Coconut Risotto with Spiced Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

Risotto

• ½ tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tablespoon Butter

• 1 Shallot, diced

• 1 Fresh garlic clove, diced

• 1 cup Arborio rice

• ½ cup Dry white wine

• ½ cup Coconut milk

• 3-4 cups Chicken stock, warmed (keep in on simmered heat next to pot for risotto)

• Salt and pepper to taste

  Pork Tenderloin

• 6 oz pork tenderloin*

• 1 teaspoon Toasted cumin seeds

• 1 teaspoon Toasted all-spice

• 1 teaspoon Toasted coriander

• 1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 2 whole Fresh garlic cloves

• Sprig of Thyme

• ½ tablespoon Microgreens or cilantro for garnishing

• Pinch of flaking salt

Directions

1. Make the risotto: In a saucepan, keep broth on low simmered heat next to pot for risotto

2. Add oil and butter into pot for risotto, sauté the shallots until halfway translucent. Then add garlic.

3. Add rice to the pot and toast the rice 3-5 minutes, stirring every couple minutes to make sure rice gets toasted evenly. Add pinch of salt and pepper.

4. Pour white wine into the pot and deglaze. Stir frequently, continuously agitating the risotto and loosening the starches to make it creamier.

5. Once wine has reduced, add the coconut milk. Follow the same process as the wine until coconut milk is reduced.

6. Pour in one ladle at a time of the chicken stock, reducing the liquid before adding another ladleful. You’ll repeat for about 20-25 minutes until it is a creamy, loose risotto. It should not be clumpy. Taste to determine if more seasoning is needed. Side note – You can make this while cooking the pork. It will thicken up. Add a ladleful of stock and stir.

7. Prepare the Pork Tenderloin*: Have oven set to 350. Toast spices by placing in a dry pan, stirring every 10-15 seconds for a total of 5 minutes. Must stir so that spices don’t burn.

8. Add spices to mortar & pestle and grind all together. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to make a paste. Rub this on the tenderloin. While this is happening, the pan used to toast the spices can be left on medium heat.

9. Add the tenderloin to the pan. Add a drizzle of olive oil, fresh garlic cloves and thyme. For 5 minutes, do not touch it. This will allow a crust to build naturally. After 5 minutes, flip it. If it needs more browning, keep on that side longer. Repeat the process for the other side. Once the whole tenderloin has been browned on all sides, place on sheet pan and into oven for 10 minutes.

10. Once removed from the oven, place on a cutting board or cooling rack. For the next 5-7 minutes, do not cut the tenderloin. This allows all juices to distribute evenly throughout the meat. If cut too early, all juices will leak out and the meat will be dry. Once cooled, slice against the grain.

    *Tip to cut against the grain: Look at the lines or fibers of the meat, cut perpendicular or again those lines, not along the lines.

11. To plate up – Place roughly a cup of risotto on the middle of the plate, gently place 3-4 slices of tenderloin on top. Add garnish directly in the middle on top of the meat. Finish with a pinch of flaking salt.

    *Be careful not to confuse with a pork loin. A pork tenderloin is smaller and more tender, a thinner cut from the muscle than runs along the backbone of the pig. Typically looks like a beef tenderloin, long and cylindrical in shape