Mustard Pork Tenderloin with Apples & Warm Lentils

Ingredients

• 650 g pork tenderloin
• 4 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 x 250g pouches cooked puy lentils
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 80 g spinach
• 1 shallot, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 eating apples, cored and cut into wedges
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 15 g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 leek, finely sliced

Method

1. Rub the pork with the Dijon, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the thyme leaves, and a generous hit of salt and black pepper; season it properly now, the crust depends on it. Leave it on the board while you get a heavy stainless or cast-iron pan ripping hot. Pat the surface dry just before it goes in.
2. Sear the pork over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes, turning every couple of minutes so every face takes colour; you're after deep mahogany, not pale tan. It's done when a probe reads 75°C for 30 seconds in the centre; the temperature carries up to 75°C for 30 seconds as it rests. Lift it onto a board and rest for 5 minutes.
3. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the same pan over medium heat and lay the apple wedges in a single layer. Crowd them and they steam; spread them out and they catch gold at the edges in 3 to 4 minutes. You want them browned but still holding their shape.
4. Drop in the shallot and leek and cook for 2 minutes until silky, then add the sliced garlic. Add the garlic for the final 30 seconds of this stage.
5. Stir in the lentils, the wholegrain mustard and the apple cider vinegar with a splash of water. Scrape up the fond from the base of the pan. Warm everything through for a minute until glossy.
6. Fold the spinach through and let it wilt into the lentils. The pan should look loose and juicy, not dry; the lentils keep drinking as they sit, so err generous with the water. Taste now: season, taste again, adjust.
7. Slice the rested pork into thick medallions and tip any juices from the board back into the lentils; that's pure savoury depth, don't waste it.