Would your children eat this? I honestly thought mine wouldn’t. They are sworn meat eaters, and my daughter is partial to the odd potato, but broad beans? And spinach??
I held my breath, and ordered the griddled pork loin steaks with broad beans, spinach and asparagus (hold the asparagus) for my kids to share when we splashed out on a gorgeous dinner at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen in Watergate Bay on our recent holiday to Cornwall. By the end of the meal they were tugging at my sleeve and whispering urgent requests for me to get the recipe from our waiter so I could recreate the dish at home!
How to cook pork steaks like Jamie Oliver
Being the lovely folk that they are, the staff at Fifteen sent me an email, with the basics for the pork loin steak recipe. They’re not daft, and the seasoning was pretty much left to me, but how lovely are they for even bothering to reply?!
So last weekend, armed with the best pork loin steaks I could find, and half the contents of the herb aisle at the supermarket, I had a go. I don’t think Jamie will be beating a path to my door with an offer of employment any time soon, but the kids have already asked me when I can cook it again.
Fresh, summery, and bursting with flavours, the addition of a glass of chilled dry rosé for the adults made this the perfect sunny Sunday lunch. Here’s our version of Jamie’s griddled pork steaks.
Griddled pork with summer vegetables
Equipment
- Griddle or frying pan
Ingredients
- 4 pork loin steaks
- Jersey Royal new potatoes, or salad potatoes (as many as your family will eat!)
- A few large sprigs of fresh rosemary, mint and thyme. You could use dried if your pushed
- 1 small lemon
- 1 pack of green beans trimmed
- 200 g broad beans podded weight
- 1 large pack of baby leaf spinach
- Half small red chilli deseeded and chopped finely
- 1 clove of garlic finely chopped or minced
Instructions
- Wash or scrub the potatoes, halving any larger ones, and put them into a large saucepan, with the herbs and the halved lemon. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Boil until just cooked, then drain and set aside.
- Season the pork loin steaks on both sides with salt and pepper, and a little olive oil, then griddle on a high heat until just cooked through. Cooking pork steaks in a frying pan or griddle should take 4-5 minutes on each side, depending on thickness.
- Boil the broad beans for 2 minutes, then drain, and remove and discard the tough skins
- Steam the green beans lightly for 2-3 minutes
- Sauteé the spinach in a splash of olive oil with the chopped chilli and garlic, until wilted
- Just before you're ready to serve, heat the butter in a large frying pan until foaming. Add the potatoes and beans, and toss to coat for a minute
- Put a layer of spinach in the bottom of each dish, spoon over the potatoes and beans mixture, and top with the pork. Drizzle over a little good quality olive oil, and serve with a salsa of your choice. We used Jamie Oliver's Salsa Verde (see link below)
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How to cook pork loin steaks in a frying pan if you don’t have a griddle
To get the beautiful criss-cross lines, you ideally need a griddle, or a griddle frying pan to put on your hob. This is the electric griddle we have and it’s brilliant for giving really crisp, sealed steaks without drying them out. Really it’s about the heat. In fact, if you have an outdoor pizza oven, we’ve found the best way to cook any kind of steak is to turn that up to maximum heat, for the most beautiful crispy outsides. Have a look at our ribeye steaks done in our portable pizza oven!
If you don’t have a griddle it’s easy to cook pork steaks in a frying pan too. Just remember to oil the meat, and never the pan – this avoids all the smoke you get from burning oil, and keeps the meat healthier, and juicy.
The cooking time is exactly the same, and I always keep the heat up high to get the meat as charred as possible on the outside. This seals the meat quickly, stops the pork steaks from drying out, and keeps all the lovely juices inside.
Jamie’s chef served this with asparagus, but my children will not go near the stuff, so we substituted for green beans. He also added the most delicious pork steak marinade and salsa I’ve ever tasted, but very smartly didn’t give me the recipe. We used Jamie’s Salsa Verde recipe, and it really did add the zing the adults needed.
Jamie Oliver’s pork loin steak recipe is the best pork dish I’ve ever cooked, with the added the bonus that the kids love it too. Any family food recipe that doesn’t involve me cooking two different dinners is a win in my book – is it just me who’s in danger of getting totally bored with cooking since having to make three meals a day, every day, and have complaints from at least one person each time? No, didn’t think so!
Of course, for the real authentic zing, you’d also need the view…
Enjoyed this? Try some of our other foolproof family recipes:
- No prep low fat sausage and lentil casserole
- Our never fails to please pizza tart
- Easy tuna pasta bake
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Nom nom, this looks delicious, how kind of them to email you the recipe.
I’ve bookmarked this and give the recipe a try, hoping the Toddler will indulge me and try the dreaded “green stuff”!
That looks lovely, and what a nice thing to do to spend the time to pass on the ingredients to you as well. My kids might just go for this too, though not sure on the beans as my daughter, being 8 and all, has decided she doesn’t like them despite eating them quite happily for the last few years *doh* P.S. Love the plugin for the recipes…what is it you are using?
Anything that got me liking broad beans would be verging on miraculous! Love that the restaurant responded with the recipe, even if they weren’t quite giving away all their secrets!
As i am reading your post I am also watching Jamie’s 15 minute meals! I love this guy! YUP!
Thank you for linking up with #FridayFoodie linky xx
Oh I could eat this right now. It looks amazing. Love all the greens x
It’s great to hear that GG and Bug were open to trying a new recipe, and loved it! So lovely of the restaurant to email you the recipe, I would never have thought about contacting them for a recipe before.
You did an amazing hob there Helen. I will have to see if we can fit a visit to the restaurant in during our holiday in Cornwall.
I love Jamie’s recipes. They’re simple, but delicious! Cornwall is on my bucket list. Seeing the last picture just want to make me go now!