You can’t beat a Sunday roast.  Whether it’s roast beef and light-as-air Yorkshire puddings or a succulent roast chicken—can you believe that I’ve never roasted a chicken?  Turkeys galore, and partridges, too, but never a chicken—a Sunday roast is a fantastic end (or beginning, depending on your perspective) to the week.

Today I decided to make a modern take on a pork roast using a pork tenderloin (or pork fillet).  It’s not a traditional roasting cut, but I wanted something that would be exactly the right size for 2.5 people with no leftovers to worry about using up.  As I was already off the traditional roast pork track, I decided to serve this with mashed potatoes instead of Dave’s glorious goose fat roast potatoes as the oven wouldn’t be on for long enough to give the roasties a proper go of things.  I’m sure Dave was sceptical about this modernist, non-traditional take on Sunday lunch, but to his credit he didn’t pull any faces!

Amusingly—to me, at any rate—Dave and Lucas went off to feed the piglets at the farm shop while I cooked lunch.  Lucas’s latest obsession is visiting the pigs at the farm shop.  He’s been known to go and get his shoes and coat and announce “Daddy car.  See piggies.”  There’s nothing like knowing your own mind, and he certainly does!  So, off they went, wrapped up warmly against the cold and clutching a bag of vegetable peelings.  I wonder how long it will be before Lucas fully grasps that we eat pigs?  He’s well aware of the difference between Peppa Pig and real, live, smelly pigs but he hasn’t made the mental leap of pig equating to delicious, delicious pork.

But back to the roast pork!  I wrapped the tenderloin in slices of gorgeously smoky pancetta before roasting it atop some sliced apples, onions and fuzzily fresh sage leaves.  While it roasted I sorted out the mashed potatoes and conducted an experiment upon myself. Do I, as an adult, now like Brussels sprouts?  After reading Jeanne’s post last week, I resolved to try to banish my sensory nightmares memories of bad, soggy sprouts.

The pork was deliciously tender and succulent—I guess the extra-long resting time helped there—with deliciously crisp and salty pancetta in each bite.  And I was quite delighted at how the apples and onions cooked down into a rather rustic compote, full of flavour from the double pork combo above.  The roasted garlic mashed potatoes were fantastic; mellow garlic and warm, buttery, comforting potatoes.  The flavours worked so well, but the mash was just so right for the appallingly cold weather we’ve had today.  And the sprouts?  It turns out that I like sprouts when they’re cooked the right way.  I suspect that I’ll forever loathe and despise boiled Brussels sprouts, but sauteéd?  Now we’re talking!

Roast pork tenderloin with apple and sage

Serves 2

Adapted from a Donna Hay recipe

• 10 slices smoked pancetta
• one pork tenderloin (350-400g)
• one dessert apple
• 12 sage leaves
• 1/2 red onion, finely sliced
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220C (fan oven 200C).

Core and slice the apple into rounds about 5mm thick.  Lay down the centre of a roasting tin which is just large enough to take the meat.  Top the apple with the sage leaves and the sliced red onion.

Trim the pork tenderloin, removing any sinew or random bits of fat.  Fold the thin end back on itself so as to create a piece of meat that is the same thickness all the way along.  Grind a generous amount of pepper over the meat.

Wrap the slices of pancetta around the pork, starting from the middle and working towards each end.  Make sure you wrap tightly around the folded end of the tenderloin.  Set wrapped pork on top of the fruit and vegetables.  Drizzle with the olve oil.

Roast for 15-20 minutes, depending on the weight of your tenderloin.  Once roasted, cover with foil and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before carving into thick slices.  Drizzle with the pan juices and serve with potatoes and veggies of your choice.

This post is my entry for this month’s Waiter,There’s Something In My… event which is hosted by Johanna with a theme of roasts.