Tangy apples and hot horseradish ensure this classic dish is packed full of punchy flavours.
Serves: 4
Preparation time: minutes
Cooking time: minutes
You’ll need:
- 4 x 200g pork fillets
- 300g Chantenay carrots halved
- 16 shallots peeled and left whole
- 3 crisp apples, e.g. Granny Smith or Cox’s
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 75g butter
- 2 tbsp hot horseradish sauce
- 2 tsp freshly chopped sage
- 2 tsp freshly chopped marjoram (or oregano)
- 2 tsp freshly chopped thyme
- 1 kg potatoes
- 100ml double cream or low-fat crème fraiche
- ½ tbsp caster sugar
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
What to do:
Mix the chopped herbs with one tablespoon of olive oil and a generous twist of freshly ground black pepper.
Cut the pork fillets in half lengthways. Rub the chopped herbs into the pork fillet and place them into a dish. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Take the pork out of the fridge and let it come back to room temperature (approx 30 mins.).
Peel the potatoes and cut into small, evenly sized pieces and boil until they are tender. Drain well and then return to the hot pan and on a low heat add 40 g (1 1/2 oz) of the butter, the cream or crème fraiche and mash well. Stir in the horseradish, season well with sea salt and black pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
Meanwhile cut the apples into quarters, core and cut each quarter in half. In a frying pan melt the remaining butter and olive oil until the butter is just foaming, add the shallots and Chantenay and fry for a couple of minutes.
Season the pork fillets and then sauté on a medium heat for 3-4 minutes each side, until they are just cooked through turning the shallots and Chantenay. Remove the fillets from the pan and keep them warm in a low oven.
To the carrot pan add the apples, sugar and 1-2 tbsp of water. Cook the Chantenay, apple and shallots together until slightly caramelised and golden. Remove from the heat.
To serve the fillet, spoon the horseradish mash onto a plate, place a piece of fillet next to it and then pile the Chantenay, shallots and apple on top. Drizzle over a little residue from the pan.
Tips
– You could add 50g strong, grated cheddar to the mash
– Other fresh herbs that could be used are chives, basil or oregano
– You could use pork chops instead of pork fillets