Garlic Butter Pork Bites with Lemon Green Beans

Garlic Butter Pork Bites with Lemon Green Beans is a savoury, quick-cook dish featuring tender, seared pork bites in a rich garlic butter sauce, served alongside crisp green beans tossed with fresh lemon for a bright, flavourful finish.

Ingredients

Total Time: 30 minutes

4 Servings

Ingredients:

650 g pork chops, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 tablespoon cajun seasoning mix (preferably low sodium)

]2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable broth

Juice of 1/2 lemon

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

450g green beans, trimmed and blanched (if thin, no need to blanch the green beans)

Red chilli pepper flakes, optional

Fresh chopped parsley, for the garnish

Lemon slices, for the garnish

Instructions

Method:

1. To make the garlic butter pork cubes: On a shallow plate, sprinkle pork bites with cajun seasoning and toss to coat well. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a skillet or pan over medium-high heat until hot.

2. Sear the pork bites in batches for 2-3 minutes on each side until the edges are crispy and browned, adding extra oil as needed. Remove the browned pork bites from the skillet and set aside.

3. Reduce heat to medium. Add butter to the skillet and heat until melted. Sauté the chopped garlic until fragrant (about 30 seconds), while scraping up any browned bits from the pan. Deglaze with lemon juice and vegetable broth.

4. Throw blanched green beans into the pan and toss in the lemon butter sauce to coat well. Cook green beans for 3-4 minutes, turning regularly using tongs.

5. Push cooked green beans on the side and return the pork bites into the pan. Toss pork bites through the garlic butter sauce to evenly coat. Serve the garlic butter pork bites and lemon green beans with lemon slices, sprinkled with fresh parsley and red chilli pepper flakes if you like. Enjoy!

Tips:

If you need to blanch green beans, cook them in boiling water for 2 or 3 minutes, then drain and soak in ice-cold water to stop the cooking process and keep the nice green color of the vegetable. You can also nuke them in the microwave for 7 minutes, covered, with 1/4 cup water.

Sear the pork bites letting them undisturbed for a while so they develop these nice golden edges and lock in moisture. If you keep stirring, they won’t brown properly and will render a lot of water.