Thai Paste:
4 ounces (3/4 cup) unsalted raw cashews
1-ounce peeled, fresh ginger
1/2 cup plum wine
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
6 garlic cloves
1 chile pepper, jalapeno or red serrano, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons turmeric
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Salad:
1 or 2 papayas or mangoes (12 ounces each), peeled, seeded, and diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 jalapeno pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped fine
2 limes, juiced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
Salt
Freshly ground white pepper
4 radicchio leaves
1 1/2 pounds pork loin, cut into 4 (6-ounce) medallions
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1/2 cup port
1 cup veal stock
Lime juice
For the Thai Paste: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the cashews on a baking tray and roast until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool.
In a small pan, cook the ginger in the plum wine until the wine evaporates. With a mortar and pestle or in a blender, puree all of the Thai Paste ingredients. Reserve.
For the Salad: In a medium bowl, combine the papaya, onion, cilantro, and jalapeno. In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, vinegar, and honey. At serving time, toss the dressing with the salad and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees F. Season the pork medallions with salt and pepper and flatten slightly with a cleaver or a heavy plate. In an ovenproof skillet, heat the peanut oil. Over high heat, brown both sides of the medallions. Transfer to the oven and roast until medium rare, about 15 minutes. Remove the medallions to a plate and keep warm.
Pour the grease from the skillet and deglaze the pan with port. Pour in the stock and cook over high heat until the sauce thickens slightly. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the Thai paste and season, to taste, with salt, pepper, and lime juice. Keep warm.
Cut each medallion into slices. Pour a little sauce into the center of 4 warmed plates and arrange slices of the pork on 1 side of the sauce. Mound a little salad in each radicchio leaf, set alongside the slices of pork, and garnish with a few cilantro leaves.
![]("/food/images/spacers/spacer.gif"){kind=spacer}
