Our holiday in the south of France continues and we are enjoying every minute of it as you can imagine!
If you have never driven along the coast of southern France, you really should: la route de l’Esterel is spectacularly beautiful. And this is what we did.
but first here is the mouthwatering pork dish with fig brochettes |
We have spent the last few days near St Cyr sur mer just this side of Marseille, with some very good friends of ours who live between here and Istanbul. Nearby is Sanary with its pretty harbour where cafes and restaurants abound. It is a delight!
As if this were not enough, there is a maze of narrow streets full of interesting shops and houses behind where one can wander to one’s heart’s content.The whole thing looks like something out of a film set!
Jenny took us in the morning to the market but later in the afternoon TT and I decided we hadn’t had enough of it and I bought a kitchen knife at vast expense from this shop.
When we came back, dinner preparations were in full swing. Luckily I caught the fillets of pork at the beginning – Jenny knew that pork for us would be a treat! This dish was a winner even before it made its way to the table: succulent pork fillets cooked with onion and garlic served with brochettes of fresh figs from Jenny’s garden and tiny little potatoes.
The only ingredient that could be difficult to find is the white port: I have never even heard of white port and wouldn’t know when to drink it. Amazingly Jenny happened to have it but if you don’t, we reckon you should use a fortified wine, perhaps sherry. In Turkey where this is hard to come by, some white wine plus some Tatlı Sert could be a good substitute.
Fillet of pork is sometimes known as tenderloin, a lean and very tender cut of pork but perhaps with less flavour than the leg or shoulder. Personally I love it! In Istanbul there are one or two places where you can buy pork, Şütte being the most well-known but it’s expensive.
Here is the recipe for Filet Mignon de porc, brochette de figues/fillets of pork with fig brochettes taken from Cuisine et Vins magazine
Serves 4
8 fresh figs plus a few fig leaves (optional) for the brochettes
2 pork fillets
40g/1 ½ -2 oz butter
1 onion
2 cloves garlic (NB French garlic cloves are much bigger than Turkish ones!)
15cl/12 soup spoons = 2 port glasses white port
1 coffee spoon liquid honey
1 soup spoon oil
Salt and pepper
Method
· Chop the onion finely and crush the garlic.
· Heat the oil in a pan with half the butter and brown the fillets on all sides. Season with the salt and pepper.
· When the meat is golden in colour, remove from the pan and add the onion and garlic. Let it gently soften for 3-4 minutes and then replace the meat. Tip the port into the pan, cover with a lid and leave on a gentle heat for 40 minutes. Jenny actually did this in the oven not on top.
ready for final cooking |
· After 30 minutes have passed, halve the figs, and put them on 4 * skewers. Intersperse with fresh fig leaves if you have them. Gently sauté them in the remaining butter in a shallow frying pan for 5 mins. Add the honey in order to caramelise them a little, season to taste with salt and pepper.
before caramelising |
· Serve one brochette per person with slices of the pork fillet.
I recommend tiny new potatoes with this dish.
*If you use wooden skewers, make sure you soak them in water beforehand otherwise they may burn.
It’s a delicious dish, ‘facile et abordable’ as the magazine says! Easy and affordable! Try it and see! I’ll describe the dessert next time!
Bon appetit!
OMG! I am so envious of your pork-a-licious meal! Only 3 more months til I'm back in the US and can fill up again. Enjoy your trip! =)
I am always happy to see your posts.Your dishes look so tempting and yummy and thisoen si screaming with summer;)
I am glad you are having a great time (have seen you at Cooking School in provence,,how exciting was that).Cheers;)
Pork and luscious figs seem to be a natural combination.
Posting is a bit of a challenge here as there are so many distractions! Thanks for commenting – I am going to investigate this Greek butcher in Istanbul who is supposed to have good pork …
Great combination of ingredients,dear!Such an original dish!Many kisses!!!
Claudia, why are you tempting us so with this PORK dish?! And not just any old pork dish. It looks amazing!! 🙂 No wonder you're loving Frnace. We do have a pork shop here in Fethiye but it's not the same somehow so we never buy it. We appreciate pork all the more on our little jaunts to Greece.
This looks so succulent and delicious I'm going to have to try and it – and see if I can find some of that white port!
Enjoy the rest of your trip 🙂
I've write it down the recipe because it looks amazing
pork and figs, what a great combo!!:) and enjoying in France must be icing on the top! lovely recipe, thanks a lot:) keep on enjoyig France:)
xxx
Ozlem
Yes, the whole thing was amazing – I have put on 2 kilos …erm. We thought maybe you could do it with steak fillet but I don't think it would be nearly as tasty as with pork. Pork is my absolute favourite meat!