Roasted pork fillet/tenderloin wrapped in Parma ham

I spent last weekend as a guest of my friends Kate and Steve in Marlow.  We, along with a gang of friends, had been invited to spend Saturday celebrating our chum Mike’s birthday in Cookham at the Let’s Rock the Moor retro festival.

During breakfast yesterday Kate mentioned that her brother was coming to lunch and she didn’t know what to cook though Kate did think she would like to cook pork and asked for suggestions.  Diana (another chum) suggested roast pork with Parma ham which is  an easy dish to prepare though I am not at all sure Diana has ever prepared it herself!

So, for you Kate, here is the recipe.  I cooked the dish this evening having, by chance, a piece of pork fillet in the ‘fridge which needed attention!

What you’ll need for 4 people:

• 2 pork fillets/tenderloin.  Fillets vary in size and thickness so choose the size to accommodate your guests’ appetites.  (The smallest fillets would probably be around 338gr/12oz which would serve 2 people.  Take into account shrinkage in cooking when choosing your fillets).
• 8-10 slices of Parma ham (4-5 per fillet and dependent upon the size and thickness of the fillets you’ve chosen have a few extra slices handy in case they are needed*).
• 2 cloves of garlic sliced thinly.
• Sage.

What you’ll need to do:

• Pre-heat your oven to 180C/356F.
• Pat the pork fillets dry with kitchen paper and remove, carefully, any silvery tissue on the surface of the fillet.
• With a small sharp knife make several incisions into the fillet (not too deep) and insert a slice of garlic into each pocket.
• On a chopping board or flat surface carefully place slices of Parma ham to accommodate the fillet.  Overlap each slice of ham slightly to make it appear to be one long piece of ham so to speak.   Carefully wrap the fillet in the ham, at an angle so that the whole fillet is wrapped in its blanket of ham. Repeat for the second fillet.

  

• Select 4 sage leaves and place on top of the fillet, slightly apart, and secure each leaf with a cocktail stick.
• Select a roasting tin that will accommodate the fillets and line with cooking foil.  Place fillets on the foil and make a loose parcel.  Pop into the hot oven and cook for approximately 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes remove from the oven and open the foil and put the pork back into the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes.  After that check to see that the juices run clear and if they do your pork will be ready.
• Once you are happy that the pork is cooked cover with the foil and let the fillets rest for 10-15 minutes in a warm place.

  

• When ready to serve slice the fillets in even, thick slices.  I would suggest three slice per guest to start with. Oh yes, don’t forget to remove the cocktail sticks.

To accompany this dish you could serve potatoes roasted with garlic and rosemary (see next post).  Caramelised carrots would go nicely as well, so too steamed stem broccoli. As there will be very little by way of natural juices from the pork I would suggest you serve apple sauce along with it.

*If you find you have extra slices of Parma ham left over they can be pressed into service as a first course served with fresh figs which have been cut across the top with a criss-cross incision, squeezed open gently to form a pocket or bowl  into which you pour in a little liquid honey.  Scrummy.  Oh yes, you could also plop a dollop of crème fraîche alongside!  I’ll post the recipe as soon as figs come into season – maybe my lovely friend and neighbour, Joy, will have a bumper crop this summer – Kent figs are delish!