The first post of 2016 and, I hope, not the last - Herbed Pork Loin with Prosciutto

So, my new year’s resolution is conveniently vague and is basically to try to ‘do stuff better’. This could encompass such aspects as eating better, trying harder to do the things I enjoy, more exercise, stop buying shoes… whatever. I think a general malaise has set in, due to modern life being, frankly, rubbish and whilst I don’t want to sound like a miserable old cow, one of the quotations that I learned for my German Literature A level examination, 23 years ago, was ‘fur die Tretmulle bestimmt’ from ‘Und Sagte kein einziges Wort’ by Heinrich Boll. This phrase kept coming back to me towards the end of 2015. Basically, destined for the treadmill. And I've gotta get off that treadmill.

So here is a blog post about a pretty yum, easy and satisfying meal that we actually sat round the table for, (and there we have another little, but crucial, activity that went by the by last year and needs to return: Eating together and having a bit of a conversation about ‘stuff’). In the spirit of trying to ‘get back’, I returned to the tried and tested brilliance of the Barefoot Contessa, who, no matter which dish I pick from one of her gloriously colourful and luscious books, the end result will make you look pretty adept.

This recipe is from her last book, ‘Make it Ahead’, which appeals to the organised person with not a lot of time and who wants to party on with her guests. I already have not a lot of time; now I just need to be organised and have a party.

Herbed Pork Tenderloin (with Apple Chutney which I did not make because I had some to use up) from 'Make it Ahead' by Ina Garten

My alterations/additions are in red

Ingredients:

I halved the recipe below - except for the prosciutto, of which I used 10 slices

2 pork tenderloins (also known as pork fillet) (2 1/2 to 3 pounds total)
1 tablespoon minced (chopped!) fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/2 tbsp. (chopped) fresh sage
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Good olive oil
10 to 12 slices prosciutto

 Apple Chutney (I used apple sauce, left over from Christmas)

Method

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Cut any sinew or excess fat from the pork loin and pat dry.

Chop the rosemary, the sage and the thyme then add ½ tsp of salt and ½ of ground black pepper to the herbs. Combine.

It’s probably easier to lay out the slices of prosciutto, overlapping each other, onto a baking tray, in preparation for laying the herbed loin onto it.

Coat the loin in a little olive oil and rub the herb and seasoning mixture all around it. Place it onto the prosciutto and pull the prosciutto over the loin, a bit like a blanket. Carefully turn the loin over so the prosciutto ends are tucked under the loin.

Place in the oven for about 25 minutes and then if you have a thermometer, check that the internal temperature is … I just cooked mine for 25 minutes and took a chance, to be honest. Pork loin is seriously chewy if you over cook it.

The Barefoot Contessa serves this with an apple chutney which, let’s face it, is a pretty fab idea. I used the last of the apple sauce with Calvados from Christmas which counteracted the saltiness of the prosciutto fabulously.

We had Summer last week and this is what we cooked... - Thai Style Marinated Pork with Chilli Dressing

 

 

Ah Summer. That one day of the year in England when the sun comes out, and the results are profound. Flesh that has been hidden for the 364 days previously is revealed and consequently burned, Argos sells out of inflatable swimming pools, and any shops that sell either bread, burgers, beer and charcoal have their shelves decimated of these items as soon as the doors open and if you leave it too late on in the day to decide you are getting the barbecue out, then you will be left with some squashed sliced white and the odd vegetarian sausage to try and get the best out of. Which I suppose is okay if you are a vegetarian...

 

I have to say though that I am a bit of a miserable bitch and the thoughts of getting the barbeqce out does not fill me with brimming joy. It is mainly to do with the feeling of having to create stuff to go with it, like salad, or else scrabbling through the cupboard for the burger relish that you remember using the previous summer and there is no way you are going out and getting another one (if you are me, that is...) And then there are the accompaniments to the burger, and slicing the bread, and keeping the flies off the food, and keeping the kids away from the barbecue and because of my disorganised nature I always seem to be traipsing back to the kitchen for something. And another thing, whilst I am not averse to a tasty burger, I am sick of having them off barbecues. It is like that is all there ever seems to be...

 

So I got out some pork fillet. I buy so many pork fillets for great prices because I don't think anybody who shops where I shop actually knows what to do with them. I decided to adapt Bill Granger's recipe for Thai Marinated Pork and Chilli Dressing from his book Easy Food, where he marinated pork chops for this, and it worked a treat. Cooking the pork fillet over the coals created meat that was succulent and tasty and it was just so nice to taste something different. This is different, and next year when Summer comes again, you should try it.

