I always have a little chuckle with myself when trying to come up with names for my dishes. (I work alone so I don't have the option of sharing my hilarious ramblings with anyone else) You see, the one pictured above is: 'a balsamic and smoked paprika pork fillet casserole with tomato and red peppers' but that just sounds ridiculous, I might as well copy and paste the ingredients list or call it 'pork fillet with 9 other things'. You have to sum it up in a way that explains the dish, like naming a child in a way, as you want its name to represent all of its characteristics - but realistically if I called it 'Andrea' people would be right to want to put me in the loony bin*.You want something simple, but not as unappealing as 'tomato pork' or 'pork thing'. So you have another cup of coffee and sigh a bit more and come up with: 'Balsamic and tomato pork casserole' (personally I think 'Andrea' sounds better).
It's delicious (although I tend to say everything I make is delicious, I hope I am not starting to sound vein, if I am, I apologize) But you must take my word for it and make it with the Butter Bean Mash as an accompaniment - it knocks the socks off normal mash and takes 2 minutes - literally 2 minutes - to make.
*(I don't have children and this was meant to be funny, so to all of you
out there with children I was making a joke, not trying to equate naming
my food with the countless hours you all spent finding names for your
beautiful bundles of joy)
Balsamic and tomato pork casserole
Ingredients: (serves 4)
2 300-350g pork fillets
60ml balsamic
Olive oil
2 onions (peeled and sliced)
2 red peppers (cored and sliced)
salt
1 tin tomatoes (cut up)
1 cup veg/chicken stock
30g sugar
1tsp smoked paprika (if you can't get smoked, you can use normal paprika)
1tsp thyme
Mashed potato or butter bean mash to serve
Method:
Preheat oven to 190*C
Put a non-stick pan on high heat.
Season the pork fillets with salt and black pepper and, once the pan is almost smoking, brown in the pan for 2 minutes on each side. Pour 1/2 the balsamic (30ml) into the pan with the fillets and turn the pork to coat as the balsamic reduces to a syrup. (This will take approx 4 minutes)
Put the pork fillets into a med/large casserole dish and set aside.
Using the same pan, add a little olive oil and then the onions, peppers and a little salt and fry for about 8 minutes, tossing continuously, until slightly caramelised and softened.
Add the tinned tomatoes, stock, sugar and balsamic and simmer to reduce for a further 10 minutes.
Pour on top of the pork fillets, sprinkle over the thyme and smoked paprika and cover with a lid/foil.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes*.
Remove and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Cut the fillet into portions and serve with butter bean mash. (See below)
*To tell if the pork is cooked through, simply press different areas of the fillet gently with your index finger, all areas should feel the same i.e. slightly firm - if the centre of the fillet is much softer than the ends then it needs a few more minutes in the oven.
Butter bean mash
2 tins butter beans (drained)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove (thinly sliced)
Place
a small sauce pan on medium heat and pour in the butter beans, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and a little salt and pepper. Mash as you
heat the mixture for 2-3 minutes, then cover and set aside.
