A popular dish for special occasions is fillet of pork cooked in a sauce. We are lucky that it´s not too expensive, so pork fillet is eaten fairly regularly in our house, but usually it´s just plain grilled and served with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice.
Although New Year´s Eve was not the culinary delight we had hoped for, we had all rallied a little by the next morning, and my mum and I made this dish. It´s actually quite simple to put together and requires no last minute fiddling, so a good dinner party dish if you have guests.
Ingredients (to serve 2)
- One pork fillet
- 1 large onion peeled, halved and thinly sliced into half moons
- 2 tablespoons of raisins soaked in half a cup of sweet wine (bring the wine and raisins up to a simmer and leave for an hour or so or even overnight to plump up)
- 1-2 cups of chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon of cornflour dissolved in water
- Seasoning
- Olive oil
Start by seasoning your pork fillet all over and fry in a tablespoon or two of oil to seal and colour the outside then put the meat to one side.
Pour the wine into the pan in which you sealed the meat and warm it through, scraping up any meat juices as you go.
In a separate frying pan, slowly fry the onions until soft and transparent in some olive oil. You can put a lid on to help them “poach”. When they are soft, put the pork fillet into the pan, pour over the wine and meat juices and a cup of broth. Simmer gently for about 20-30 minutes until the meat is cooked through. You may want to add a little more stock as it is cooking.
When the meat is done, remove from the sauce and add a little blended cornflour to thicken the sauce slightly. This is optional, it´s up to you how liquid you like your sauce.
The fillet can either be served whole or sliced thickly with the sauce poured over. If you don´t drink alcohol, this is still a lovely dish made without the dessert wine, just plump up the raisins in extra stock. With the wine the sauce is slightly sweet but tangy and savoury from the seasoning and stock. Delicious served with boulangere or puréed potatoes or rice.
For another lovely version of this popular dish, check out Michi´s version here.
Chica Andaluza 