Pork with pears, wild plums and lavender

We have a little wild plum tree in the garden, and this year it has a decent amount of very tart fruit. These plums are small in size, and there is not enough for making jam. Once roasted, they are transformed into mini sweet and sour treasures. I had some lean pork steaks in the fridge, and fancied something a little different. Having a walk in the garden, I came back in the kitchen with a handful of wild plums and some lavender sprigs, plus I bought some hard blush pears which I wanted to use with pork. I do love the fruit and meat combinations, and this dish was delicious served with gigli pasta.

Pork with pears, wild plums and lavender (serves 6)
Ingredients:
6 pork loin steaks
2tbsp olive oil
2 pears, quartered
about 10 wild plums
12 grapes
zest of 1 lemon
lavender flowers
sea salt with thyme
1/2+ cup of vegetable stock or wine
to serve with the gigli pasta

Place the pork loin steaks on the oiled grill pan and cook for about 5 minutes on each side. Season with sea salt. Remove the steaks from the pan and put them in a deep ceramic tray or roasting dish, add the juices collected in the grill pan. Slightly grill the quartered pear slices, and later arrange them around the pork. Add the wild plums and zest of one lemon. Scatter the grapes and lavender flowers (depending on how aromatic you want it, one or two sprigs). Pour the stock over the pork, and place the tray in the oven preheated to 180C. Cook for about 45 minutes. You might need to add a bit more stock to prevent the pork from drying (I used lean steaks with hardy any fat).

Cook the gigli pasta in the salted boiling water until al dente, mix with roasted cubed squash and a bit of grated cheddar cheese.

Lavender added a wonderful aroma to the dish. The smells wafting from the kitchen were just beautiful.
If you don't fancy any lavender, then thyme might be a good substitute. Wild plums could be swapped for "normal" plums. Roasted grapes are also very tasty with meat, if you haven't tried it yet, you're in for a treat.

Adding my recipe to splendid Karen's from Lavender and Lovage linky Cooking with Herbs, as the theme for August is Summer Herbs and Flowers.

Also adding my recipe to Shop Local linky on lovely Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary blog, since the pork was purchased at the local butcher's, and the plums and lavender were picked in our own garden, couldn't be more local than that.