Jeremy Vincent’s recipe for pork fillet with muscat wine & cranberries

Other dried fruits such as cherries or apricots can be substituted in this sauce if dried cranberries are hard to find.

To the sauce: Serving mashed potato with the fillet allows you to soak up the sauce. Picture: Dannika Bonser

WHETHER grilled or pan-roasted, there’s a pork fillet recipe for every taste and occasion. Choose from a variety of ways to flavour this cut of meat, from marinades and dry rubs, to glazing.

Pork fillet is a popular cut of meat from along the top of the rib cage. Its smaller size and lack of excess fat make cooking pork fillet easy. I use it often cut into small pieces for a stir-fry, but in larger pieces it makes a great dish when combined with a rich, fruity sauce.

PORK FILLET WITH MUSCAT WINE & DRIED CRANBERRIES

OTHER dried fruits such as cherries or apricots can be substituted if dried cranberries are hard to find.

Serves 4

2 thick pork fillets (about 750g)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

15g butter

1 tbsp oil

60g dried cranberries

1 cup sweet fortified wine

1 cup beef stock

1 tbsp cherry jam

Squeeze lemon juice

Trim any skin and fat from the pork fillets. Cut the fillet into large pieces, about 8cm is ideal. Don’t worry if there are slightly smaller end pieces — you are seeking to end up with most pieces about the size of a small apple.

Season the pork pieces with cinnamon, salt and pepper.

Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan until foaming. Add the pork pieces and saute them until brown, 3-5 minutes. Turn them over, lower the heat and leave until browned on the outside and just cooked to your taste, 5-7 minutes. Transfer them to a plate and keep warm.

Discard all but a teaspoon of fat from the pan.

Add the dried cranberries, wine and stock, and boil until reduced by half, stirring to dissolve the pan juices, 10-12 minutes. Add the cherry jam and lemon juice and stir until dissolved. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Add the pork pieces back to the sauce in the pan and reheat for a minute. Arrange on four warmed individual plates and spoon over the sauce. Serve at once. Accompany with steamed spinach or another green vegetable. Serve with mashed potatoes to help soak up the sauce.

MORE WAYS WITH PORK FILLET

MARINATING: Marinades can be as simple as garlic and olive oil. Or try a more spicy combination of 1 cup barbecue sauce, 2 tablespoons each of brown sugar, olive oil, white wine vinegar and soy sauce, a generous pinch of dried chilli flakes or some chopped fresh chilli, and 1 teaspoon minced garlic. Marinate the pork fillet in a sealable bag and refrigerate it overnight

DRY RUB: Use a variety of ground herbs and spices, such as parsley, basil and coriander. Some stores even sell ready-mixed rubs for meats. The dry rub can be applied hours before cooking the pork fillet or even right before cooking time.

GLAZING: You can glaze your pork fillet with almost anything syrupy, from barbecue sauce to fruit jam or freshly squeezed juice. Just remember, brush it on only after you’ve seared the meat and before you cook it.

GRILLING: Always cook the fillet over indirect heat. Depending on its size, it usually takes 20 to 30 minutes over medium-high heat. Let the fillet cool before serving. Don’t overcook.

PAN-ROASTING: Preheat your oven to 220C (200C fan) and coat an ovenproof frying pan with oil. Sear the fillet over medium-high heat until brown on all sides. Roast the fillet for 15 to 20 minutes. Let it cool before serving.

STUFFED PORK FILLET: To butterfly the fillet, trim the silver skin with a thin sharp knife. Horizontally slice through the fillet lengthwise almost all the way through and unfold it open. Put the fillet between two pieces of plastic wrap and give the meat a light pounding with a mallet. Brush on any type of sauce you like. Try a herb sauce like pesto, or fill it with a cheese or breadcrumb stuffing, leaving a bare 5cm border along one edge. Starting with the covered side of the fillet, roll it toward the bare side and secure with toothpicks or kitchen twine. Sear the pork in a frying pan over medium-high heat on the non-seam sides until brown. Place it on its seam side in the pan and transfer to an oven preheated to 250C (230C fan) and roast for 10 to 20 minutes.

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