PORK FILLET WITH ROSEMARY PESTO

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Pork Fillet with Rosemary Pesto is an extremely easy and quick recipe.  If you love the taste of rosemary and marjoram then you’ll fall in love with this pesto!

Italian cooking is all about simple recipes, using fresh produce and where possible fresh herbs.  Once you get the idea, it really doesn’t take much to prepare an extraordinary meal.

I love cooking with pork fillet also known as pork tenderloin.  It’s usually a pretty lean meat, and because of it’s size cooks fairly quickly.  A great choice for mid-week cooking!  I think you’ll love Pork Fillet with Rosemary Pesto because it is jam packed full of flavour yet very simple.  We all lead busy lives and we want great recipes that are big on flavour yet short on time, right!?

You’ll always find a rosemary bush in an Italian’s garden, we have two!  As I said, Italian cooking is all about using fresh herbs and we have several.  Except for the rosemary bush, of course, you don’t need much space to grow your herbs.  All you need is a sunny window sill or a balcony.

The main Italian herbs are basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme and of course our featured rosemary. 

This week I wanted to share with you rosemary pesto with marjoram to brush over the fillet prior to cooking and the left over will be quickly heated through for the accompanying pesto sauce.  How’s that for an idea!

Herbs and spices are what gives flavour to our foods.  However, they usually provide more than that.  Most herbs and spices also have therapeutical properties too. 

ROSEMARY’S HEALING PROPERTIES

Rosemary is such a familiar herb yet not really understood as a medicinal plant.  It has many healing properties.  It’s a warming herb and works on circulation as well as the nervous system.  Rosemary is regarded as uplifting and energizing.  Generally it’s ideal in exhaustion, weakness and depression.  The herb invigorates the circulation, stimulates digestion and is good during the colder months for conditions such as chills and rheumatism.  It helps with joint pain and it has helped me tremendously, just by using essential rosemary oil on the affected area!  It’s definitely healthier rather than taking anti-inflammatory tablets or pain killers.

The essential oil is also used as stimulating rubs for arthritic conditions and it’s also used as a hair tonic.  Did you know that it’s known to encourage hair growth and restoring colour!

When I was a child I think I first got into the healing properties of herbs because of my Aunt Giacomina.  She loved her garden and grew so many herbs and used them not just for cooking but as healing remedies too.  I remember once, I had a terrible stomach ache.  She happened to be visiting and immediately made me some rosemary tea.  The pain subsided straight away.

Since that day I’ve used this remedy many times, also with my daughter.  All you need is a sprig of fresh rosemary and boiling water.  Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes and there you have a therapeutical tea.

I just love it.  I also use a few drops of essential rosemary oil in a hot bath.  It’s a great tonic especially followed by a nap, and helps soothe aching limbs.

CULINARY USES

Rosemary has a very strong aromatic resinous flavour.  Unless you are doing a bouquet garni (tying together a bunch of herbs) and then taking out of the dish, it’s always best to chop up the rosemary leaves.  Why?  Because the leaves fall off the stems during cooking and are not pleasant to chew.

You can use chopped rosemary leaves in breads, savoury scones and biscuits.  You can use rosemary sparingly in stews, soups, scattered over vegetables and it’s particularly delicious with baked potatoes, poultry and meat.

You can also use rosemary to flavour oils and vinegar.  We usually use it to flavour extra virgin olive oil when we prune the bush when you have a lot of it on hand!  You don’t want to waste any of it.

The flowers are pretty and super tasty in salads, and when you bite into them they give you a burst of that delicious rosemary flavour.  I also use it in pasta and risotto recipes.

So let’s get to the recipe …

If you’re looking for other Pork Fillet ideas why not check out my:

Pork Fillet with Mustard

If you give this recipe a try, please let me know what you think!  Rate it, leave a comment and don’t forget to tag a picture on Instagram #yummyalternatives.com.  I’d love to see your dish!

Print Recipe

PORK FILLET WITH ROSEMARY PESTO

By Alex – Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 – Cooking Time: 35

Pork Fillet with Rosemary Pesto is an extremely easy and quick recipe. If you love the taste of rosemary and marjoram then you’ll fall in love with this pesto!

Ingredients

• 1 pork fillet
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• PESTO
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 long sprig of rosemary
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 9 sprigs of marjoram
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
• Salt & pepper

Instructions

1

Place the garlic, marjoram, rosemary leaves and pine nuts into a small food processor and blend till finely chopped adding the olive oil to create a pesto mixture

2

Season with salt & pepper to taste

3

Rub/brush the pork fillet with the pesto mixture, keeping some of the mixture aside for later, and place in a pan that you have added the olive oil.

4

Brown quickly on all sides, then lower the heat, add the vegetable stock, cover and simmer until cooked.

5

Once cooked, lift out of pan and cut into thin slices.

6

Before placing the meat back into the pan, add the rosemary pesto mixture that was left over and heat through with the pan juices, and if necessary add a little more stock. You want to create a sort of thick pesto sauce and enough to go round.

7

Now place the meat back into pan. Heat through and serve.

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