This weekend I faced a momentous task; not since the Amazon was navigated, the North Pole traversed and the earth’s atmosphere breached has such an epic challenge been faced.
I cooked for my mother-in-law.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very very lucky, my mother-in-law is an absolute lady, and would never say a bad word about my cooking, but she is herself a fine cook and this meant I would work damn hard to try and impress her.
This meal actually quite easy, and turned out well – I didn’t go too hard on the Dijon, so the sauce was tangy, without overpowering the meat. And yes, I was lazy and bought the pre-stuffed version, as I was also cooking the week’s lunchboxes and suppers that day, but the recipe below is for if you want to stuff it yourself. Martyr.
- 1 onion, chopped finely + 4 shallots, chopped roughly + 3 garlic cloves, minced
- One pork tenderloin
- 2 cups breadcrumbs + 1 egg
- 3 tsps Dijon mustard + 3 tsps sage + 2 tsp black pepper + 2 knobs butter
- Roll of twine / kitchen cord
1. Pre-heat oven to 180. Mix breadcrumbs, 2tsps sage, 1 tsp black pepper, chopped onion, egg and 1 knob of butter to make stuffing.
2. Rub large piece of tinfoil with butter. Trim off fat and cut deep slice in tenderloin, then placing entire thing onto the tinfoil. Cram stuffing mixture into hollow, allowing to spill over if necessary, as it’ll all be wrapped up soon enough. Bind the tenderloin tightly with cord / twine and seal up in tinfoil. Pop into pre-heated oven, allowing to roast for forty minutes.
2. After forty minutes, open tinfoil entirely. Pour half the juices from the tinfoil into roasting tin. Add roasties to tin with remaining sage and black pepper, tossing well. Return tenderloin in opened tinfoil to oven, adding roasting tin of roasties. Allow to further cook for twenty minutes. Place small pot of water on to the boil.
3. Fry shallots and garlic in knob of butter, until brown. Add half cup of white wine to 
deglaze, stirring well. Allow alcohol to cook off for a minute, then reduce heat to mid-way. Mix in 3 tsps Dijon mustard and two tubs crème fraîche. Stir well, cooking slowly. Strain and return to pot, simmer gently. Add drop of milk if looking too thick.
4. Remove pork tenderloin after 1 full hour of cooking (don’t mess with pork) and leave to rest for ten minutes. Shake roasties well while oven is opened, and remove after further ten minutes.
5. Add asparagus to boiling water in small pot, cooking for about six minutes. Remove, and run through with cold water to stop the cooking process.
5. Remove asparagus from water, wrap with prosciutto and place on plate. Add three slices of pork tenderloin and portion of roast potatoes. Drizzle with mustard sauce. And carefully study mother-in-law’s face for approval.
Cheats:
Pork Tenderloin: If the mixing of stuffing, cramming of same into thin piece of meat, and grappling to wrap the whole thing in twine sounds like too much of a headache (it often does to me!) just splurge a couple of extra euro and buy the pre-stuffed and bound version in Tesco for €8.75
Mustard Sauce: I’m sure plain old Coleman’s mustard will do the trick fairly well in the sauce, but if do invest in one condiment, make it some good French wholegrain Dijon. Parfait.