Pork Saltimbocca with Spinach and Pine Nuts and Baby Potatoes
This is a recipe I learned years ago and I have tweaked it quite a bit since. It's very simple but looks very polished on the plate in the end. Saltimbocca literally means jumps in the mouth. Savage!
Serves: 4
Time: 30 mins
Ingredients
4 pork chops (neck is better but don't worry if you can't lay hands on it.)
8 slices of prosciutto (if you want to save some money, rashers work well instead.)
80g Rocket
Freshly Ground Salt
Olive Oil
800g Baby Potatoes
250g Spinach
25g Pine Nuts (again, if you want to reduce the cost, sunflower seeds are a nice alternative)
50g Butter
20g Fresh Parsley
Equipment
Clingfilm
Chopping Board
Frying Pan
Small Baking Tray
Medium Sized Pot
Wooden Spoon
MO
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Half fill the pot with water and put on the heat to boil.
2. On a chopping board, lay out one of the pork chops. Cover it and the board with clingfilm. With your palm or a heavy blunt object (I use a rolling pin) beat the chop until it's twice as area and twice as thin as it was when you began. Remove the rind so that you are just left with the main cut of meat. Do this with all of the chops.
3. On a board, lay out one chop. Take a handful of rocket leaf and gentle gather it together in your fist. Place it in the middle of the flattened chop Roll the chop around the rocket. Cover this rolled piece by wrapping 2 slices of prosciutto around it. Do this with all of the chops.
4. On a hot pan, in a little oil, fry the saltimbocca until they are browned on all sides like a sausage. Remove from the pan and place in the oven for 15 minutes to ensure they are cooked through properly.
5. While the saltimbocca are in the oven, drop the potatoes into the boiling water and boil for 15-18 minutes. When they're ready (when a knife can pass through them with relative easy but they are not falling apart) drain the water and keep the potatoes in the pot. Add in 20g of butter and a the parsley, finely chopped. Cover the pot and shake it vigorously. (Remove the lid again or the potatoes will continue to cook in their own steam.)
6. In a clean pan, on a high heat, toast the pine nuts for 30 seconds. Shaking constantly. Then, add 30g of butter and allow to melt but do not allow it to burn. Add in the spinach and carefully press it down with a wooden spoon. Make sure to stir the pine nuts up through the spinach or they will burn underneath on the hot pan. The spinach will wilt down in 1 or 2 minutes. Remove from the heat immediately.
7. Cut the Saltimbocca into 1 inch rounds. It will look a little like sushi. Plate up as you see fit.
