Pork Fillet Strips with Grand Marnier Plums and Chickpeas

Preparations / set-up time

1. Cut away the white, partly tough strips of fat from the pork fillet. Wash the prepared piece of meat briefly, pat dry with kitchen paper and cut into strips. Wash and core the apple (sweet and sour) and cut into small pieces. Thaw 12-14 frozen plum halves and frozen pineapple pieces (I always make it when I process large / several fresh pineapples). Prepare the carrots and grate (grate), or cut into fine sticks. Wash the rocket, drain well and cut the leaves into thirds. Cut the Sbrinz (slightly tangy Swiss hard cheese) into fine, crumbly pieces. A ripe (24 month old = vecchio) Parmesan Reggiano or a 36 month old straveccio would also work well. Canned chickpeas are ready to cook. But I wash them in a sieve and free them from the somewhat slimy liquid. Of course you can make pesto yourself; but I buy them from the Italians; homemade by the “Padrone” personally. Pour off the liquid from the asparagus in the glass. Cut the lemon in half and crush the dried juniper in a mortar.

Wok – step 1

1. Melt the sunflower oil and butter in a wok or another large, bulbous pan and sauté the carrots with the rocket. After a few minutes and constantly turning, fold in the apple pieces, pineapple, chickpeas and asparagus and stir well. Add a little water, then mix in the soy sauce, balsamic cream, ketchup and the crushed juniper berries. Let it simmer briefly, on a now reduced fire. Now comes the “finishing touch” with liquid, dark forest honey, lemon juice, salt and pepper, coriander and cumin, before the dish is covered and set aside in a preheated container.

Wok – step 2

1. Heat the olive oil in the wok and fry the pork fillet strips briefly (!) On all sides, stirring constantly. Add the plums (with the juice and some of the water from defrosting), deglaze with the Grand Marnier. Then reduce the liquid a little, fold in the sour single cream and serve on the plates. Now also serve the warm dish (step 1).

Decoration

1. Distribute some fresh rocket leaves and the cheese as a decoration, and add a small amount of plum chutney (source: Schloss Herdern, in-house production, Switzerland) as a meat dip to each plate (as required). Unusual, witty recipe, appealing to all taste receptors, tingling with the tropical fruits, refreshing with the tangy apples, a bit bitter-tart with the rocket, absolutely harmonious with the cheese and balsamic vinegar. The slightly Asian sweet and sour touch with the smoky, earthy honey, the matching oriental spices, not to forget the seasonally appropriate tart juniper note, which in this “symphony” is unmistakably in a wonderful contrast to the light nutty note of chickpeas. And then the inside slightly pink, tender fillet that melts on the tongue, with the plums “drowned” in Grand Marnier 😉 … Simply delicious!