Pork fillet in puff pastry
Why I Love This Recipe
Ingredients You'll Need
2 pieces pork fillet (tenderloin), each weighing about 350 g (12 oz)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
215 g (7 1/2 oz) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
50 g (2 oz) button mushrooms, sliced
1 dessert apple
Stuffing
50 g (2 oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon shredded suet
1 small onion, grated
1 teaspoon dried sage
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten
Directions
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
Slit the pork fillets ready for stuffing. Heat the oil in a large frying-pan and cook the fillets over moderate heat until they are lightly browned. Remove from the frying-pan and drain on absorbent paper.
To make the stuffing: put the breadcrumbs in a bowl with the suet, onion and sage, and season with salt and pepper. Add enough egg to bind the mixture, reserving the remaining egg for sealing and glazing the pastry.
Roll out the pastry thinly on a floured surface to make a rectangle measuring about 40 x 30 cm/16 x 12 inches. Trim edges of the pastry and reserve for decorating. Place the pastry on a dampened baking sheet.
Place 1 pork fillet in centre of the pastry and sprinkle the mushrooms over it. Peel, core and grate the apple and sprinkle over the mushrooms. Place the second pork fillet on top of mushroom and apple layer and spread the stuffing mixture over this. Fold over the ends of the pastry,
then the sides, so that the meat is enclosed in a pastry parcel with the join on the top. Seal the edges with some of the reserved egg.
Decorate along the seam of the parcel with pastry leaves made from the trimmings. Brush with the remaining beaten egg and bake in the oven for 40 minutes until the pastry has risen and is golden. Transfer to a warmed serving dish and serve at once.
Serve with broccoli, or Brussels sprouts sprinkled with ground mace and mushroom sauce.
