So I was feeling rather Christmassy today and with only 9 days to go… yup 9 DAYS… I decided to embrace the Brussel sprout and cook up a yummy dinner. My other half absolutely adores sprouts, so he was rather excited for this dinner. It is a very easy meal to make and the flavours are so good, the chorizo and the pork work so well together, it’s really great.
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 200g lean pork loin
- 400g new potatoes
- 2 tbsp diced chorizo
- 1 handful of Brussel sprouts
- 1 chicken stock pot
- ½ tbsp Black Pepper
- 1 garlic clove
Method (ready in 30 mins)
- Pre-heat your oven to 180C. Boil a pot of water for your potatoes. Chop the potatoes into 4 chunks, then peel and finely dice the garlic. Peel a couple of layers from the sprouts, chop off the base then slice in half lengthways.
- Boil the potatoes for around 6-8 mins or until soft enough to eat. Drain the potatoes once cooked and leave to the side.
- Toss the sprouts in a couple of tsps of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Place on a baking tray and put on the middle shelf of the oven for 15-20 mins. Removed from the oven once they are soft enough to eat.
- Lightly break up the peppercorns using a pestle & mortar (if you don’t have a pestle & mortar, do what I did and toss the peppercorns into a bag then bash them with a tin can). Roll the pork in the peppercorns and a good pinch of salt to completely coat.
- Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Once the oil is really hot carefully lay in the pork. Leave to cook for just under 2 mins on each side until you get a nice crisp layer.
- Once the sprout are finished remove them from the oven. Place the pork on a baking tray and put on the middle shelf for 10 mins. At the same time fry the chorizo and garlic for 2 mins on medium heat. Toss the sprouts and drained potatoes into the chorizo and keep warm.
- Put the potato mixture onto plates and keep the frying pan for your sauce. Once the pork is finished remove from the oven and rest for a few minutes.
- Put the frying pan back on medium heat and add 100 ml water with the stock cube. Bring to the boil and reduce to a gravy. Slice the pork and lay it over the potato mixture then spoon on some gravy and enjoy!
