Sweet Piggy

Ingredients:

• 1 filet mignon/pork tenderloin


• 2 large onions


• 2 handfuls of brown cane sugar


• Raspberry vinegar


• Maple syrup


• Puff pastry


• Egg for glaze


• Salt & pepper


• Olive oil

 

 

• Prep time: 30 mins


• Oven time: Approx 30 mins at 220 (depends on thickness of tenderloin)

Picture:

Instructions: 

• Very finely chop the onions (I used a food processor)


• Heat a little olive oil in a medium saucepan and bung in the onions


• Scatter the brown sugar over the onions, then douse thoroughly in vinegar


• Cook the onions down until pinky-brown and sticky, leave to cool.


• Season the pork with a little salt and pepper, whilst heating a little oil in a frying pan


• On a high heat, sear the meat on all sides


• Lower the heat and cook the pork for a couple of minutes on each side


• Remove from pan and allow to cool slightly, so as not to melt the pastry


• Lay out the sheet of pastry and cover evenly in the onions, leaving a margin around the edges for sealing.


• Place the pork in the centre of the pastry and generously drizzle maple syrup all over it


• Fold the pastry over the meat to make a nice parcel, then glaze with beaten egg


• Place in the oven for around half an hour, until crisp and golden on the outside.

Sweet, Sweet Piggy or Love Me Tenderloin

Filet mignon de porc, or pork tenderloin, is reasonably priced here and fairly adaptable.  I have made a few different 'en croute' versions over the years, but this time I was looking to work up a recipe in honour of our Canadian family member, who is known in this house as 'Maple Ninja' (long story).

 Pork is a meat that lends itself well to sweet sauces, so I wanted to make maple syrup a key ingredient.  Pretty definitively Canadian, eh? So here's what I came up with: Sweet Piggy.  I made another version of the dish where I used par-boiled, diced apple instead of caramelised onions.  Both are good.

Things to remember:

• Make sure you get the pork well started in the frying pan before wrapping in pastry, or the oven time will be too long and the pastry will overcook and the onions dry out.


•  Have the pastry as cold as possible without being frozen, otherwise the warmth from the fillings will make it all goopy and almost impossible to fold over the pork without tearing.


• Maple syrup goes in the recipe, not in your tummy.