Pork chop, watermelon and pomelo with coconut sauce

Photographer: Lisa Linder and Kate
Serves 6

Our friend chef Peter Gordon has shared this recipe with us, full of texture and colour it plays on the tried and proven match of pork with fruit accompaniments.  I can’t wait for watermelon season to come around again so I can give this a try.The great thing about this salad, apart from the popping flavours, is that the watermelon and pomelo combo is a fantastic vegetarian salad in its own right. Pomelo are very large citrus fruit. Although it can be quite hard to peel and separate the flesh unless you use a knife, they’re crunchy and not as sour as grapefruit. If you can’t find them, then use pink grapefruit.

Words taken from Savour: Salads for all Seasons by Peter Gordon and by Kate

Savour: Salads for all Seasons by Peter Gordon, photographs by Lisa Linder and published by Jacqui Small, £25. Out now, available at QuartoKnows.com

INGREDIENTS


400–500g (14oz.–1lb. 2oz.)
pork chop on the bone
200ml (¾ cup + 2 tsp)
coconut milk
½ red chilli, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
7.5cm (3in.) lemongrass stem
from the lower end, two outer
layers discarded, insides thinly
sliced
1 tsp fish sauce (or use soy
sauce or salt)
1 shallot, chopped
85g (3oz.) pomelo flesh
1 tbsp goji berries
¼ tsp finely grated lime zest
4 tbsp lime juice
300g (10½ oz.) watermelon
flesh, cut into wedges
1 small inner celery stalk, thinly
sliced, including the leaves
olive oil, for brushing
30g (1oz./½ cup) coconut
chips or long threads, toasted
1 spring onion (scallion), thinly
sliced

METHOD


1.Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas mark 4). Season the pork chop with salt and pepper and bring to room temperature on a plate.
2. Place the coconut milk, chilli, garlic, lemongrass and fish sauce in a small saucepan and heat until reduced by half. Keep warm.
3. Mix the shallot, pomelo and goji berries with the lime zest and juice and leave to macerate for 10 minutes. Mix in the watermelon and celery.
4. Brush the pork chop with oil and cook on a high heat in a heavy-based frying pan (skillet) until coloured and marked on both sides.
5. Transfer to a roasting pan and roast in the oven until cooked – and this really will depend on the thickness of your chop or chops. To test if it’s cooked, slice into the thickest part of the chop: if it’s pink but not raw then it’s ready. Remove from the oven and leave to rest in a warm place for 10 minutes.
6. To serve, divide the watermelon and pomelo salad among your plates. Cut the bone from the pork chop and slice the meat. Lay it over the top, then spoon on the warm coconut sauce. Sprinkle with the coconut chips and spring onion
(scallion).