Pork with honey and ginger

Life has been really busy in the past few weeks. New job, new people, new challenges, so that’s why this post is so very late. But I hope the wait was worth it. The following dish is simple, yet amazingly tasty. One of my favourites and it’s surprising, because it contains pork. A lot of pork, really. But you know, at the end you get this meaty ... meat, and it doesn’t taste like one. It’s sweet, a bit savoury and not very pork-like. So those of you who aren’t exactly pork-fans: try it out! And be a convert.

Don’t be intimidated by the length of the ingredients list, the most expensive part is the pork itself. As you will notice, the preparation can be quickly done, since it’s just a matter of rough chopping.

Pork fillet with honey and ginger

(Adapted from the recipe by Gennaro Contaldo)

Ingredients:

6 tbsp oil, something regular, flavourless

100 g pancetta or bacon, roughly chopped

800-900 g pork fillet

4 tbsp honey

2 garlic cloves, left whole

1 cm fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped

2-3 onions, peeled and halved

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

300-500 ml vegetable stock

black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a big dish, and fry the pancetta/bacon until golden brown. Remove it from the pan, set aside.

2. Fry the pork in the same dish, sealing it for about 5 minutes, or until brown on the outside. This is an important step, since it will make sure your pork stays moist inside.

3. Add the garlic, honey and ginger to the pan and continue to cook over a medium heat until everything’s caramelised.

4. Next add the carrots, parsnips, onions, rosemary, the pancetta or bacon, vegetable stock and black pepper. (I cheated, I added a few teaspoons of balsamic vinegar just to add a little tang to the dish – it’s worth trying out, but it’s not really necessary.) Cook everything on medium to low heat for 30 minutes, lid on.

5. After 30 minutes, remove the vegetables if they’re tender, and set them aside.

6. Cook the pork for another 60 minutes. If the meat is cooked through and tender, return the vegetables and cook for another 10-15 minutes so that the veggies will heat through again.

Eat it with some bread as I did, or conjure up something to accompany the slices.

If you happen to make this dish, please share some photos with me! I would love to hear about your attempts.