Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

By Charles Campion from Food From Fire (Mitchell Beazley)

Photography: Jason Lowe

This dish is something of a grandstand affair.  It needs some pre-cooking, but if you get the timing right the result is a delicious balance between lean meat, tasty stuffing and crisp bits.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

100g pine kernels

100g no-need-to-soak dried apricots, finely chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large pork tenderloins

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Method

1.    Start by making the stuffing.  Fry the onion in the oil and cook until starting to colour.  Add the garlic and cook until it softens.

2.    Dry-fry the pine kernels until toasted, then add to the mix.  Add the apricots, lemon juice and parsley, and season well with salt and pepper.  Mix well and set aside to cool.

3.    Open the pork tenderloins out with a knife – imagine you are deconstructing a Swiss roll, and make a curving cut into the centre.  Flatten the meat out as best you can, spread it with the stuffing and roll it up carefully.  Secure the roll with some string every 2cm or so.

4.    Wrap the sausage-like tenderloin in two layers of foil, with the inside face buttered to stop it sticking.  Cook in a medium oven (170C/325F/gas mark 3) for 20 minutes.  Take it out and rest it for 10 minutes, or refrigerate for up to 24hrs before you want to eat.

5.    To finish, wait until the coals are medium-hot.  Brush with the melted butter, and wither finish the complete roll on the barbecue (5-10 minutes, turning) and carve at the table, or cut the tenderloin into 2cm thick slices by cutting between the strings, then brush each round with melted butter and cook for 2-3 minutes each side.

This dish works perfectly indoors.  After the initial cooking, pan-fry the rounds.

A round of stuffed pork goes well served in a bun as if it were a burger.

The apple and onion sauce recipe below, goes well with this dish

Apple and Onion Sauce

This sauce is one of my family’s ‘signature dishes’. It’s a simple combo of sweet and savoury tastes that goes well with pork and, somewhat surprisingly, fish!

Ingredients

75g unsalted butter

3 large onions, finely chopped

3 large, sharp cooking apples

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1.    Melt the butter in a frying pan and cook the onions for 15-20 minutes as slowly as you are able to so that they become soft, transparent and melting without browning.

2.    Peel and core the apples and roughly chop.  Add to the pan with a splash of boiling water and cover with a lid to trap the steam.  Cook slowly until the apple is soft: 3-4 minutes.  Mush everything together with the back of a spoon or use a hand blender.

3.    Season to taste with sea salt and pepper.  Then take a pair of scissors and snip fine threads of sage into the sauce.  Stir well and serve.

Drinks tasted on air, alongside the dish:

Sheppy's 200 & Low Alcohol Cider https://www.sheppyscider.com/online-shop/ciders/