Occasional recipes: pork with creamed leeks

Not done one of these for a while. This one is by James Martin from Ready Steady Cook. His recipe serves 1 so we rounded it all up for a family of three.

For the pork:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 450g pork [if from Tesco, then obviously ethically sourced pork that has made a living will and signed all the right consent forms]
• salt and pepper

For the leeks:

• 3 tsp olive oil [actually I've only just noticed he says tsp. I used tbsps and it was pretty good]
• knob unsalted butter [if that's your thing]
• 3 garlic cloves [we used 5]
• some thyme [resist jokes about have you got the thyme, last of the thyme lords, etc.]
  
• 150ml milk
• 450ml double cream [we only used 300ml as that was what was in the carton. Works fine.]
• fresh parsley, chopped [optional, i.e. couldn't find any]

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7
2. For the pork, heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan. Season the pork and sear in the hot pan for 1-2 minutes on each side. Transfer to the oven and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through.
3. For the leeks, heat the oil and butter in a pan and sauté the garlic with the leek and thyme leaves for 3-4 minutes, to soften.
4. Stir in the milk, cream and parsley, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for a further 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove the pork from the oven and allow to rest. Slice on the diagonal.

Then:

• James Martin says: spoon the creamed leeks onto a serving plate and top with the sliced pork.
• Ben says: Mix the creamed leeks and sliced pork together. Make a bed of couscous on each plate. Ladle out the leek/pork mixture, with broccoli on the side.

A word about couscous. This has been one of the many new experiences to which marriage has opened my eyes. It's so easy. Pour it into a saucepan, with a generous lashing of olive oil and cover with recently boiled water. Put the lid on and leave for a couple of minutes. Remove the lid and all the water has gone. Fluff it up and serve it. The olive oil adds a lovely background flavour and it wil soak up any sauce-intensive food you care to use.