Pork Tenderloin And Apples

If I were cooking supper for us tonight, it might be this recipe. Instead I'm cooking for the kids at church. But I'll share this recipe I made last week.

I didn't feel like cooking. Sinus headache. It's that time of year. But we did need to eat. I had printed this recipe out a few days earlier. I had already bought the pork tenderloin. I had everything else here. The recipe came from the Mayo Clinic website. I found it when looking for a low-sodium recipe. I am thinking this might a good meal to share, but I wanted to try it out before I took it to anyone. This was simple enough, even for a night when I didn't want to cook.

If your chopping skills are good, this is really quick to put together. I chopped one large onion and one large apple and minced a little fresh rosemary. That was the hard part. The tenderloin is just browned and popped in the oven.

Let me give you a tip—if you buy a package with two tenderloins in it (that's how ours usually comes) cook the smaller one.  I cooked the larger one and it wasn't done in 15 minutes. Ten minutes more in the oven and it still had not quite reached the proper temp. So I sliced it diagonally and put it back in the oven for another minute or two. Slicing it let the internal temperature reach 160 degrees in a hurry.  (In case you were wondering, I made pulled pork from the other tenderloin from that pack.)

Next time we might just cook it on the grill. Our grill is one step out of the kitchen door, so for us that's as easy as the oven. Either way is fine. The flavor all comes from the sauce.

The sauce was delicious--apples, onions, rosemary, balsamic vinegar. All things I like. Smelled so yummy as it cooked. Daddy-O isn't a huge fan of rosemary. I love it. Another time I might split the difference and use it, but not put quite as much as the recipe calls for. We will do this again for sure. I think the next time I need to take a meal, I will make this—now that I know this is good enough to share.

PORK TENDERLOIN with APPLES AND BALSAMIC VINEGAR

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound pork tenderloin*
freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped apple
1-1/2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly coat a heavy baking pan with PAM.

Heat olive oil over high heat in skillet. Sprinkle pork with black pepper. Brown in oil on all sides, about 3 minutes. Remove from skillet and place in baking pan. Roast the pork for about 15 minutes, until a meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees. (That's for medium.)

While pork is in the oven, add onion, apple and rosemary to the skillet. Saute over medium heat until the onions and apples are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in broth and vinegar. Increase heat and cook about 5 mintues, until sauce is reduced.

To serve, slice pork on the diagonal and place on a platter. Spoon sauce over top.


*If your tenderloin is larger, allow extra time for cooking. There is plenty of sauce.