Pork Fillet with Honey and Ginger

Pork has to be my all time favourite meat.  It’s so often overlooked (or over cooked!) but if you buy good quality cuts, it is so sweet and tender, soaks up flavour really well and is cheap as chips compared to red meat.  This is a really simple one-pot-wonder dish I’ve made for dinner parties many times.  If you want to add a bit of spice, use hot pancetta and, in winter, always go for parsnips rather than pumpkin – they go so well with the honey.  I guarantee this will be a big hit at the table for young and old – the boy loves this one!  Serve it with mashed potato in winter or a salad or steamed greens in summer.  Gotta love those Two Greedy Italians..

 Ingredients

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

100g pancetta or bacon, roughly chopped

800g pork fillet

2 garlic cloves, left whole

4 tbsp honey

12g ginger, peeled and finely sliced

2 carrots, roughly chopped

4 baby parsnips, peeled and cut in half, or 500g pumpkin, peeled and sliced

4 shallots, halved or quartered, depending on size

2 sprigs of rosemary

300ml veggie stock

freshly ground black pepper

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the pancetta until golden.  remove from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add the pork and seal on all sides.  Now add the garlic, honey and ginger and continue to cook over a medium heat until caramelised.  Add the carrots, parsnips or pumpkin, shallots, rosemary, pancetta, stock and black pepper, cover with a lid and cook on a medium to low heat for 30 minutes.  Check the vegetables are tender, remove and set aside.  Continue to cook the meat until tender and cooked through, about another half an hour, depending on the size of your fillets, then remove from the pan and set aside.  Leave the pork to cool slightly, before cutting into thick slices.  Be careful not to overcook the pork – it’s good if it’s still a bit pink inside when you remove it from the pan, as it will keep cooking while it rests.

Return both the vegetables and the pork slices to the pan to heat through before serving.

Serves 4-6