An exclusive Valentine’s Day recipe

Chef Lerato Zondi has put together this exclusive Valentine’s Day recipe to be enjoyed by lovers as they celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Pork fillets with orange and star anise sweet potato, pickled carrots, pearl onion, tender stem broccoli and red wine sauce

Ingredients

For the pork fillets:

• 250g of pork fillet cut in half
• 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds, toasted and crushed
• ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of crushed chilli
• ½ teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• ¼ teaspoon of crushed black pepper
• 20ml of olive oil
• 20ml of butter

For the sweet potato:

• 250g of sweet potato, chopped into pieces
• Juice and peel of one orange
• 2 star anise
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 30g of salted butter
• 60ml of cream
• 250ml of water
• 20ml of oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ⅛ onion

For the pickled carrots, pearl onion and tender stem broccoli:

• 250g of baby carrots
• 250g of tender stem broccoli
• ½ cup of white wine vinegar
• ½ cup of water
• 60g of sugar
• 1 cardamom pod

For the red wine sauce:

• 250ml of beef stock
• 120ml of red wine
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 25ml of cold diced butter
• 5ml of mustard

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Instructions

For the pork fillets:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. Mix all the spices with half the olive oil. Pat the fillets dry and spread over the spice blend. Marinade for at least 30 minutes. In a pan bring the rest of the oil to a medium heat ensuring the pan is hot before searing the pork fillets until both sides are brown. Sear one side a little longer to form a crust. Add a spoon of butter and baste before putting the fillets in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove, baste again and set aside to rest.

For the sweet potato:

1. Chop the sweet potato and slice the onion. Sautee sweet potato and onion in the oil with salt and pepper. Add boiling hot water, orange peels and star anise. Once tender add the cream, butter and the juice of the orange and simmer for 3 minutes. Take out the star anise and orange peels. Blend and pass through a sieve.

For the pickled carrots, pearl onion and tender stem broccoli:

1. Blanch carrots and tender stem in salted water. Drain and set aside. Add vinegar, water, sugar and cardamom pod to a pot and bring to a boil before pouring over blanched vegetables.

For the wine sauce:

1. Deglaze the pork pan by adding red wine and beef stock and heat until liquid is reduced by half. Add thyme, chopped garlic, sugar and mustard and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the butter. This will thicken the sauce. Add salt and pepper if you desire but there should be flavour from the pork seasoning in the pan.
2. To assemble: Using a tablespoon, spoon the puree just off centre of the plate and drag along to form a smear. Add a little sauce in the middle of the plate and place pork on top. Do not hide the vegetables or group them in one area of the plate but use a zig zag pattern (see picture) to create a nice pattern. Add the pickled onions and crispy vegetables last.

This recipe was supplied by Chef Lerato Zondi