Saturday night

My wife and I have for some time been dissatisfied with supermarket bought meat. Origin unknown, taste and quality variable but mostly average. We moved houses recently and lucky us, just down the street is one of the best butchers in the region. Organic produce prepared on the premises and supplied by reputable farmers, the difference is noticeable. I mention this because both last nights beef eye fillet and tonights pork fillet are from this butcher. In fact we have stopped buying any meat from supermarkets unless it is some kind of emergency.
On tonights menu, pork fillet with scalloped potatoes and roasted vegetables (so help me the next time I hear someone say "oven roasted" I will not be responsible for my actions. Where the hell else do you roast things?)
Start with the potatoes, they will take the longest to cook. The more finely you slice the potatoes the quicker the cooking time will be but if you dont par boil the potatoes first the scalloped potato dish will take aprox 2 hours in the oven.
Keep the fat to a minimum in this recipe, there is no need to use more than a tablespoon of butter and 1/2 cup of grated cheese in the whole thing.
Grease a shallow dish and then layer your sliced potatoes adding salt, pepper, ground nutmeg, butter and cheese as you go. When the potatoes are all in the dish pour over approx 3/4 cup of milk and then grated cheese on the top. Put in the oven at 180C/350F ( if you find the top of the potatoes browns too quickly cover with tin foil)



The roasted vegetables will take 45-60 mins so place on a metal tray and put them in the oven with the potatoes about an hour after the the potatoes went in. I usually spray with oil lightly and grind black pepper and salt over them. Tonight we used courgette (zucchini), capsicum (bell pepper) and tomatoes.
The pork fillet should be rubbed with oil and then rolled in ground salt and pepper. Sear the fillet whole in a frying pan until browned, about 10 mins and then place in oven with veges when ready for 10-15 mins (you will need to actually cut in to the fillet to see if it is cooked). The pork fillet should be cooked through, still pink in the middle but not rare like last nights steak. Remember to stand your meat for 5-10 mins prior to carving.
We needed a little extra greenery so Brussel sprouts were cooked in a pan with butter, salt and pepper and then after approx 2-3 mins boiling water was poured over and cooked until done. They should come out when still very firm, the worst thing you can to do Brussel sprouts is over cook them.
The sauce you can see in the picture is a commercially produced meat glaze from the butchers.



Note: Where I say butter I am actually using a light olive oil spread and the milk used is always low fat unless otherwise stated.