Pork Fillet with Home-made Chips

Christmas is getting closer and with most Christmas publications finalising this week, I’ve been pretty busy preparing delicious Christmas treats for you to enjoy making over the Festive season.

This weed I would like to mention the Christmas Market that will be held at San Anton School, Imselliet (limits of Mgarr) on Sunday 23rd November. You’ll find everything you need for the perfect Christmas, from traditional decorations to gift wrapping, home-made jams and also stocking fillers. So make a note in your diaries. The market is open from 10.30am to 8pm.

And since we are only 6 weeks away from Christmas and from the big Christmas lunch here is a quick family meal you can prepare in minutes!

Pork fillet is one of the leanest cuts of pork you can buy. It is also not expensive and even though cooking meat might sound inhibiting for mid-week suppers, this dish needs very little time to prepare.

When you buy a pork fillet you buy a whole one and this is usually about 30cm long (on average). You can cook your fillet whole in a pan however this would take some time and a lot of care since the fillet would need continuous turned – definitely not ideal for a mid-week supper.

The method I use in this recipe is to cut the fillet and hence reduce its cooking time. Here is what you need for this pork supper for 2:

1 pork fillet
2 medium sized potatoes

Start off by preparing the fillet. Trim any excess fats from the outer part of the fillet taking off as much as you can. Next cut the fillet into thick strips around 5-7 cm each. Now turn the fillet over so that the cut would be the top or bottom and using a kitchen mallet beat the meat slightly.

This way you will spread your fillet out into a wider and flatter piece of meat. Keep on doing this until all the fillet has been cut and beaten.

Next, place all the cuts in a plate and sprinkle with some salt and pepper, set aside in the fridge until you are ready to use. This can be prepared a couple of hours in advance.

Now wash the potatoes still with their skins on and cut them in half, now cut each half into wedges and place them on an oiled baking dish. You can sprinkle them with salt or any type of spice. You can make some with paprika or curry should you prefer.

Now place the chips into a hot oven. This would have to be pre-heated to 170C. Cook the chips for about 30 – 40 minutes or until your chips are golden on the outside and soft on the inside.

Serve your chips as soon as they are out of the oven.

To cook your fillet, warm up a non-stick pan WITHOUT any oil or fats you can also use a griddle pan. Once the pan is hot enough, place the fillet pieces into the pan making sure that they do not touch each other. If the pieces of pork touch each other, then they will cook into one whole piece.

Once your pork is cooked through, serve your fillet with the chips or add some fresh salad or hot vegetables!