- Take the pork medallions out of the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature before coating with olive oil, thyme and salt and pepper.
- Whilst you’re waiting, you can start making the lotus root crisps. Slice the lotus root width-ways, as thinly as possible (a mandolin is ideal!). Pat it dry with some kitchen towel to absorb as much moisture as you can.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan or wok. The amount of oil you’ll need will depend on the size of your pan, but it should be deep enough to comfortably cover the lotus root slices. Once the oil is hot, add the lotus root to the pan and fry for 4-6 minutes, until crisp and golden. Remove from the pan and transfer onto some kitchen towel to allow any excess oil to drain off.
- Toss the lotus root crisps with salt, pepper and, if you like, a pinch of chili powder. They’re now ready to serve later.
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil and start to boil the sweet potato for 15-20 minutes, until tender.
- Whilst the sweet potato is boiling, pan-fry the pork medallions over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes per side, until golden brown and cooked throughout. Remove from the pan, transfer to a plate and allow to rest.
- Melt the butter in the same pan and sauté the finely diced shallots for 1-2 minutes, until softened, then remove the pan from the heat.
- Once away from the heat, pour in the rum and flambé to burn off the alcohol. To do this, you’ll need to tilt the frying pan (ideally a stainless steel or copper pan with a long handle) away from you and ignite the pan using a long-handled lighter. It’s a good idea to have a large metal pan lid to hand to smother any flames that might get out of control.
- Pour in the chicken stock, return the pan to the heat and allow to simmer and reduce for 5 minutes. Stir in the double cream and coconut milk along with any resting juices from the medallions. You might want to lower the heat before you pour in the double cream, to prevent any curdling.
- Add the grated nutmeg to your sauce and stir to combine. Season to taste, although as the pork was seasoned earlier on, you might not need to add any additional salt or pepper.
- Quickly make the spinach by heating the coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan or wok, until melted. Add the fresh spinach to the pan and cook over a medium heat until just wilted, for around 2-3 minutes.
- Whilst the spinach is wilting finish making your sweet potato mash by draining the potato and mashing it up before stirring in the coconut milk, followed by a pinch of salt and pepper. Continue to mash until thoroughly combined.
- Serve your pork medallions alongside your sweet potato mash and fresh spinach, drizzled with coconut rum sauce and garnished with lotus root crisps.
Pork medallions with coconut rum sauce and lotus root crisps by The Rare Welsh Bit
- Prep time 10 mins
- Cook time 15 mins
- Serves 4
Ingredients
- 600g (roughly 8) pork medallions (or tenderloin sliced into medallions 1.5cm thick)
- 30ml dark rum
- 50ml coconut milk
- 50ml double cream
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 50g shallots, peeled and finely diced
- 125ml chicken stock
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg or ¾ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
For the sweet potato mash:
- 1kg sweet potato, peeled and roughly chopped
- 50ml coconut milk
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the spinach:
- 200g fresh spinach
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
For the lotus root crisps:
- 150g fresh lotus root (check your Asian supermarket; frozen or canned will work if you can’t find fresh)
- ¼ tsp chilli powder (optional)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- vegetable oil for frying
Method
For Porc From Wales Week 2021, we teamed up with @therarewelshbit – aka Cardiff-based food blogger Kacie Morgan – to show her pork medallions recipe and why we should be choosing to source our pork locally.
Here’s what Kacie says about her recipe:
“The coconut rum sauce in this recipe makes great use of some of the staple ingredients of Caribbean cuisine. While you might not usually pair these flavours with pork, they work incredibly well and you can certainly imagine you’re on holiday somewhere tropical when eating this dish! The lotus root crisps are optional, but they’re extremely tasty and they look great on the plate too if you’re trying to impress!”