Tender pork steak with pesto pasta & roasted vegetables – the tasty way to get your five a day!
Healthy, delicious and cheap, at only 76p per serving.
OK, so maybe this pork steak recipe doesn’t contain all of your 5-a-day, but three out of five ain’t bad! Plus, the pasta & veg combo is perfect for meal prep (see this glorious example of a packed lunch box). Although, to be fair, it really is more of a vessel for those mouthwatering rosemary & thyme coated pork steaks!
This dish isn’t the quickest recipe on my site (see here for those!) but, honestly, most of the prep time is taken up with removing the skin and chopping up the awkward butternut squash. If you do want a faster prep time, you can buy packs of it ready-prepared in chunks. But that does obviously cost a bit more, and your girl here is all about saving money over saving time!
We first had this dish in a Gousto box and could not get enough of it then, cooking it several more times after. It’s a yummy one for dinner but I love how well it works cold as a packed lunch recipe. It’s really good with orzo, as per the original dish, but I’ve found that sometimes orzo is expensive — or you can’t find it in the supermarket — so I’ve substituted it for the kind of tiny pasta you normally get in hearty winter soups, which works just as well.
Would highly recommend Gousto if you’re looking to try one of those recipe box companies, by the way — they’ve got such a huge selection of recipes to choose from every week and they’re almost always delicious! Susie Verrill sums them up really well in this post if you want to read more.
Click here for the full recipe.
Herby Pork Steak & Pesto Smothered Veg
Ingredients
- 3 pork loin steaks ~300g
- 300 g courgette cut into rough chunks
- 200 g butternut squash skinned & cut into rough chunks
- 200 g red pepper cut into rough chunks
- 2 large red onions cut into eights
- 10 g fresh thyme finely chopped
- 10 g fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 200 g pasta (the tiny kind used in soups) or orzo
- 60 g pesto (4 tablespoons)
- 45 ml balsamic vinegar (3 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon oil olive oil is best but anything works
- salt & pepper for seasoning
Instructions
Marinade the meat:
- Cover both sides of the pork steaks in the chopped herbs, drizzle with half the oil, and season with salt & pepper
- Leave these to marinade while you prepare the rest of the ingredients
Prepare and roast the vegetables:
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C while you're chopping the veg
- Combine all the veg in a roasting dish with the balsamic vinegar, remaining oil, and salt & pepper before roasting for 25–30 mins (turn everything over a few times during cooking)
Cook the pasta & the pork steaks
- While the veggies are roasting, boil a kettle and cook the pasta/orzo according to the packet instructions
- When done, drain and set aside
- Put a frying pan on a high heat and, once hot, add the pork steaks (no need to use oil as the pork is already coated in it)
- Cook the pork for about 3 minutes per side until golden & cooked through
Finish the dish
- Mix the cooked pasta into the roasted veg with the pesto and season
- Slice the pork and serve on a bed of roasted veggie, pesto pasta
