I have been looking through my old notebooks from the 1980's. This was one of my favourite dishes to make for a dinner party. Pork fillet is a lovely inexpensive piece of meat, It's a rich dish so unless you are desperate for potatoes, I would simply serve it with some delicious dark greens like cavolo neroThis will serve 4 generously or possibly up to 6
What equipment do you recommend?Check my 'Kitchen Essentials' list on Amazon!
Ingredients
120gunsalted butter
1shallotfinely diced
2hard pearspeeld and cut into small cubes
2pork fillet (approx 500g each)
200ggorgonzola piccante
6sprigstarragonleaves removed
2tbspolive oil
4tbspplain flour
240mlwhite wine
salt and pepper
Equipment
Kitchen string
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200c fan
Take 20g of butter and melt in a small pan. gently sauté the shallots, when they start to soften, add the pear and cook for 5 minutes until the pear softens. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Make a deep cut lengthways along the fillets without going quite the full length. Spoon the shallot and pear along the cuts in the meat. You may not need all of it so set it aside to add to the sauce later.
Slice the gorgonzola and place on top of the pear, finish with the tarragon leaves.
Close the fillet as you would a book and tie it tight using 6 pieces of string. Repeat on the second fillet. Rub them all over with salt and pepper.
In a flameproof oven dish on top of the stove, gently melt the remaining 100g of butter with olive oil.
Meanwhile, sprinkle the flour on a board and roll the fillet in it. Shake off the excess flour and turn the heat up under the butter once it has turned a lovely nut brown colour, place the meat in the dish and sauté it on all sides. Pour in the wine and any remaining bits of pear, bring to the boil and then place the dish in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven, discard the string, cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
While the meat is resting, return the cooking juices to the hob and bubble for a few minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Slice the meat and serve with the juices