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Friday 8 August 2014

Pork Fillet, White Port, Figs, Honey and Goat's Cheese

Fillet of Pork in a White Port and Fig Sauce,
 served with Grilled Figs and Goat's Cheese
accompanied by Black and White Rice


This really was a blend of Portuguese flavours! And I enjoyed making it and by the clean plates at the end, the family enjoyed eating it too! Though I am not so sure that Peter enjoyed picking the figs - I should have armed him with a pair of gloves as they leave a sticky residue which is not easy to remove!! Anyway, the reward was in the result.


Pork and Portugal are synonymous, as are figs and goat's cheese. Port is probably Portugal's best know export, so I decided to make a dish that combines all the best ingredients that the country has to offer. I also added a spoonful of locally produced honey with almonds, but not before devouring some myself. Ooooh, it was pure nectar!! I'll try and remember that next time I complain about my increasing weight. Unfortunately, I suffer from a dire case of 'cake and eat it'!

So, on with the recipe!


The sauce:
1 cup of White Port (and a little drop for chef!)
2 cups of vegetable stock
8 figs, quartered
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 cinnamon sticks
1 dessert spoon of honey
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
Salt and pepper
The Pork:
1 pork fillet will generously feed 3 people
Butter to grease the foil
2 sprigs of rosemary                                 To accompany: Soft Goat's Cheese and 2 extra Figs




In a heavy medium size saucepan, add the figs, white Port, vegetable stock, honey, rosemary and cinnamon. Boil for about 30 minutes until the liquid is reduced by half. Strain the liquid to remove the fig skins, rosemary stalks and the the cinnamon sticks. With the liquids back in the pan, blend in the butter and season with salt and pepper. This can be put aside and gently reheated before serving.

For this recipe, I like to bake the pork fillet with a couple of sprigs of rosemary, sealed in buttered foil, for 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees.

In the meantime, cook the rice. The black rice takes much longer than the white so I start that off first. When cooked, drain and mix the rices.

Slice the pork into 1cm rounds. Dress with the sauce.

Slice the figs thinly and the goat's cheese. I use a kitchen blow torch to lightly toast them both. Assemble and devour!!!! The flavours are truly sensational.









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