Parmesan Crumbed Pork with Port and Honey Glaze

After the Duck dinner party I had some port and honey glaze left over.  Rather than throw it out I lay awake at 4am (a regular occurence, that is how much I love food!) thinking about what I could do with it.  Port and pork go very well together and paired with some crispy parmesan and thyme crumbs and a spiced, sweet potato mash I just knew this would be a winning combo.  So good in fact, just the thought of it had me dribbling on my pillow........wide awake!

Serves 4

You will need:

Olive oil for frying
4 Boneless pork loins
1 egg, beaten
2 tbs plain flour
6 slices of stale whole meal bread (packet crumbs are fine if you prefer)
1/2 cup of grated parmesan
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
10 thyme sprigs, leaves removed from stems
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into mashing size pieces
1 tbs butter
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of cinnamon
sea salt and pepper
port and honey glaze (refer to the duck recipe in july for this recipe)
steamed broccolini to serve

To make the crumb mix, cut the crusts off the bread and place in a food processor.  Pulse the bread until you have nice crumbs, not too fine.  Place the crumbs on a tray and pop them in a 180 degree oven for  approx 5 minutes just to dry them out a little.  Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.  Once cooled gently rub the garlic, thyme and parmesan through them, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Make a little production line on your bench top putting the flour on a piece of baking paper and spreading it a little, your beaten egg in a shallow bowl and your crumbs next to that.  Lightly dust a pork loin with flour, dip in the egg and press into the crumbs, all over so you have a nice even coating.  Repeat with the remaining pork loins, pop them on a plate and place in the fridge while you prepare the sweet potato.

Put the sweet potato in a large saucepan of water and bring to the boil.  Boil for about 10 minutes or until tender.  Drain them really well and roughly mash them adding the butter, nutmeg, cinnamon and a good pinch of salt and pepper.  Give it a good stir, put the lid back on and set aside.

Heat enough oil to cover the base of a large heavy based pan.  Take a pinch of the bread crumbs and pop them in the pan, if they start bubbling right away the pan is hot enough.  Place the pork loins in the pan and fry on medium heat for approx 5 minutes each side or until nice and golden.  Drain them on absorbent paper and pop them in a warm oven if you like.

Heat the port and honey glaze in a small saucepan, when nice and bubbly, whisk in a little butter just to freshen it up.  To serve simply spoon some mash on the plates, top with the pork and drizzle over the glaze.  Seriously good.