Michele Rodriguez-Wise is a creative and innovative designer by trade whose passion for food, family and design all stem from her warm Spanish heritage. Having grown up with creative parents, Michele has experienced different cultures and worlds and applied all of those to her exquisite repertoire of dishes.
Michele’s passion for food, wine, hotels and restaurants is something she grew up with. Her parents came from the hotel and restaurant industry, running their own restaurant for over 30 years in Valencia, Spain where her elderly mother still lives today.
More recently, Michele appeared on Series 17 of MasterChef where she battled the competition to make it to the quarter finals. Her dishes were loved by many, with TV personality Greg Wallace stating “It’s a very brave thing to do, and in that I’m quite impressed” following Michele’s first ever attempt at a Thai curry without using curry paste.
Montadito is a mounted tapa, generally on bread.
See also: Michele Rodriguez-Wise’s Potatoes with Spicy Chorizo, Red Pepper & Tomato
Ingredients
• 1 Whole pork fillet, 1 cm slices. 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 Large French Baguette
• 12 Padron Peppers
• 2 Cloves of garlic crushed
• 300 gms Manchego Cheese or Mature Cheddar (grated or thinly sliced)
• Salt & Pepper
• Pimenton Dulce (Spanish Sweet Paprika) for Garnish
Method
- Take off any white sinew from fillet and slice into 1 cm slices. Sprinkle sliced pork with salt and little black pepper.
- In a medium non-stick frying pan, heat oil to medium to high heat. Add pork slices, you may need to do this in two batches.
- Fry pork on medium heat until browned nicely, turning frequently for approximately 3 – 4mins.
- Turn heat down and add garlic and stir until light golden brown. Leave pork to rest in pan.
- Add tablespoon of oil to a separate frying pan bring to medium to high heat and add patron peppers, fry for approximately two minutes turning constantly. The skin will turn opaque/ brown, this shows they are ready. Remove from pan with slotted spoon onto piece of kitchen roll.
- Slice baguette into 1/2cm slices. Gently toast either on griddle or grill until lightly golden.
- Bring grill up to medium heat, arrange toasted bread onto grill or oven tray. On top of the toasted bread add slice of pork fillet, then cheese on top of pork. Pop under grill until cheese has melted / gently bubbling.
- Quickly remove from grill pan and arrange on long serving dish or large round dish. Add one patron pepper on top and secure with cocktail stick.
- Lightly sprinkle Pimenton over Montaditos and dish.
