Pork Tenderloin with Apple Stuffing

First, let me thank Sook for following my blog!

In my previous post I wrote about this pork tenderloin meal when talking about Cook the Books and the novel by Erica Bauermeister. As promised...here is the recipe!



You'll need the following ingredients.......

1 pork tenderloin (about a pound)
2 tablespoons butter
2 apples (I used Fuji ) cored, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup fresh made bread crumbs, just process some stale French bread
Little bits of marjoram, savory, black pepper and salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Glaze:

4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Directions

Split the tenderloin almost in half and place wax paper over the meat. Pound it down to about a ½ inch thick.

(Note: I couldn’t get it that thin as I don’t have a meat pounder tool thingee and used a metal ice cream scoop. The solid kind, one piece, silver. Bam! Bam! Bam!....Still….it wasn’t a ½ inch thick. This did not have an adverse effect on the taste or appearance ….but made for an interesting job of stuffing and stringing up the meat.)



Melt butter in a pan and add apples and onions, sauté until light brown. About 5 minutes. Now add bread crumbs, marjoram, and savory….toss it all around and mix it up. Remove from heat.



The ooey results are amazing...and it will make you hungry standing over the stove, stirring it together....



Back to the tenderloin – salt and pepper it and then spread the stuffing mix across the meat. Here comes the fun part…and it really was fun …….Roll the tenderloin lengthwise and tie it into a neat package with kitchen string.



(Ok…my tenderloin isn’t as flat as it’s supposed to be so I am jamming the stuffing into the various slits in the meat. I roped the string around and stuffing fell out each time I tried to bring the sides of the meat together. Never mind rolling it …that was not gonna happen.

From on onlooker’s point of view, I imagined it looked like I was trying to hog-tie a weasel as I was bent over the tenderloin, flaps coming loose, apple and bread spilling and spreading across the work surface, shibas pressed against my legs, snouts pointed upwards in hopes a scrap would roll off or get close enough to the edge. )



See thisphoto below? I actually was able to lasso this piece of meat and tie it properly.......but I could not get a photo of it as it was happening. Comical actually. So here is a snap of my early "efforts" before I tamed it. With string.



Reheat the pan and add olive oil. Place your neatly tied tenderloin (snort) into the hot oil and brown on all sides.
Place in a baking dish and heat oven to 375 F ( 190 C) while you make a glaze ………….

GLAZE: Whisk all four ingredients together and pour over the tenderloin. Bake for 45 minutes, baste occasionally with the glaze.

Here it is out of the oven .........the aroma was incredible!






I am so happy I read The School of Essential Ingredients as that is what led me to try this dish. Love it!