Seared Pork Loin Steak with Chimichurri Sauce and Sweet Potato Chips

Pork steak with vegetables

Packed with bold flavours, perfect for a weekend supper

Mark Stower, Director of Food and Service

  • Preparation time: 20 mins & overnight marination
  • Cooking time: 35 mins
  • Serves: 45 mins

Method

Step 1

Place the parsley, garlic, chilli, oil and vinegar into a food processor and blend to form the chimichurri sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 2

Take half of the sauce and rub into the steaks. Cover and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

Step 3

Cut the sweet potatoes into wedges or chips, leaving the skins on.

Step 4

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and place on a roasting tray with the tenderstem broccoli. Splash some olive oil on them, season with salt and pepper, and roast in the oven at 170°C for 15 minutes.

Step 5

Heat a griddle plate and place the steaks on it until cooked through completely. Alternatively, you can cook them on a barbecue.

Step 6

Deep fry the sweet potato wedges as you would regular chips.

Step 7

Place each pork loin steak on a plate and top with one tenderstem broccoli and some tomatoes. Serve the remaining chimichurri sauce on the side. Add the sweet potato wedges and serve with a green salad.

Nutrition

Sweet potatoes are only very distantly related to potatoes. They are part of the Convolvulaceae (Convolvulus) family of plants, like the flower morning glory, and grow as the starchy tubers of low growing, vine-like plants.

They are believed to have originated in South and Central America, and there is evidence that they were used as a food source thousands of years ago. It is believed that they were later taken to the Pacific islands, becoming an important part of the cuisine of the region, including Japan and the Philippines, and of the Maoris in New Zealand.

Although we tend to mainly import the types of sweet potato with orange flesh into the UK, there are many different varieties grown, including the purplish-red ones with a creamier coloured flesh (Kumara), which are imported from New Zealand and are slightly starchier and less sweet.

Sweet potatoes are particularly rich in carotenes, including beta carotene, which our bodies convert into vitamin A—important for normal vision. They are classified as a vegetable, so an 80 gram serving, however it is cooked, would count as one of your 5 a day.

Dr Juliet Gray, Company Nutritionist