Chickpea pan-seared pork fillet is a hearty 30-minute dish. The tender pork meat, chickpeas, spinach, roasted pickled peppers, fennel flowers and pomegranate make an unusual but delicious week or weekend meal.
I am a meat lover. But pork is not that often on my menu. Therefore, I am sharing with you a pork recipe today. The pork fillet is budget-friendly and, at the same time, the leanest of all cuts.
Now, some people say their pork got too dry and chewy and they take other meat instead. Here is my tip for you, on how to cook a pork fillet. In order to get the fillet tender, try not to overcook it. Sear it on all sides and then cook on medium-low heat for 12-15 minutes. It is all depending on how large is the cut.
As another tip, allow the fillet to rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing it. If you slice it right away, all of the juices will run out. But, if you leave it to rest, the juices will stay evenly distributed in the meat. As a result, the pork will be a bit pink in the middle, juicy and buttery soft. You might check this pork crust roast with beans, too. So delicious!
Pork and fennel
This recipe calls for dried fennel flowers. Now, I know it`s not easy to find either fresh or dried fennel flowers. At least when you don’t have them growing in your garden. Wink. You can use the fennel seeds instead. But, if you have the chance, grab some flowers and dry them yourself.
I found the fresh fennel flowers only once at the supermarket and I grabbed them. You can’t mistake them. They are small bright yellow florets which grow in clusters. Since there was a whole bag of them, I couldn’t use all of them at once, so I decided to dry them. I simply arranged them onto some paper towels and let them dry. It took them about 5 days to be completely dry.
Then, I simply rubbed them between my hands and stored them in a jar. Dried fennel can be used as a dry rub for meat and fish and it pairs wonderfully with pork. You can also use it in tea or sprinkle it over a salad, mushrooms or a sunny-side-up egg.
Besides that, it has some medical properties, such as anti-inflammation and anti-bacterial. If you like intense flavours of anise, honey and lemon, then fennel is the right herb for you.
Ingredients for a chickpea pan-seared pork fillet:
- 1 pork fillet (around 500-600 g)
- 400 g chickpeas (canned, with chickpea juice)
- 3 grilled pickled peppers (from a jar)
- 1 Tbsp of dried fennel flowers
- a pinch of salt and pepper
- 200 g fresh spinach
- pomegranate seeds (1/4 of a pomegranate)
To begin, trim off all of the silver skin that’s still on the fillet. Then rub it with oil and once the pan is hot, place it in it. Braise the fillet for five minutes on each side.
In the meantime, wash the spinach and cut the peppers into strips or squares.
After the pork fillet is well browned on all sides, remove it from the pan and set it aside. Using the same pan, add the peppers, chickpeas (including the juice) and dried fennel flowers. Bring to a boil.
Then, reduce the heat to a medium-low, season with salt and pepper and add the pork fillet back into the pan. Distribute the spinach around it, cover it with a lid and simmer for 12-14 minutes.
Meanwhile, de-seed the pomegranate. Carefully open the pomegranate into quarters and pick out the seeds of one quarter (or more if you desire).
Finally, transfer the pork fillet to your cutting board, cover it with aluminium foil and allow it to rest for 5-7 minutes. Afterwards, cut the fillet into 1 cm thick rounds and nicely arrange them on the chickpeas. In order to give the chickpea pan-seared pork fillet a final touch, sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on top of it.
Enjoy.
