Spanish Pork with Quick 'n' Easy Mujedrah

This is a really attractive but perhaps little-known cookbook by Valli Little the Food Editor of the famous Australian Delicious magazine. For each of the categories the book covers, such as - cold starters, soups, eggs, pasta, savoury tarts, vegetarian mains, salads, potatoes, vegetables, white fish, chicken, pork, lamb, stir-fries, casseroles, curries, sweet tarts and pies, cold desserts, hot puddings, and more - Valli has selected the five best and most popular recipes from the Delicious archives. Beautifully presented and illustrated, the book contains 150 recipes celebrating the magazine's fifth anniversary.

I first heard Ilana mention this fabulously easy recipe on the Nigella forum. However, it wasn't until I bought Valli Little's wonderful cookbook "Delicious: 5 of the Best" and commented that I had made the Spanish Pork that I realised it was one and the same recipe. Then, of course, I understood why everyone was talking so enthusiastically about it, lol. This really is a doddle to make and very tasty. Very definitely "Quick Midweek" and a keeper recipe to boot.

Valli suggests serving the pork with cooked broad beans, a very Spanish accompaniment particularly at this time of year when they are being harvested from the fields. However, although I have done so on several occasions, this time I had some cooked basmati rice to use up and decided to do something a little different.

Quick 'n' Easy Mujedrah - Serves 2 generously

Lightly sauté a thinly sliced Spanish onion, about 200g, in a little oil and butter. When the onion is really soft and almost caramelised throw in a minced clove of garlic, a finely chopped red chilli and some chopped parsley. Then add leftover cooked basmati rice, about three cupfuls, and a drained and rinsed small jar of cooked brown lentils. Break up the rice with the back of a wooden spoon, and gently stir everything together until well heated through. An easy take on this classical Middle Eastern rice dish. Not totally authentic, I know, but very yummy nevertheless.

I started the onions off in the pan just as I put the oven on to come up to temperature. And when I had finished searing the pork fillet I was ready to add the rice and lentils, so the timing was perfect. The sauce I made earlier in the day and, I feel, improves by sitting. All in all a nice easy meal. I had, in fact, two small fillets and so we ended up with leftovers ... never a bad thing in my book!



Spanish Pork - Serves 2

1 heaped Tbsp mustard
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 heaped Tbsp baby capers, rinsed and drained
8 pimento-stuffed green olives, sliced
1 heaped Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
30ml olive oil
350g piece pork fillet, trimmed


Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

To make the sauce, whisk together the mustard, garlic, capers, olives, parsley, lemon zest and juice, 20ml of the olive oil, pepper to taste and 40ml warm water.

Heat the remaining oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a high heat and cook the pork, turning, for 5 minutes until golden. Place the pan in the oven for 5 minutes until pork is cooked through.

Rest pork for 5 minutes, then slice and drizzle with the sauce.