wannabee that failed.

My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe but made one change at the end that worked really well for us. Rather than using the corn starch to thicken it and separately make pasta, we decided to just add uncooked elbow pasta (Dreamfields Brand which is low carb but delicious) to the slow cooker about 2 hrs before it was done. The pasta cooked perfectly and used up most of the liquid present so it became a wonderful stew with pasta instead of serving it over pasta. It also freezes well for a quick dinner when you are in a hurry.

I like the flavor, I kept tasting a sweetness which I think was from the yellow pepper. My husband did not like the fennel seed in it, next time will have to remove the seeds before eating.

Very tasty and easy to make! The amount of cornstarch called for did not thicken my stew, so I doubled it. Used Italian stewed tomatoes instead of diced because that's what I had. Had the stew on spag. first night but liked it just as well if not better just as a stew the second night!

Great flavor, but need much more vegetables. The pepper blend was not enough. It is also very unnecessary to brown the pork first - save yourself that step. I served with rice instead of fettuccine.