Turn on the Light!

Filetto di Maiale alla Griglia con Finocchio e Pepe Rosse

Grilled Red-Pepper Pork & Fennel

2 more little slices of pork tenderloin this evening and this time I decided to keep them lighter still and to prepare them on my grill pan "au naturelle". This was a nice, light Summer evening meal and so easy to make. The flavors simply worked well together and I didn't feel that I was missing out on potatoes, pasta or rice... and that was nice!

Well- they were not completely "au naturelle", as I gave them a shot of Sambuca, a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of red pepper and sea salt... but don't let me spoil the fun of reading and let me get back to the action with you all. This is how I did it!

I really did want to keep the fat to a minimum again with this dish- as with most of my dishes, so what I did here, was that I got the pan hot and then held the pork slices with my tongues, pressing the outer edges of the meat down, so that the fat began to melt. As soon as it started to brown, I laid the meat down and let it be for 2-3 minutes, until it had developed some nice scorch-marks. 

I then flipped the meat over, pushed it to one side and pressed the fennel slices down onto the pan, exactly where the pork had been, to take advantage of the flavor and color. I flipped both the meat and the fennel over after 2 minutes and gave the pan a good squeeze of the juice of half a lime and a good splash of Sambuca... yum!

Whilst everything was steaming, I seasoned it with salt, a light drizzle of honey, added a couple of sprigs of thyme and gave it a little splash of water. I let the meat sit and rest whilst I prepared a little arugula, which I gave a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and tiny sprinkle of sugar.

I served up the pork on top of the fennel and gave both a good sprinkle of cracked and ground red pepper and a little regular black pepper- a wonderful way to bring together the flavors of the pork and fennel and great also on the arugula! Simple, quick and just asbout as easy as it gets! Enjoy!