Creole Pot

First of all, this is by no means authentically creole. What it is is a very popular dish in Sweden, something that's been in countless magazine articles over the years. I've got it from several sources, but was first served this at our friends house - Lena and Andreas, thank you! It's obviously fine to adapt it any way you see fit - tiny baby corn is a great addition by the way. However, olives, cornichons and pickled onions are musts! As is the pork tenderloin, and some kind of spicy sausage. And the garlic. Well, most of it, maybe. I know, it sounds like a crazy combination, but it really does work. And the strangest thing might be that even people who normally don't like olives nor cornichons nor pickled onions will happily scarf down this dish. I know I did. (But nowadays, I rather like all three. Well, maybe not olives that much.) I used kalamatas for this one - but really, you can use anything. I'm actually not so sure that kalamatas were that great - they're a little too assertive for the other flavors. Next time I'll probably use milder ones.

Creole Pot
Serves 3-4

1 pork tenderloin (5-600 g)
2 merguez (spicy lamb sausages, chorizo or kabanoss would be fine too)
1 red pepper, in strips
100 g pickled onions
100 g cornichons, halved
100 g black olives, pitted and halved
3-4 tbsp pickling juice from the onions
1 clove of garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp flour
black pepper
salt
dried thyme
dried tarragon
250 ml cream (low-fat is fine)
100 ml crème frâiche (low-fat is fine)

To serve:
Rice or burghul wheat

Slice the sausange and fry in a dry pot until crispy. Remove to a plate. Slice the pork and flatten each piece a bit with your hands. Brown in the same pot - you might need to add a bit of oil, but there's usually enough fat rendered from the sausages. Add salt and pepper. Do this in batches, and put the finished pieces on a plate. When all the slices are browned, put them back in the pot along with the sausage and dust over the flour.

Add the dried herbs, the garlic, the olives, pepper, cornichons, onions and pickling juice. Add the cream and the crème fraîche and let it all simmer for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook burghul or rice, and serve. This also heats very well, so you can make extra.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kreolskans gryta