As everyone knows, December is the busiest time of year. Christmas shopping needs to be done and after that the goodies need wrapping. One after the other Christmas party has to be attended and your “fat” clothes come out of hiding for the silly season. Between all these multitude of to-do lists and events, daily life activities has to carry on too. Cooking is definitely one of them.
Pork, apples and cream are a marriage made in heaven, but if you wander off the beaten track a bit, you’ll find other stunning flavours that work like magic with pork too. This Spanish-inspired dish will definitely brighten up your day.
📖 Recipe
Pork Fillet with Orange & Sherry Sauce
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 15ml (1 tbsp) oil
- 25g (1 oz) butter
- 2 pork fillets (tenderloins)
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 100ml (3 fl oz) sherry vinegar
- juice and grated zest of 1 navel orange
- 300ml (10 fl oz) medium sherry
- leaves from 8 sprigs of fresh thyme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 170°C/350°F/gas 4). Trim the pork fillet, removing any fat or sinew from the outside.
- Heat oil and butter in a frying pan, add the pork fillet and cook until lightly browned all over. (Retain the cooking oils in the pan.) Remove and place in an oven-proof dish and bake for 15 minutes for medium to well-done or 20 minutes for well-done. Leave in a warm place for 10 minutes before slicing in 2.5cm (1 inch) diagonal wedges. (See notes.)
- Meanwhile, add the onions to the pan and cook in the fat and juices left behind by the meat for 3-4 minutes until the onions are golden and soft.
- Add the sherry vinegar, orange juice and grated zest, and sherry – the pan will hiss and spit a bit, but don’t worry. Season, then add the thyme leaves. Simmer until the sauce is about halved.
- Divide the pork evenly among 4 plates and drizzle the sauce over the sliced meat. Serve immediately.
Notes
- As you can see in the photo, this meal was enjoyed with a generous portion of mash, buttered Brussels sprouts and sweet carrots.
- If you are going to cook the pork to well done, I suggest you take the following route. After the fillets have been browned all over, remove and place on a rack in a baking dish. Add 125ml (4½ oz/½ cup) water to the baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Leave in a warm place for 10 minutes before slicing in 2.5cm (1 inch) diagonal wedges. Follow the rest of the recipe.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 373
- Sugar: 3.4 g
- Sodium: 95 mg
- Fat: 9.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 5.3 g
- Protein: 44 g
- Cholesterol: 122 mg
Renil M. George
Pork fillets are so full of yummy!
★★★★★
michelle
and so easy to cook too 🙂
Jeanne
I love new ideas with pork fillets - they are such a quick and easy meat to cook on a weeknight after work, and you can do so many things with them. I love the sweet yet grown-up flavours in this dish!
Kevin
That looks like a tasty meal.
jose nazario
this was delicious, a great combination. my wife was leary as i was cooking it but she wound up really liking the sauce. i cut the onions back a bit, but i wound up with the same volume (maybe because i used a huge onion). thanks for the recipe!
Andrew
the recipe sounds realy delicious and thanks for the tip for cooking it well-done.
joe
Looks really nice
maryann
oooo...this is heaven!