 

Thai Style Marinated Pork with Chilli Dressing, adapted from 'Easy Food' by Bill Granger

 

My adaptations in red

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad.

 

Ingredients:

 

4 brown shallots, sliced (I used a medium sized onion)

1 tbsp grated ginger

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Handful coriander, including stems, coarsely chopped

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp caster sugar

4 pork cutlets (I used 420g pork fillet)

Olive oil

 

For the sauce

 

2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. caster sugar
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp. thinly sliced spring onion
1/4 cucumber, seeds  removed, finely chopped

 

Method:

 

Tastes better than it looks!!!

 

Place shallots, ginger, garlic, coriander, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, sea salt and pepper in a food processor and whiz to a paste.

 

Still tastes better than it looks...

 

Transfer to a shallow, non-metallic dish and add the pork.

 

Mix well, then cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. (I left mine for an hour and a half)

 

Preheat a barbecue or chargrill pan to medium-high heat and brush lightly with oil.

 

 

 

Grill the pork for about 4 -5 minutes on four 'sides' (you might have to squash it a bit to do this) or until cooked to your liking.

 

For the chilli dressing, place vinegar, sugar and fish sauce in a bowl and stir until sugar has dissolved.

 

 

 

Stir in chilli, spring onion and cucumber.

 

 

 

Serve pork with cucumber, chilli dressing. In a completely authentic Thai way, I got some tortilla wraps and just put the meat and the dressing on that. Messy but really tasty!

Still indulging my fondness for the Orient, express style! - Glazed Pork Fillet with steamed rice and stir fry vegetables

 

 

I'm loving the fact that I have rediscovered my wok and tapped into those half bottles of Asian ingredients that I bought on a whim, used once or twice and then being the culinary butterfly that I am, decided that I wanted to cook Italian (or insert Mediterranean country here) or something after a few stir fry sessions. Anyway, the fact is I am back rocking the wok for a short time at least and it's great, not least because it is quick, healthy and Lola and Finn seem to be enjoying it.

 

Anyway, whilst the wok isn't compulsory equipment here, a tablespoon or two of some of those aforementioned bottles of Asian ingredients certainly was and the result was a speedy dish of burnished, sticky citrussy pork which the children really enjoyed. Even Finn. Though he did leave the vegetables, because they are vegetables, and therefore evil.

 

The recipe I used is a Trish Deseine recipe, which I found on the RTE website. From the cookbooks I have that she has written, I never even thought of consulting them for something oriental, but then if I had been more thoughtful at the time, I might have thought of 'Indochine' and the fact that there's eastern influence in French cuisine too. I have much to learn.

 

Anyway, the only alterations I made to this was that I upped the sauce content because we like sauce here and I would rather have too much than too little. And I used palm sugar instead of Demerara, mainly because the Demerara is right at the back of the cupboard which is the one I have to boot shut, such is the amount of cramming of random ingredients therein. If I wasn't so feckless I'd sort it out. Anyway, enough of my inadequacy, here's the recipe:

 

Glazed Pork Fillet, adapted from 'Glazed Pork Fillet' by Trish Deseine, from the RTE website

 

My adaptions in red

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad

 

Ingredients:

 

1 pork fillet (Mine was about 400g)

Juice of four large oranges with a little zest (I used six, with the zest from one of the oranges) You may need extra juice.

a little garlic (I used one large clove, finely diced)

a little bit of ginger (I used about half a thumb's worth)

Thai fish sauce (I used 2 tsp)

soy sauce (I used 2 tsp)

Demerara sugar (I used a little palm sugar)

 

Method:

 

 

Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and then pour into a pan that will be big enough to hold your pork fillet. Bring the sauce to the boil.

 

 

 

Wheen the sauce has been boiling for three to four minutes, drop the fillet carefully in and seal it on one side.

 

Once it’s evenly coloured, turn it over gently to do the same on the other side. Then just look after it and keep basting it in the sauce for 15 or 20 minutes, until the meat is cooked through. (I also turned mine around reasonably often and the cooking time was just over 20 minutes).

 

 

 

The sauce will reduce during the cooking of the pork until it has almost caramelised and the fillet will be covered with a lovely sticky glaze.

 

If it is in danger of drying out, make sure you have extra freshly squeezed orange juice standing by (which I did use just to loosen the sauce a little).

 

Pre sauce addition, I should say.

 

 

Slice and serve with rice and something crunchy like green beans or snap peas. (I served with rice, mange tout and baby corn).

