My Valentine’s Day Pork & Pinot Wine Pairing

So next Sunday is Valentine’s Day. The year is speeding past and there’s no end in sight to my London Lockdown. I’ve officially named it the neverendinglockdown (yes that should be one word). Hoping I’m wrong. In the meantime there are some delicious aromas and dishes coming out of my kitchen. And I’m getting to try a whole new raft of cocktails and wine.

Today I was sent a bottle of Lawson’s Dry Hills Pinot Noir 2018 by Champagnes & Chateaux. It’s produced from vines at Chaytors Road and Waihopai vineyards in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. The lovely berry flavours were the perfect match for my tasty five-spice pork dish. Just the thing for a stay-at-home Valentine Celebration.

I love cooking with pork neck fillet. It’s such a great-value cut and full of flavour, too. I like to trim it of all fat and cook it slowly in some spicy juices. Today I picked five spice and sweet soya sauce to flavour the meat. I then added a touch of cider vinegar to lessen the sweetness.

The sauce comes out beautifully sweet and slightly sticky. And it looks so glossy too.

I finished off the dish by sprinkling it with sesame seeds and chopped spring onions.

And here’s my Valentine’s Day dinner serving – complete with heart-shaped rice and asparagus kisses. Happy Valentines everyone.

The wine facts

Lawson’s Dry Hills  Pinot Noir 2018 is available from Champagnes & Chateaux for £17.50

And finally, here’s a printed version of the recipe for you.

Sticky five-spice pork fillet

Tender pork fillet in a Chinese five-spice sticky sauce

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

50 minutes mins

Servings: 2 people

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 400 g pork neck fillet
• 2 tbsps cider vinegar
• 3 tbsps sweet soya sauce
• 1 chilli dried (crumbled)
• 2 tsp Chinese Five Spice
• 1 1/2 cups passata
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

To serve

• 4 spring onions diced
• 2 tbsps sesame seeds

Method

 

1. Cut the pork fillet into large chunks, removing any excess fat. Fry in a heavy casserole dish or pan until browned. Add the onion until softened.
2. Mix the vinegar, sweet soya sauce, chilli and Chinese spice with the passata and vegetable stock. Pour all of this into the pork and onion mixture.
3. Cook on the stove top on low for about 40 mins until the pork is softened. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't dry out. Add water if necessary.
4. Scatter the spring onions and sesame seeds over the pork. Serve with rice and asparagus tips lightly fried in butter.