I recently took park in a food challenge run by Tesco with five other bloggers. The task was to come up with a summer inspired dish using a choice of meats and to keep the budget under €20. You can find the full details of the challenge here I chose pork as my meat of choice and made roast pork steak stuffed with spinach, pine nuts and apricot served on a salad of mixed leaves, chick peas, red onion and pepper. While it may be a budget conscious cut, its rich in flavour and versatility. It can be served hot or cold and the choice of stuffing altered to suit your tastes. It pairs perfectly with a salad for a simple yet elegant Summer dish.

Prep time:      10 minutes                  Cook time:      30/35 minutes             Serves: 2/3

Ingredients:

500g pork steak

45g Apricots (dried)

60g Spinach

½ Red onion

½ Orange pepper (or colour of your choice)

50g Chickpeas (rinsed and drained)

1 tablespoon of cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Salt/Pepper

Mixed lettuce leaves/ rocket/ watercress (whichever you prefer)

Steps for Pork Steak:

1. Slice the pork steak length-ways to open it, carefully not to cut all the way through.
2. Trim off any excess fat and use a mallet/rolling pin to flatten it out.
3. Rub a small amount of olive oil onto it.
4. Dice the apricot pieces and roughly chop the pine nuts.
5. Wilt the spinach for 1-2 minutes in a pan of boiling water.
6. Now line the pork steak with the spinach and then add the apricots and pine nuts and salt and pepper to season.
7. Roll the pork up and secure each end with a cocktail stick.
8. Season with salt and pepper, place on a baking tray in the oven at 180 degrees (fan assisted) for 15 minutes. Turn the pork over and bake for a further 15 minutes.

Steps for Salad & Dressing: While the pork is cooking you can assemble your salad.

1. Lay your mixed leaves on the plate.
2. Thinly slice the red onion and pepper and add to the mixed leaves.
3. Heat the chickpeas for 2 minute in the microwave, rinse and drain and add to your salad.
4. Mix the cider vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper and drizzle over the salad.

Once your meat is cook through, allow it to rest, slice, add to your salad and enjoy.