Saturday, February 12, 2011

Pork Tenderloin with Cranberries and Rosemary

Simple Saturday Supper of Roasted Pork Tenderloin Marinated in Wine with Cranberry and Rosemary.


Start with the marinade...

1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup cranberry juice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 or 3 minced garlic cloves
2 or 3 Tbsp minced fresh rosemary
2 or 3 thinly sliced shallots



Mix the ingredients together for the marinade.  If I'm making the marinade in the morning, I add the shallots.  If I'm only going to marinade for a couple of hours, I cook the shallots when I'm browning the meat so don't add them.  You put 2 lbs of pork tenderloin (either one large or two smaller ones) in the marinade in the fridge.  This recipe will serve 4.  You can make some substitutions - dried rosemary (2 to 3 tsps) for fresh, dried cherries or blueberries instead of cranberries, onion instead of  shallots but make very sure you buy juice and not cocktail.   The cocktail is full of sugar and your sauce will burn terribly.  Today I used cranberry/raspberry juice and dried cherries.



With this dinner, I served mushroom rice and grilled asparagus.  The rice can be cooked earlier (even the night before) and then start dinner about 45 minutes before you want to eat.  Turn the oven to 375 degrees to preheat.

Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in metal oven-proof fry pan.  Brown the pork tenderloin on all sides and add the shallots to the pan to fry if you didn't put them in the marinade.


When the meat is browned on all sides, pour the marinade over it and bring it to a boil.  Then turn off the heat and put pan in oven (no lid).  Set the timer for 10 minutes.

Start the veg - slice 6 mushrooms and saute in a pan in a tsp of olive oil.  Slice 2 green onions and set aside. Wash the asparagus and slice the tough bottom portion off.  Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.



Your timer is probably going off right now so take the pan out of oven and turn the tenderloin over and put back in the oven for another 15 minutes.  Add the rice and green onions and about a Tbsp of soy sauce to the mushrooms.  Give it a stir and cook til it is warm and then keep it warm til serving.



Warm a grill pan or your George Foreman grill (you are going to see this  a lot - got it  for Christmas and I love it!).  Put the asparagus on the grill and cook.  It'll take about 10 minutes.


Your timer is going off again.  Take the pan out of the oven.  Let the tenderloin rest on the cutting board. Put the pan with the marinade on the stove top on high and bring the sauce to a boil.  Cook until it reduces by more than half and thickens. This takes about 5 minutes.


Once the sauce is thickened, your asparagus should be ready.  Slice the tenderloin.  Now plate your rice, asparagus with a sprinkle of fresh Parmesan cheese, and slices of tenderloin with sauce spooned over it.  Enjoy!

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