 

A speedy roast! Martha Stewart's Pork Tenderloin with Honeyed Butter

 

 

I am writing this at the time of year where you might be sick of eating meat; Christmas can turn into a bit of a meat marathon with all those roast dinners and the general prolonged faffing about that goes along with them, and if you are anything like me then there comes a time somewhere around 27th December where you are crying out for a cheeseboard, but before you banish any more meat out of your mind, here is an unfaffy, speedily quick way of rustling up a pretty gorgeous meal courtesy of Martha Stewart who is the subject of this month's Cook Like A Star  bloghop.

 

The bloghop is hosted by Zoe at Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats. If you have the time, visit there for many more Martha Stewart treats!

 

It has been the case for a long time that pork in this country at least can be quite dry and flavourless, due to this country's obsession with intensive farming methods. This meat lends itself to be being basted and roasted in this way and the quick cooking process leaves the meat caramelised and flavourful on the outside, and moist on the inside. I must say however that the seven minutes cooking time in the oven was a little too short when I cooked this - it ended up being more like 15. I can only think that either I have an inefficient oven or else Martha Stewart's pig of choice is rather small. Anyway, it's worth mentioning. I pierced the loin with a knife part way through to check the juices and it needed a little more and whilst I know you can serve pork a little pink, I do think a good vet would have got this little piggy back to market. So, it got double the time and in my mind didn't suffer for it because it had been well seared in the pan on top of the hob beforehand, so it was still moist and juicy in the middle.

 

I served this with fondant potatoes and petit pois. And it was good. Very good!

 

Pork Tenderloin with Honeyed Butter, adapted from the Martha Stewart website

 

Ingredients:

 

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed of silver skin ( ...mine was a more like a lb of pork, about 600g)

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1/4 cup water

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 

 

 

In a Dutch oven or ovenproof skillet, heat butter and honey over medium heat, stirring to melt butter.

 

 

 

Season pork with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and place in pan.

 

 

 

Cook until underside is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Turn pork, and cook until other side is browned, about 5 minutes more. Lower the heat if the honey begins to burn.

 

Put pan in the oven, and roast until pork is just cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes. (Though it may take longer; see preamble!) Transfer pork to a plate.

 

Add water to the pan, and stir over medium heat to scrape up all the browned bits. Add any accumulated pork juices from the plate, and simmer until sauce is reduced to about 1/2 cup.

 

 

 

Slice pork on the diagonal, and serve drizzled with sauce.

 

I am submitting this as part of the 'Cook Like A Star' bloghop. Visit some of the other wonderful Martha Stewart dishes below!

 

 

Taking on the Take Away! Stir fried Pork with Chilli, Honey and Ginger

 

I had forgotten how quick and easy stir fires can be, quite honestly, and I admonish myself for not doing more of them. We have take away Chinese from time to time when I really cannot be bothered with this cooking malarkey and Lola and Finn quite like what we have. I am quite surprised by Lola's penchant for chicken and sweetcorn soup (not my most favourite Chinese food it has to be said) and both children have a propensity to 'post' spring rolls and prawn toast like they are going out of fashion. And then there's vermicelli. Lola and Finn are fans of noodles. And why not? So am I.

 

So, I wanted to have an evening meal which was going to take minimum effort when I walked through the door, after running Lola and Finn around here, there and everywhere as part of their hectic social lives (I need to get myself one...) and whilst this meal only took as much effort as chopping a few spring onions, rooting out the vinegar and the soy sauce from the cupboard and opening a pack of noodles, and so fitted in to the 'minimum effort' meal that I wanted, I did need to spend 15 or so minutes earlier in the day massaging a marinade into some pork fillet. But that was okay, and quite therapeutic actually.

 

This recipe is from my long neglected (in terms of this blog at least) Kylie Kwong book 'Simple Chinese Cooking' which is a lovely, big, bold and colourful book, and it also contains some lovely recipes that now I have reacquainted myself with them, am longing to cook, not least because when I first bought this book, pre children, I enjoyed each recipe I made. It weirdly reminds me of when I was pregnant with Lola and this was one of the very few types of food I was able to eat. Being pregnant with Lola was the best diet I ever went on.

 

Anyway, try this. It's easy and tasty. My adaptions to the recipe were that I added a little chopped red chilli to the marinade because I wanted a semblance of heat. I added half a finely diced red chilli. I also tasted the marinade and even though there was a lot of soy in there, I didn't feel there was enough salt to bring out the flavour of a potentially bland pork fillet, so I added about 1/2 a teaspoon. Finally, I also upped the quantity of spring onions as in Phill I have someone for whom two spring onions is frankly not enough. Chopped coriander is my own addition, because I like it - big lumps of it.

