stuffed pork tenderloin

traditionally, pork and i have not been great friends. i love proper bacon and have learnt to cook pork belly to perfection. i also love various salamis, chorizo and hams. however, that has been the limit of my interest in pork.

until now that is. on a whim i bought a pork tenderloin and it has been sitting in my freezer for several weeks while i mumbled under my breath about the silliness of such a purchase. pork? dry and flavourless - what a waste of a meal!

on the advice of a friend i decided that the best approach would be to wrap it in pancetta and stuff it so that there was an extra layer of flavour. i used a caramelised onion, chorizo, lemon and spinach stuffing and it was fabulous. the pancetta did a fantastic job at keeping the pork moist and the lemony stuffing added a wonderful range and depth of flavour to the dish, which we ate with a spinach and chorizo pilaf.

i’m so pleased that i’ve learnt how to use a new cut of meat and am really looking forward to experimenting a little more with pork. decent crackling on a roast is probably the next thing i need to try... any foolproof tips welcome!

pork tenderloin stuffed with caramelised onion, chorizo, lemon and spinach stuffing, with spinach and chorizo pilaf (serves 4)

1 pork tenderloin

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 red onion, thinly sliced

2 picante chorizo sausages, finely diced

300g baby leaf spinach

a handful of breadcrumbs (1-2 slices bread)

zest and juice of half a lemon

black pepper

12 rashers pancetta

150g basmati rice

400ml vegetable stock

preheat the oven to 200c.

cut the pork in half, lengthways. bash each piece of meat with a rolling pin (place the meat between a couple of layers of cling film or in a plastic bag) to flatten it a little.

heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onions until they begin to soften. add the chorizo and fry until the meat is cooked and the onions have begun to caramelise. remove half the mixture from the pan, (including most of the oil that has been released by the chorizo) and set aside. add half the spinach to the pan and cook until it wilts, placing a lid on the pan to make this easier. remove from the heat and stir in the breadcrumbs, lemon zest and juice. season well with black pepper.

place the pancetta rashers in a line, on a board, slightly overlapping. top this with one half of the pork tenderloin and cover this with the chorizo, spinach and lemon stuffing. top with the other half of the tenderloin and wrap the pancetta around it, sealing in the stuffing. place, seal side down, on a lightly-oiled baking tray and roast for 25-30 minutes, until the pork is cooked through. leave to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

meanwhile, place the onion/chorizo that was set aside back into the pan. warm through and add the rice. stir well to coat the grains with the oil and cook for a minute. add the stock, cover and leave to simmer until the stock is absorbed and the rice cooked (you may need to add extra liquid). wilt the remaining spinach into the rice.

serve slices of stuffed pork with the rice and green vegetables. we had purple sprouting broccoli.

Comments

[Julia s]

Hi Abs,

This sounds lovely! I have a similar issue with pork to you, whilst T really likes it; maybe can be our happy middle ground. Jx

[Jeanne]

Oooh this sounds fab! I, on the other hand, am a huge fan of pork tenderloin (fillet) and always have one in the freezer, just in case. Try stuffing one with slices of pear, caramelised onion and fresh sage leaves (pancetta wrapping optional!). Or there is also a recipe somewhere on my blog for a glazed pork tenderloin on a bed of potatoes and pancetta (if I recall correctly!). And they're also great sliced into medallions which can be pan-fried and I serve mine with a mustard-caper sauce. Fantastic.

[elly]

this sounds delicious! there are few things in this world better than meat stuffed with more meat :)

[abby]

ooh, lovely ideas jeanne, thank you - i definitely want to try some different stuffing options. i love the sage idea.

elly - meat stuffed with meat and wrapped with meat! david commented on the three types of pork i'd managed to get into this dish - i hadn't realised...

julia - maybe you'd get triple points for all the pork if you try it?!?

[Deborah]

I actually really love pork, and have a tenderloin in my freezer, and this sounds like a perfect way to use it!

[Julia s]

Abs, I made this last night for our Sunday dinner, and both toby and my brother loved it (i did too!). The pork comes our fabulously moist and flavoursome; perhaps the biggest surpise was the rice, which was truly delicious and which I think would be worth making on its own, perhaps paired with a simple chicken breast or a fillet of white fish. I roasted tomatoes next to the pork and they made a lovely accompaniment. I also added extra spinach to the rice, which worked a treat. A really great meal which I'll cook again

[abby]

hey julia, i'm really glad it was a success! and how nice that you liked the rice dish on the side - it's a very much simplified version of a moro recipe and i'm a big fan. i agree that it'd work well with other simpler accompaniments.

deborah - how did you get on with your tenderloin?

[Tim]

Abby,

I'm not much of a chef, as my girlfriend regularly accuses me, so I took this on, and it has been a runaway success. You are a hero.

Wasn't easy procuring all the ingredients for pork stuffed with pork wrapped in pork living as we do in golders green, but when I eventually did it was absolutely delicious. Being a bit of a div, I used infuriatingly thin parma ham instead of pancetta (it's not the same thing, is it?), which proved very difficult to lay out flat and then roll the tenderloin up with. But apart from that, it was surprisingly straightforward.

The pilaf too was awesome, although having now cooked and eaten one I still don't really know what one is. Is it to do with rice?

Negating your purple sprouting broccoli (cannot bring myself to pay for it, given the abundance in which it grows in my dad's garden in cornwall), I saved a tiny bit of chorizo and fried it with some garlic and courgettes, which were also good.

She did pudding. A banoffee pie from Somerfield. Pathetic. She has to go. Are you single I wonder...

[abby]

tim, i'm so pleased you had such a great success - your girlfriend will no doubt be getting you in the kitchen increasingly often, especially if you're dismissing her shop-bought pudding efforts and wanting to try your own sweet dishes too!!

you are right about pancetta and parma ham not being particularly similar. if you can't get pancetta (sainsbury's sell it, although perhaps not in golders green!) you could use streaky bacon.

and yes, pilaf is a rice dish - do a search on the blog and you'll find a few other pilaf recipes, i particularly love the peppered mackerel and spinach one.

i like the sound of your courgette accompaniment :)

[pecand danish]

for good good cracking.

the skin should be evenly scored with a stanley knife at 0.5cm intervals.

leave the joint open in the fridge overnight

if you are really naughty rub with very well seasoned goose fat or butter blended with garlic and bay leaves or fennel

turn the oven up to max, pop the joint in and turn down to 170 degrees after 10 minutes and cook as normal.

[latinart]

I have never made a loin and making this soon. I have seen other recipes in which you have to quickly cook it on the stove top(to be seared) and then put it in the oven. I have read that doing this prevent the juices from coming out while in the oven. I wonder why not doing this in here, is it because is wrapped with the pancetta?

[abby]

hi latinart - you're right, the pancetta helps protect the tenderloin from drying out. people might also sear it for the flavour this would add. i don't think this recipe needs it.