I love pork tenderloin, but I seem to gravitate to the same recipes over and over. Luckily, as I was searching for something new, this recipe popped up from Melissa Clark. Yes, I'm a bit of a fan of her, but this recipe was a mash up of two of my favorite things...braciole and pork tenderloin!
The hardest part of the receipt was the prep. Lots of chopping on this one, so if you don't mind spending some time with the knife, this is the recipe for you!
Ingredients (my inspired version, of course):
- 2 pork tenderloins
- 8 shallots, minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons capers, minced plus a splash of their liquid
- 2 1/2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped
- 2 1/2 tablespoons thyme, chopped, plus a few additional sprigs
- 4 garlic cloves, grated or minced
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Lemon
- Unsalted butter
- Olive oil
- White wine (recipe called for Vermouth, but I was out!)
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees (or heat your grill to about 400 degrees - you will want to cook on indirect heat for most of this). Slice the pork tenderloins lengthwise to butterfly it, but don't cut all of the way through. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Heat a pan on medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the shallots, capers, rosemary, thyme, and some salt and pepper to the pan and let the mixture cook until the shallots start to turn brown. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute, then remove the mixture and let cool.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spread about 3/4 of the cooled mixture over the pork, then fold the thin end up, and tie the pork with kitchen twine. Heat a pan on medium-high heat on the stove top with some canola oil. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the pork and sear it on all sides. Add two tablespoons of unsalted butter and a couple of sprigs of thyme. As the butter is melting, spoon it over the pork, then place the pork in the oven. Let the pork cook until it reaches 145 degrees internal temperature. Remove the pork from the pan and cover. Discard the thyme.
Heat the pan with the cooking juices on the stove on medium-high heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of white wine (I literally pour the wine in the pan and count "1, 2" and that is my 2 tablespoons) and scrape up the browned bits. Add the remaining herb mixture, the orange juice, a splash of the caper liquid, and the chicken stock. Let the mixture thicken, then add butter, salt and pepper to taste, and a squeeze or so of lemon. Taste the pan sauce and add more lemon if the sauce is too sweet.
Remove the kitchen twine from the pork and cut the pork into 2 inch medallions. Spoon the pan sauce over the pork, then serve! I also roasted some potatoes and spring onions with canola oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Add a squeeze of lemon and some olive oil to the potatoes and onions before serving.
And, as you can see, we also enjoyed a bottle of Emily's Cabernet Sauvignon (2013) from the Miner Winery. Love Miner wines!
Enjoy everyone!