Almost a quarter of the way through my challenge I must say I'm surprised how well it's going. Lolz, despite being only too happy to complain when something is not to her taste, has given me an average score of well over 8/10, and her lowest mark, a 3/10, was awarded only because of her aversion to bananas. It's inevitable that something was going to give, and at one point I thought this rather innocent looking pork dish would be that something.
It's not that multiple things went wrong. It's just that when you're attempting to cook an entire meal in 15 minutes, timing is everything so if something goes awry, the whole thing could be a disaster. In this case, eerily mirroring the England v Montenegro football match which was being played at the time, everything started really well. At the half way point I was still feeling confident. It was only near the end when things started to go wrong. The rice was cooked (and looking surprisingly appetising despite the inclusion of dried mushrooms). The greens (the chard part of which came from our veg box) were practically done. The pork looked like it was cooked so I took it out and proceeded to make the sauce in the pork pan. It was only when I started cutting the pork that it became clear that it was not sufficiently cooked - the outside was nicely charred and delicious looking, but there was an annoying pink glow in the centre. So I had no option but to return it to the pan while everything else sat around waiting to be served.
The problem occurs because the pork fillet, having been flattened a bit before going in to the pan in order to reduce the cooking time, has a natural tendency to spring back to it's original plumpness. So unless you are able to constantly press it down whilst it is in the pan it will always take longer to cook than expected. By the time it is cooked some 5 or 10 minutes later, the rice is cold, the greens are overcooked and the sauce is coagulated. Okay, that might be exaggerating a bit, but I think this meal has the potential to be a real 10/10 hit so I was a bit disappointed that it failed to hit those heights because of this problem.
Overall I think it is still my favourite pork dish yet (and, incredibly, I have only two pork dishes left!). The sauce is fantastic. The spices on the meat give it a really nice sticky crust. The rice, flavoured with dried porcini mushrooms, lemon and thyme is surprisingly good. I really can't wait to try this one again to see just how good it can be...
Lolz gave the dish 8/10. Difficulty rating 7/10 - it's all about getting the timing right on the pork.
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