Pork fillet with tarragon cream sauce & polenta
Ed Smith's braised fennel and carrot dish below goes well with this tender pork fillet and tarragon sauce. If you prefer something different, consider buttery cabbage or kale.
- Serves6
- CourseMain meal
- Prepare15 mins
- Cook30 mins
- Total time45 mins
- Plusresting
Ingredients
- 4 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 1 tsp black peppercorns, coarsely ground
- 2 tsp Cooks' Ingredients Smoked Paprika
- 2 pack Duchy Organic Free Range British Pork Fillet, trimmed of silvery sinew
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
- 50g butter
For the polenta & sauce
- 375g pack Polenta Valsugana
- 6 tbsp Noilly Prat Original Dry French Vermouth
- 2 x 220ml bottles Waitrose Duchy Organic Double Cream
- 20g pack tarragon, leaves finely chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC, gas mark 4. Using a pestle and mortar, grind the fennel seeds, salt and pepper to dust. Stir in the paprika, then cover the pork with the mix.
Add the oil and butter to a large frying pan, then fry the pork for 4 minutes or so, turning every 45 seconds so the outside colours. Transfer to a small roasting tray and roast at the top of the oven for 16 minutes, or until the pork is cooked thorough with no pink meat and the juices run clear. Remove and leave to rest for 8-10 minutes under some foil. Don’t wash out the frying pan.
Meanwhile, cook the polenta according to pack instructions. Season.
Place the frying pan over a high heat. Add the vermouth to deglaze it and allow to bubble away for 1-2 minutes. Pour any resting juices from the pork into the pan, add the cream and most of the tarragon and bring to the boil. If there are more meat juices, add those, then remove from the heat.
Slice the pork into 1-2cm discs, then serve with the cream sauce poured over the top, scattered with the remaining tarragon and the polenta and vegetables on the side.
Cook’s tip
If serving with the braised fennel and carrots, wait until the vegetables have 15-20 minutes to go before starting to cook the meat.
Nutritional
Typical values per serving when made using specific products in recipe
Energy | 3,680kJ/ 883kcals |
|---|---|
Fat | 58g |
Saturated Fat | 31g |
Carbohydrates | 52g |
Sugars | 1.8g |
Fibre | 3.2g |
Protein | 37g |
Salt | 1.2g |