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Smoked Tomato Soup with Poached Pork and Basil Mousse
Recipe by Shannon Bennett
- Steps
- Ingredients
Ingredients
Pork
Poached Pork Loin Sausage
Smoked Tomato Sauce
Crispy Basil
Garnish
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Steps
- Pre-heat oven to 180C. Fill and pre-heat a water bath to 90C. Pre-heat an hibachi grill or barbecue.
- For the Pork, remove the cap from the piece of pork loin and place into a deep roasting dish. Season with salt and roast in the oven until the fat has rendered and become liquid, about 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside until ready to serve.
- Meanwhile, use a sharp knife to cut out the loin from the piece of pork. Trim the pork loin to neaten into a perfectly round cylinder, reserving the trimmings in a bowl for the Poached Pork Loin Sausage. Cut the cylinder into 4 x 200g even portions, place onto a plate and cover then set aside in the fridge until needed for the Poached Pork Loin Sausage.
- For the Poached Pork Loin Sausage, place a medium saucepan of water over high heat and bring to the boil. Prepare an ice bath and set aside.
- Once the water is boiling, add the basil leaves and blanch until vibrant green, about 30 seconds then remove the leaves and plunge into the ice bath.
- Drain the basil leaves and pat dry with paper towel. Place the leaves into a stick blender canister and purée using a stick blender until smooth and deep green in colour. Set aside until needed.
- Place the reserved pork trimmings into a Thermomix and season with salt. Blitz on speed 10 until smooth. Add the egg and blitz until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the Thermomix jug, then add the cream and blitz on speed 10 until smooth.
- Add the basil purée and blitz, scraping down the sides of the Thermomix jug at intervals, until a smooth mousse texture is achieved. Adjust the basil mousse mixture with a little more cream to loosen if required.
- Place a 30cm sheet of cling film onto a clean work surface. Place a portion of the trimmed pork loin into the centre of the cling film. Place 2 tablespoons of the basil mousse onto the loin and use the back of a spoon to spread the basil mousse to each end of the loin. Wrap the cling film around the pork tightly to make a sausage then tie the ends to secure. Repeat this process with the remaining 3 pieces of pork loin.
- Place the wrapped pork loins into the pre-heated water bath and poach until just cooked through, about 13-15 minutes. Remove from the water bath and set aside in the cling film to rest for 10 minutes.
- Unwrap the rested poached pork loin sausages and trim the ends to neaten. Cut each into 4 medallions and set aside until needed.
- Meanwhile, for the Smoked Tomato Sauce, place the tomatoes and grapes onto the hibachi grill or barbeque and cook until the skins blacken and begin to blister.
- Meanwhile, place the vinegar and sugar into a small saucepan over high heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside until needed.
- Once the tomatoes and grapes are blackened, remove from the heat and season well with salt and pepper. Set aside 16 charred golden perino cherry tomatoes until ready to serve.
- Place the remaining charred tomatoes and grapes into a Vitamix. Add the sugar and vinegar liquid and blend on high until smooth.
- Gradually add the oil and continue to blend until emulsified. Season with salt to taste. Adjust the seasoning with a little more vinegar if required. Set aside until ready to serve.
- For the Crispy Basil, place the oil into a small saucepan over medium heat to 180C.
- Pat the basil leaves dry in paper towel to remove any excess moisture. Working in batches, add the basil leaves to the hot oil and fry until vibrant green and crisp, about 20-30 seconds. Remove from the oil and set aside on paper towel to drain until ready to serve.
- Peel the reserved charred golden perino tomatoes and set aside a plate until ready to serve.
- To serve, divide the Smoked Tomato Sauce between the shallow serving bowls. Add 4 medallions of the Pork to each bowl. Top each medallion of Pork with a leaf of Crispy Basil and some fresh basil leaves. Add 4 peeled charred golden perino tomatoes to each bowl. Finish each medallion with a drizzle of the reserved rendered pork fat.