 

Kylie Kwong recommends an overnight marinade for optimum flavour. I marinated for about 8 hours, turning the meat over periodically and the meat was tasty and tender.

 

 

 

 

Pork with Chilli, Honey and Ginger, adapted from 'Simple Chinese Cooking' by Kylie Kwong.

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad and probably one other (but we were hungry!)

Ingredients

600 g (1 lb. 4 oz.) pork fillets, cut into 5 mm (1/4 in) slices

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 spring onions (scallions), trimmed and cut into 10 cm (4 in) lengths

1 tablespoon malt vinegar

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon water

2 limes, halved

 

Marinade

 

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 tablespoons shao hsing wine or dry sherry

2 tablespoons finely diced ginger

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

2 teaspoons dark soy sauce

2 teaspoons five-spice powder

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Method

 

Combine pork with marinade ingredients in a large bowl, cover, and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight.

 

 

 

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly. Add half the marinated pork and stir-fry for 30 seconds.

 

Remove from wok with a slotted spoon and set aside. Heat remaining oil in the wok, add remaining pork and stir-fry for another 30 seconds.

 

 

 

Return reserved pork to the wok with spring onions, vinegar, soy sauce and water. Stir-fry for a further minute or until pork is just cooked through and lightly browned.

 

 

 

Arrange pork on a platter and serve with lime halves (or serve with some noodles and a scattering of coriander)

 

Pork, Spanish Style - Pinchos Morunos

I know there is a lot of 'pork' and 'Spain' going on lately and it really is just coincidence rather than a deliberate attempt to hint at going to Spain on holiday (honestly!) I just adore Spanish food. That being the case I had all the necessary ingredients to create this dish, which I have taken from Modern Spanish Cooking by Sam and Eddie Hart. They explain that this is not the authentic Spanish Pinchos Morunos, as there is a distinct lack of skewers and the pork is left in quite chunky portions.

Unfortunately, this recipe does require a little forethought, being that 24 hours of marinating is required to flavour the pork. If you are in Spain (or anywhere that isn't the UK, probably) then you will be easily able to buy good quality flavoursome pork that will suck up the marinade and be extremely tasty. However, living in the UK means dodgy, mostly flavourless pork unless you seek out rare breed stuff, so my advice would be buy the best pork fillet you can and add salt to the marinade, as the pork will taste of very little otherwise.

I adore my griddle, and it is perfect for cooking this dish. I loved the way the smell of garlic and oregano and cumin wafted through the house as the meat was cooking. The barbecue would also be an excellent place to cook this too, should we have anything resembling barbecue weather. I imagine you could also cook the meat under the grill, though it may take longer.

Lola and Finn gave this one the thumbs up, particularly Finn, who is the resident meat eater, often picking through the other ingredients to get to the bits he really likes. It's not too spicy and does have a flavour which is not overbearing. Plus, if you don't overcook the meat and allow it to rest appropriately, it is succulent and juicy. Lovely stuff!

Pinchos Morunos, taken from Modern Spanish Cooking, by Sam and Eddie Hart

Serves Mum, Dad, Lola and Finn

Ingredients:

800g pork fillet (the best you can find)

75ml light olive oil

1 tsp smoked paprika

1tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 head of garlic, separated into cloves, peeled, then smashed

11/2 tsp salt and  1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Method:

Trim up the pork, removing any sinew or fat and then cut into equal sections.

In a non reactive bowl or plastic tub, place the meat and then add the rest of the ingredients, mixing it evenly with your hands and rubbing it all over the pork.

Cover the bowl with cling film and place it in the fridge for 24 hours, remembering every so often to turn the pork in the marinade.

Heat your griddle, or light your barbecue, or turn on your grill.

Remove the pork from the marinade and strain the liquor. Set aside.

Cook the pork for about 10 minutes or so, turning the meat every couple of minutes or so to ensure even cooking, and basting with the strained marinade liquor every so often.

When cooked, transfer to a warm platter or carefully cover in foil and place in a very low oven to allow the meat to rest. I left it for 10 minutes.

I served this with some sauteed Mediterranean vegetables and some steamed new potatoes with parsley and it was good. Very good. Don't forget the Rioja, obligatory in this house whenever something Spanish is on the menu. Magnífico!