About two years ago, I stopped publishing recipes, as I discovered how much I loved writing about the food and drink industry, instead. However, special times call for special measures, and I have decided to restart recipe posting. Here, you can find the recipe for a delicious and very simple dish of mushrooms and lentils, flavoured with caraway, tarragon and miso, cheesy polenta and poached egg.
I don’t want to bore you with too many words. I will however, stress how important it is for us all to stay at home during this period. And what better way to make self-isolation easier, than a little indulgence?
You know my style: fine dining at home, and all that jazz. During this period, however, I promise to make things that take less than an hour to prepare, and that anyone can make at home.
The recipe for mushrooms, lentils, cheesy polenta and poached egg
The recipe
This pork tenderloin, peas, wild garlic, asparagus and liquorice broth dish is one that brings fine dining straight onto your table. It is a refined yet easy to make dish that contains all the elements that you would find in a fine dining restaurant and that will please the eye as much as your taste-buds.
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: British, Contemporary, Fine Dining, French, Fusion
Servings: 2
Ingredients
For the pork tenderloin
- 1 medium sized porjk tenderloin about 400g
- tbsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
For the ramson crumble
- 1 tbsp hazelnuts roasted
- 1 small handful ramson leaves
- 1 tsp hazelnut oil
- 1 tbsp panko
- 1 tsp parmesan
For the liquorice broth
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 shallots
- 20 g butter
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 small liquorice stick about 20g
- 250 ml good quality vegetable stock
- 100 ml dry white wine
- 1 tsp brown sugar
For the onion petals
- 1 small yellow onion
- 10 g butter
For the peas and asparagus
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 4 tbsp double cream
- 6 asparagus spears
- 10 g butter
- salt to taste and to salt water
Instructions
To make the pork tenderloin
- Pat the tenderloin dry, season with the salt and sugar, then add it to a zip-lock bag or vacuum pack it. Cook it sous vide at 58ºC for 90 minutes. Once cooked, remove it from the bag, pat it dry and sear it for no longer than 30 seconds on each side in a sizzling hot pan, until it’s nicely browned all around the surface.
- If you don’t own a sous-vide immersion circulator, you can simply pat the tenderloin dry. Add butter to a non-stick, ovenproof pan or cast iron skillet. When sizzling hot, add the pork tenderloin and sear it on all sides, then finish it in the oven at 200ºC for 10-15 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving it.
To make the ramson crumble
- Simply add all the ingredients to a food processor and blitz until you obtain a crumble.
For the liquorice broth
- In a small sauce pan, sauté the garlic and shallots in butter together with the star anise and liquorice, until they are soft (on low heat for about 15 minutes). Add the stock, wine, sugar and salt to taste (keeping in mind the stock will get saltier as it will reduce), then simmer on medium-low heat until it is reduced by almost half. Strain the broth, remove the star anise and liquorice, then set the garlic and shallots aside.
For the onion petals
- Preheat the oven at 180ºC. Heat a cast iron skillet (or an ovenproof non-stick pan) and melt the butter. Add the onion halves wide side down and let them char on medium heat for about 20 minutes (until the sides are black). Place them in the oven for 5-10 minutes, until they soften a little more.
For the pea purée
- Boil the peas in salted water for about five minutes, them remove from the water and blend them with the garlic and shallots from the broth, the double cream and salt to taste.
For the asparagus
- Boil the asparagus for four minutes in salted water. Blanch in ice-cold water to stop it from cooking any further. Right before serving it, simply add it to a non-stick pan with a little butter and slowly heat the asparagus spears.
- Finally, plate the dish up and enjoy!
Stay safe and stay home,
Ioana
