Iberico pork cutlets

Sunday, 1st January 2012

After finishing the old year on a bit of a culinary low-note, I managed to salvage some self-respect on the first evening of the new one.
The pork cutlets were simply pan-fried and finished in the oven for 5 minutes, then left to rest for 10 and served with a port wine sauce. For the sauce cook herbs and onion in a mix of red wine and port, reduce, add stock, reduce again. Then sieve out anything solid and gradually stir in some butter to make it glossy.
With the meat we had tiny roast potatoes balls and a mix of cabbage and leeks. I stewed the veggies in wine and then, just before serving, I added cream and mustard and heated through. The veg was very good but almost too rich and creamy for me. The mustard was just right, flavoursome but not overpowering.
For dessert we had the orange sorbet that should have been with yesterday's dinner. This was simple to make. Melt sugar in some water while heating it, then boil for a minute or two. Mix in the juice of 4 oranges and 1 lemon and freeze for a couple of hours until it goes mushy. Blend it in a chilled bowl and add some cointreau, then freeze again. It took longer to freeze to a useable consistency than I expected but turned out very good indeed.