Delia Smith Stuffed Pork Tenderloin Recipe

Split lengthways and beaten flat with a rolling pin, the pork in Delia Smith’s stuffed pork tenderloin closes around a mushroom, lemon and herb stuffing. The fillet is buttered, covered with streaky bacon and tied with string, then roasted for an hour. One 450g fillet serves 4, with a white wine gravy made in the tin.

She calls it a good dinner party dish, because it’s so easy to carve and serve. For 8 people, she simply doubles everything and uses two fillets side by side.

The recipe goes back to her Complete Cookery Course, which made it with dried herbs and plain streaky bacon. The Delia Collection: Pork (2004) switched to chopped thyme and sage leaves, with unsmoked bacon on top.

Delia Smith’s Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Fresh Herbs

Recipe by Anne Morgan

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: Main CourseCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

20

minutes

Calories

480

kcal

Juicy pork in a crisp bacon coat, with a soft, lemony herb stuffing running through every slice.

Ingredients

• For the pork:

• 1 large pork fillet (tenderloin), about 450g (1lb)

• 4 rashers unsmoked streaky bacon, rinds removed

• 20g (¾oz) softened butter

• salt and freshly milled black pepper

• For the stuffing:

• 25g (1oz) butter

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 1 dessertspoon chopped thyme leaves

• 1 dessertspoon chopped sage leaves

• 75g (3oz) small open-cap mushrooms, finely chopped

• 110g (4oz) soft white breadcrumbs

• 4 tablespoons chopped parsley

• grated zest of 1 lemon

• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons double cream

• For the gravy:

• 1 tablespoon plain flour

• 275ml (10fl oz) dry white wine

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Directions

• Oven: Heat it to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas mark 4, and butter a roasting tin of about 23 x 28cm.
• Flatten: Keep the fat on the fillet, as it stops the meat drying out. Cut it in half lengthways, then bash both halves with a rolling pin to flatten and widen them a little. Season.
• Stuffing: Melt the butter in a medium frying pan and soften the onion over a medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the herbs and mushrooms, turn the heat up slightly and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Tip into a bowl with the remaining stuffing ingredients, fork together lightly and season.
• Assemble: Pat the stuffing over one half of the pork and lay the other half on top. Spread with the softened butter, add some pepper and cover with the bacon. Tie with string every 5cm or so.
• Roast: Slide a long palette knife underneath to move it into the tin, then roast in the top half of the oven for 1 hour. Lift it onto a warm dish.
• Gravy: Set the tin over direct heat, stir in the flour to soak up the juices, then whisk in the wine little by little and let it bubble until syrupy. Serve the pork in thick slices with the gravy poured over.

Notes

• Ask the butcher for a whole pork fillet with its thin layer of fat still on. Supermarket fillets are often trimmed very lean.
• Snip off the string before carving, or leave it on and let people cut through it at the table, which is my own lazy way.

FAQs

Is pork tenderloin the same as pork fillet?

Yes, they’re the same long, lean cut from under the loin. Her recipe uses both names, calling it a pork fillet in the ingredients and a tenderloin in the method.

Can I use dried herbs?

Yes, that’s how her Complete Cookery Course version is written. It uses only a quarter teaspoon each of dried thyme and dried sage, against a dessertspoon each of chopped leaves in the 2004 version. Dried herbs are far more concentrated, so don’t be tempted to add more.

The same older version beats the egg with cream or top of the milk, handy if you have no double cream.

Can I make the gravy with cider?

You can. Her Complete Cookery Course gives dry white wine or dry cider for the gravy, about 275ml of either. To my taste cider suits pork especially well, giving a slightly sweeter, fruitier sauce.

What goes with stuffed pork tenderloin?

She suggests fried apple rings. Core the apples but leave the peel on, slice them into rings and fry them gently in butter until just tender.

For roast pork in the same book she suggests new potatoes and a green vegetable in summer, and roast potatoes with braised red cabbage in winter.

How do I know the pork is cooked?

Push a skewer into the thickest part. Her test for roast pork is juices that run yellowy and clear, with no trace of pink.

For extra certainty, I’d check that a probe in the centre of the meat reads 70°C, my own check. It rests on its warm dish while you make the gravy, which helps the stuffing hold together when you slice.