Spanish Pork with Orange and Poppyseed Salad

At mine, miniature stacks of Delicious Magazine can be found adorning the numerous bookshelves that live in our house (we’re a household of voracious readers). I’m the type that actually reads recipe books for fun (lame, I know), so I find myself gravitating towards the monthly publications like Delicious to get a fix of new recipes and food porn photos. Since I’m temporarily out of Sydney, said cookbooks and Delicious mags are out of reach:( Never fear, bookstores are here!! I’ve decided to buy a new cookbook (and a Delicious mag of course) to tide me through this time and have chosen Valli Little’s (Delicious Food Editor) new cookbook called Faking It. This is the first book of hers I’ve bought so will update you all as I cook through it.

I adore fruit in my salads, so chose this salad recipe (saw oranges in fruit basket) to christen my Faking It journey. Not to mention I simply adore pork and wish I ate it more lol.

Overall a nicely balanced salad, with the sweetness of the pork, courtesy of the maple syrup in the marinade balanced out by the tangy orange and accentuated with a touch of spice from the chilli. The poppy seeds also add a nice touch both flavour and looks wise. I’d make it again.

Spanish Pork with Orange and Poppyseed Salad
Adapted from Faking It, Valli Little

Ingredients
Pork and Marinade
1 tbs smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1/3 cup maple syrup/honey
1/3 cup tomato sauce
2 pork fillets (~500g each), trimmed, halved

Salad
2 oranges
1 telegraph cucumber/3 lebanese cucumbers, halved and sliced
2 long red chilles, seeds removed, finely chopped
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar/white wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
2 tbs caster sugar
2 tbs poppyseeds
Coriander leaves (optional)

Method
Combine all ingredients for marinade in zip lock bag or non reactive bowl. Marinate pork for at least an hour or overnight (I did mine overnight).

Combine zest of one orange with vinegar, olive oil, caster sugar and poppyseeds to make the dressing.

To make the salad, peel the oranges, halving then cutting into slices, combine with cucumbers, chilli and coriander leaves if using. Set aside the dressing and salad.

Preheat the grill. In a frying pan cook the pork to seal, then place under grill for 5 – 10 min, turning regularly. Rest meat under aluminium foil for ~6 min, then slice.

To serve, divide salad into 4 plates, layer with pork, drizzle dressing on top.