Roasted Pork Saltimbocca with Sarladaise Potatoes & Buttered Spinach

 Saltimbocca (Italian for ‘jump in the mouth’) is a classic Roman dish and is usually made with veal cutlets. Sarladaise potatoes (also called Sarlat pommes de terre) is from the Southwest of France and is named after the city of Sarlat.  This recipe is from Chef Sean Armstrong which was featured in The Foodtown magazine.  His dish is not too difficult and is great to share with family and friends.  Pork is an excellent source of protein, vitamin B2, B12 as well as a good source of riboflavin.

Serves 4
adapted from The Foodtown magazine

Saladaise:
3 large potatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons each: chopped thyme, duck fat or olive oil
3 anchovies, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Saltimbocca:
3 small pork fillets (tenderloin)
15-18 slices prosciutto
18 sage leaves
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
freshly ground black pepper

Buttered Spinach:
25g butter
260g baby spinach leaves

Preheat oven to 200c (400f). Thinly slice the potatoes preferably using a mandoline. Mix the garlic, thyme, duck fat and anchovies. Layer the potato slices in a frying pan that has been greased with duck fat or olive oil. Spread the garlic mixture evenly between the layers of potato. The layers should come half way up the side of the pan. Bake until golden brown and crispy, about 25 minutes.

For the saltimbocca, place 6 slices of prosciutto side by side, just overlapping each other, on a large piece of plastic film. Place a pork fillet across the prosciutto, then add the sage leaves and lemon zest. Repeat with the remaining fillets. Roll the pork fillets and prosciutto in plastic film and refrigerate. Just before the potatoes are cooked, remove pork from fridge. Remove plastic film and season. Seal in a large frying pan on medium heat until lightly browned. Finish in the oven at 200c (400f) for about 10 – 12 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for at least 10 minutes.

To prepare the spinach, melt butter in a pan and then add spinach. Cook until just soft. Remove pan from heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm until ready to serve. Place some spinach and potato on each plate. Slice each pork fillet on an angle.  Lay pieces of pork on top of the potato and serve.

The Culinary Chase’s Note:  I bought a rather large piece of pork fillet (no little ones to be found the day I went food shopping) and adjusted the cooking time from 12 minutes to 17 minutes. If you’re not a fan of pork or veal, you could also use chicken. If you don’t have oven-proof pans, cover the handles with tin foil.  Don’t worry if the potatoes don’t brown up on the top as the bottom will.  When it comes time to serve the potatoes, remove a chunk and flip over onto the plate such that the browned side shows.  Lovely, earthy flavors from this dish! Bon appétit!

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