Dijon Pork

When purchasing a new cook book I always familiarise myself with the recipes and any particular ingredients that the authors frequent. In Pinch of Nom’s case, they’re big fans of pork, mushrooms and low-fat cream cheese, so I regularly keep these items in my fridge in case I need a ‘plan B’ recipe in the event of ‘plan A’ going out of the window.

Dijon Pork was indeed a ‘plan B’ recipe when I discovered that the vege stew I’d originally earmarked was going to take 2 hours. Our survey said, “Uh-uhh!”. But in the end I’m so pleased I tried this recipe as pork and mustard in a low-fat cream cheese sauce are a top combination! Although the cooking time is 50 minutes, over the half the time is taken up by just simmering the ingredients in a pan until the sauce thickens. Serve with a small portion of rice.

If you like this, you’ll probably also love mustard pork and pork stroganoff.

Recipe: Dijon Pork

Calories: 320 per serving (without rice)

Serves: 4

Book: Pinch of Nom – Quick and Easy

Prep time: Approx 15 mins

Cooking time: Approx 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• Low-calorie cooking spray
• 1 onion (peeled and sliced)
• 1 garlic clove (peeled and crushed)
• 575g pork tenderloin (cut into 12 circular slices)
• 200g button mushrooms (sliced)
• 300ml chicken stock (1 chicken stock pot dissolved in 300ml boiling water)
• 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp mustard powder
• 2 tbsp reduced-fat cream cheese
• Sea salt
• Ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

To accompany:

• 50g uncooked basmati rice per portion, cooked according to packet instructions (175 calories per 125g serving)

Cost per portion: Approx £1.74

Method:

Spray a large frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and place over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden. Add the garlic and slices of pork. Seal the pork for 1-2 minutes on each side.

Add the mushrooms, stock, Dijon mustard, and mustard powder. Stir and simmer uncovered over a medium heat for 25-30 minutes, until the pork juices run clear. Turn the pork over halfway through cooking.

Take the frying pan off the heat and stir in the reduced-fat cream cheese until completely blended. Season to taste. Stir-in the flat-leaf parsley and serve immediately.