Pork Tenderloin in Filo Pastry

I got the idea for this recipe from something my mum told me about involving puff pastry and bratwurst sausage meat (Bratwurstbrät, for my German readers). But I thought puff pastry would make this dish really rich and I do love filo pastry. Also, I can't get the raw bratwurst meat here in the UK but there are lots of sausages, all raw, to choose from. In the end, we settled on cippolatas and I had a rough idea what I was going to do with the ingredients when a thought struck me. Apples! I love apples with pork. So here's how it turned out. Do I have to say that it was just D E L I C I O U S? ;)

As there are just two of us, I cut the pork fillet in half and made two parcels one of which I popped in the freezer for another time.

Also, I'll leave the quantities for potatoes and broccoli up to you. We eat a lot of vegetables, a whole 500 g head of broccoli in this instance, and didn't have a starter or dessert with this.

(serves 4-6)

1 large pork tenderloin, approx. 500 g
400 g of pork sausages of your choice
2 apples
1 packet of filo pastry, 250 g
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2-3 garlic cloves
butter
olive oil
broccoli florets
small potatoes

1. Place the potatoes in the bottom part of a steamer, add salt and pepper. Boil some water and pour over the potatoes. Cover and boil for 5 minutes. In the meantime, cut the broccoloi into florets, wash and place into the steamer section. Season with pepper and salt. Place on top of the potatoes, cover and steam for 3 minutes. Remove the broccoli and rinse under icecold water to prevent the veg from cooking further. Pat dry with kitchen paper. Boil the potatoes for another 2 minutes, then drain. Place the potatoes and broccoli into a roasting tray, season with pepper and salt and drizzle with olive oil. Set aside.

2. Remove the skin from the sausages and place the meat into a bowl or plate. Crush the garlic and mix. Set aside.

3. Quarter and core the apples and cut into thin slices. Heat a little butter in a frying pan and fry the apples until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.

4. Heat a little olive oil in the same frying pan. Season the meat with pepper and salt on both sides and fry for a minute on each side until browned. Remove and set aside.

5. Pour a generous amount of olive oil into a small dish. Place the first sheet of filo pastry on your worktop and lightly oil it. Add the next sheet and keep repeating until all the filo sheets have been used up.

6. Now assemble the dish. Spread the sausage meat onto the filo pastry leaving a generous rim to allow the pastry to be folded over and seal the contents in. Next, scatter the apple slices over the sausage meat. Now, place the tenderloin on top of the apples. Fold the pastry in from the sides, then from the top and bottom. Lightly oil all around. Turn so the seam is underneath. With a sharp knife cut a couple of crosses into the pastry and peal back the four corners. This will allow the steam to exit while cooking the meat.

7. Heat the oven to 200 °C/gas mark 5. Make room in the middle of the roasting tray and add the meat. Cook in the oven for approx. 45 minutes until the pastry is golden and the meat is cooked.