This was definitely a huge experiment I had no idea how this would turn out or if the flavours would work and it turned out great. I have a Caribbean cook book that we brought in St. Lucia on our honeymoon, I got the sweet potato recipe from this and I have made plantains for years they make a wonderful snack, and keep in an air tight jar for quite long periods of time. The pork was an experiment and my hubby and myself thought it was wonderful. The pork came out so tender and moist one of the most tender pork recipes I have made.

Ingredients

650g Pork tenderloin (This was the weight of my pork and served 3 nicely, if you wanted to serve this for 4 either up the weight of the tenderloin or buy 2 smaller ones.)

Stuffing

1 Onion, finely chopped
30-35g Butter
3/4 Cup breadcrumbs
1 Tablespoon basil, shredded finely
1 Tablespoon thyme leaves
2 Tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons rum
1 Medium mango, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Mango Sauce

1 (425g) Can mango, in juice
4 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Small onion, finely chopped
1 Teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1/2 Cup white wine vinegar
4-5 Teaspoons pineapple mango jam (if you can get just mango that is fine I couldn’t and this worked great.)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Teaspoon sesame oil
1 Teaspoon hot pepper paste (I used Harissa I know this is more African, but it is what was in my cupboard, Whatever you have is fine habanero etc… just a good hot paste.)
3 Tablespoons pork juices

Orange-Baked Sweet Potatoes

4-5 Large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (about 1KG for 4 servings.)
5 Large oranges
3 Tablespoons cream
25g Butter
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 Teaspoon orange zest
1 Tablespoon dark rum
pinch of cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

Plantain Chips

3 Large Plantains (will make to many for the dinner, but I always make extra as they make a great snack.)
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Method

1. Cut the pork down the centre making sure not to go all the way through (basically butterflying.) Pound pork with a meat mallet until same thickness all over. Season with salt and pepper on both sides.

2. In a frying pan melt butter, add onions, cook until soft, add herbs, breadcrumbs, rum, chopped mango and salt and pepper to taste, stir to combines.

3. Spoon stuffing down on half of pork remembering to leave enough of an edge so when you fold, the other half over, it will cover the stuffing completely.

4. Fold the other half of the pork over and secure with kitchen string at 11/2-2 inch intervals. In a lightly oiled roasting pan, place pork and bake in a pre-heated oven 180c for about 1 hr (cooking time may be longer if your meat weight is more and I’m not sure if it will be less if you do 2 smaller loins, just check towards the end of cooking time regularly, to see if it is cooked through.)

5. Baste meat several times during cooking with reserved juice, I even poured a little over the pork when I started, so the pork juices combined with this made for some great juices I could use for sauce later. (don’t pour too much though and make sure it is natural juice and not syrup as it burns and also forms a glaze on the pork because of the high sugar content.)

Mango Sauce

1. Drain the mango reserving the juice, blend or process mango until smooth, pour into saucepan, leave on a low heat.

2. Heat a little olive oil in a pan, add onion and garlic cook until onion is soft and garlic has just started to brown, add to mango, turn up the heat to medium.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until jam has melted and sugar dissolved, that’s it easy peasy sauce is done. This can just be left over a very low heat to keep warm. When the pork is cooked just add the 3 Tablespoon of juices and stir to combine. If sauce is not quite hot enough, turn the heat up at this time and heat for a couple of minutes until hot. Serve over pork.

Orange-Baked Sweet Potatoes

1. Peel sweet potatoes and chop into pieces (just like you would regular potatoes that you were going to mash.) Place in a pan cover with water and boil until tender then drain.

2. While potatoes are cooking, slice the tops off of 4 oranges and scoop out the flesh be careful not to break the shells. Cut the peel from the tops into thin strips to use as garnish later. Squeeze the juice from th pulp (there will be more juice than you need but I squeeze it all and drink the rest, there is nothing like fresh orange juice.) and grate a teaspoon of rind from the fifth orange.

3. Mash the sweet potato until smooth (I use a bar mix) Add butter, cream, sugar, rum, orange juice and cinnamon, whisk to combine or bar mix away whatever is easier (Hint: Bar Mix, Bar Mix) Mix in grated rind and season with salt and pepper.

4. Spoon mashed potato mixture into the orange shells. Place on a baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180c (perfect already at that temp from pork.) Bake for 15-20 Min’s, until you have golden brown top. Garnish with the reserved strips of orange peel and serve.

Plantain Chips

1. Peel plantains and thinly slice them into rounds.

2. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry plantains until crispy and golden.

3. Drain on absorbent paper and season with salt.

Oh so easy and oh so delicious, just remember you need some for dinner, so don’t sneak to many while cooking

To Serve: Arrange pork slices on plate pour sauce over the top. Arrange plantain chips and place orange shell on top of them.

Bon Appetit

All photo’s taken by me unless otherwise stated.