January 11, 2018
Happy new year everyone! I hope everyone had a great start to the year, mine has been quite full on given we’ve just added a new member to our little family: a shetland sheepdog puppy called Fergus! He is absolutely adorable, but quite a handful! I wasn’t sure if I would have the energy to blog to be honest, nor the time to come up with a new recipe! But as one of my goals for this year is to really step up my blog and get more involved in it, I decided that I couldn’t be slack! I absolutely love writing my blog, and I hope you enjoy reading it too, so I couldn’t let myself or any of my readers down. So I managed to pull myself together and get back into the kitchen, and I cooked a recipe that I loved so much I wanted to share it with you all!
Even after a few years of writing this blog, I find I still default to chicken when cooking. I don’t know what it is, but I guess it is just my safe protein with plenty of variety when cooking during the week! But this week I knew we’d be home a lot because of the puppy, and so I didn’t want to eat chicken the whole week! This meant that I needed to branch out, and so in my half asleep state at the grocery store, I grabbed some pork fillets and came home with not much idea of what I was going to do with them. So I sort of brought what I had in the fridge and a few herbs together into a bit of hacked meal, and it ended up being quite tasty!
I don’t cook with pork often, but whenever I do I am not sure why! It is super delicious, and you can do a lot with it: roast it, fry it, make meatballs. There are also a lot of complementary flavours too so it ends up being so versatile. I guess you could say it might become the next chicken for me! One step at a time though, I mean I already have some chicken marinating for tonight, so I guess it will be baby steps for me!
This recipe is perfect for a weeknight meal, as even though it requires roasting, it doesn’t take that long to cook. It is also absolutely delicious, packed full of fresh italian flavours. It combines two things which go together so well: red cabbage and pork. What’s more, it is actually quite healthy for you! Really, it ticks all of my weeknight dinner boxes, so I hope it does for you too!
- 1/2 head red cabbage, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped into thin pieces
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 500 grams sliced pork fillet steaks
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 sprigs rosemary, stems removed
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper, to taste
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Preheat the oven to 200C (400F). Line a baking pan with baking paper, and add the chopped red cabbage and carrots. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the thyme, salt and pepper over the pan. Stir to combine and place in the oven for 35 minutes, stirring half way through.
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Combine the lemon zest, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the sliced pork fillet steaks, and toss to coat evenly.
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Heat a fry pan over a medium heat with a little olive oil in the pan. Place the pork in the pan and cook on both sides until browned, about 3-4 minutes each side. Remove from the heat and set aside until the red cabbage is done.
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Remove the baking pan from the oven and toss the red cabbage and carrots. Place the pork on top of the mixture and return to the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the pork is golden.
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Serve pork with the red cabbage mixture over the top, and a side of salad.
And that’s all there is to it! It is actually really simple, and didn’t take me long at all to cook! I can also attest to this meal being absolutely achievable even if one is also looking after a puppy that wants constant attention. Once you have it in the oven it is really easy to finish off, and all you need is a salad to go with it and you’re set! You could also serve it with steamed greens such as beans, or even potato (mashed would work best).
If you don’t have carrots, you could easily leave them out or sub them in for another hard vegetable. It is completely up to you, and I don’t think it will really change the flavours that much. It was nice having something in there with the red cabbage though, so if you can I would make it a mixture rather than just that one ingredient.
I can’t tell you how delicious this recipe was, and it was great getting back into the kitchen after a week of being so tired that I kept eating take out. I guess that’s what happens when you have a new edition to the family! But I honestly loved the flavours in this dish, it was fresh and tasty, everything you want in a weeknight meal. I loved how healthy it was too, and a great way to get those extra veggies in!
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx
