Pork Tenderloin with Seasonal Dried Fruit
Ingredients
- 4 pork tenderloins
- Salt and pepper
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 10 shallots, minced (seems like a lot, but it is worth it!)
- 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
- 1 medium yellow onion, minced
- Dried Fruit Sauce (recipe below)
- ½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Preparation
Make the Dried Fruit Sauce (can be made in advance, see recipe below). When you’re ready to make the tenderloins, be sure to remove from refrigerator and the package at least 30 minutes before cooking. Wipe tenderloins with paper towels to make certain they are dry before seasoning and browning.
Salt and pepper all sides of the tenderloins generously. Heat a large cast iron pan/skillet or a similar ovenproof pan and add the olive oil. Add the pork tenderloins, two at a time, depending on the size of your pan. (Make sure you have enough room in the pan to cook the tenderloins without them touching each other. If you cook your tenderloins too close to each other, they will steam and not brown, leaving you a grey colored piece of meat. You want a nice brown crust on the outside of each of the tenderloins.) Turn the pork and cook all of the sides, approximately 3-5 minutes total, just until they are browned. Remove the pork tenderloins to a plate and tent loosely with foil.
In the same pan, add the minced shallots and onions and cook until they are tender, but not brown. Add the garlic. (If you add the garlic too early, you may brown or burn it, causing it to taste bitter. If you add it at the end of the cooking cycle of the onions and shallots, the garlic will be sweet.)
Return the tenderloins to the pan with the onions, shallots, and garlic. Place the skillet/pan in the oven and roast the tenderloins with onions, shallots, and garlic for approximately 5 minutes more, or until the pork tenderloins register 140 degrees F° on a meat thermometer. (To properly measure the temperature of the pork, stick the thermometer in the end of the pork, like a hot dog on a stick, making sure the tip of the thermometer is in the thickest part of the meat.) Remove them from the oven and place the pork on a cutting board, tenting the pork loosely with foil.
Return the hot skillet with onions, shallots and garlic to the stovetop. Add reserved Dried Fruit Sauce. Heat to boiling point and scrape the bottom of the pan/skillet, making sure you capture all the browned delicious bits.
Remove the pan from the stove top. Add finishing sauce ingredients of butter and balsamic vinegar, just to combine. Keep the sauce warm while you slice the pork tenderloin.
Cut the pork tenderloin into ¼-inch to ½-inch slices against the grain and on a diagonal, by tilting your knife to one side or the other. Fan the sliced pork inside the oval platter. Spoon the Dried Fruit Sauce over the pork and place the remaining sauce in a bowl or gravy boat on the table for your guests.
Pour Merry Edwards Klopp Ranch Pinot Noir and enjoy a wonderful evening with delicious food, wonderful friends and fabulous wines!
Dried Fruit Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup dried pears, cut into ½-inch pieces
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup dried apricots, cut into ½-inch pieces
- ½ cup dark raisins
- 2 cups Merry Edwards Pinot Noir
- 5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 5 tablespoons brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 3 cups chicken stock
Preparation
Measure all the fruit into a nonreactive medium saucepan. You will be cooking these ingredients with others in this pan the next day. Add 2 cups of one of Merry’s award-winning Pinot Noir wines. (A sacrifice, but worth it!) Let dried fruit soak in the wine for 8 hours or overnight.
After soaking dried fruit, add the vinegar and sugar to the pan of dried fruit and wine. Cook on high heat until the liquid is reduced to ¼ cup. Some fruit may plump and burst; other fruit may take on the color of the wine; this is all OK. Add chicken stock and boil until the mixture reduces to half. Set this aside to use after you cook the pork tenderloins.
