Fifteen minutes is the whole thing for Hairy Bikers pork stroganoff, start to finish. It uses 500g of pork medallions, mushrooms, sweet smoked paprika and half-fat crème fraîche, and comes from The Hairy Dieters Make It Easy at 228 calories a serving.
They write in the book that it seems quite a fancy dish, not like diet food at all, and that it is one of the quickest suppers they know. The trick is the cut, since pork medallions are low in fat but high in protein.
The crème fraîche goes in last and must never boil. Heat it until the pan is piping hot and stop there, because half-fat crème fraîche splits at a boil and you get a grainy sauce instead of a creamy one.
Hairy Bikers Pork Stroganoff
Description
Onion and mushrooms are browned hard and lifted out before the pork goes in, so the pan stays hot enough to sear. Everything comes back together with paprika and stock, then reduces by half. Crème fraîche finishes this Hairy Bikers pork stroganoff off the boil.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Brown the vegetables: Heat a teaspoon of the oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and mushrooms and fry over a high heat for 5 minutes, until well browned and starting to soften, then move them to a plate.
- Sear the pork: Add the remaining oil to the pan. Season the pork with salt and pepper, add it to the pan and fry quickly, stirring, until browned on all sides.
- Bring it together: Return the onion and mushrooms to the pan. Sprinkle over the paprika and stir, then pour in the stock or water.
- Reduce: Bring to the boil, then simmer until the pork is cooked through and the liquid has reduced by about half.
- Add the crème fraîche: Stir it in and heat until piping hot, without letting it come to the boil.
- Serve: Sprinkle with parsley and serve with a big pile of greens.
FAQs
What are pork medallions?
Neat little slices cut from the pork fillet, which the book explains you can buy ready cut in supermarkets. They are lean, tender and quick to cook.
Pork steaks work too, and the recipe says so. Trim off all the fat and slice them into strips either way, because the pork only gets a few minutes in the pan and thick pieces will still be raw when the sauce is done.
Why brown the vegetables separately?
Because a crowded pan steams instead of browning. Five minutes on a high heat gets real colour on the onion and mushrooms, and that colour is most of the flavour in a dish with only nine ingredients.
Take them out before the pork goes in, so the pan stays hot enough to sear the meat properly. Everything goes back together at the paprika stage.
Why must the crème fraîche not boil?
Because half-fat crème fraîche splits. Full-fat has enough fat to hold together at a boil, but the lower-fat version curdles and leaves you with grainy white flecks in a thin sauce.
Stir it in off a hard boil and heat until piping hot, no further. If it does split, taking it off the heat and beating in a spoonful more crème fraîche sometimes pulls it back.
How does this compare with their other stroganoffs?
There are three, and they are seasoned completely differently. This one uses sweet smoked paprika and nothing else.
Their beef stroganoff drops the paprika entirely for Dijon mustard and a spoonful of brandy, at 400 calories. Their chicken stroganoff uses both mustard and hot paprika at 320. The pork version is the lightest of the three by some way.
What do I serve with it?
The book says a big pile of greens, which keeps the calorie count where it is. Steamed cabbage, broccoli or green beans all work.
Rice or noodles are the traditional partner if you are not counting, though they will add 200 calories or more. Their diet paprika chicken is from the same family of recipes, built on smoked paprika and coming in at 282.
