This recipe began with a pear and a jar of olives. I can’t tell you what put the idea in my head, but considering the two ingredients, I just thought….those kids should get together.
Like any good matchmaker, I started to think about the how and the where. A salad? Too superficial. A relish? Maybe, but for what? Eventually I had a pear and olive topping that I spooned over a grilled pork tenderloin, but it just didn’t wow me. When the topping became a stuffing, I felt like I was getting somewhere; and when the stuffing made possible the most epic pan sauce, I knew I had a winner.
A pan sauce is a magical thing, even in its simplest iteration: the basic concept being that if you pan-sear a piece of meat, there is so much flavor in the browned bits left over in the bottom of the pan (the culinary term for this is the “fond”) that you can make a gravy with it. In this recipe, there are olives and pears and garlic and herbs toasting in this pan before the meat even touches it. Suffice it to say: this is a super fond. And I’m super fond of it.
Pork tenderloin is an affordable, versatile protein that lends itself to almost any flavor profile. It’s small and it cooks fast, so it’s great for a weeknight dinner for two, and that’s why it’s on the menu a lot at my house – but a dish like this kind of screams dinner party. This cut doesn’t come much bigger than a pound, so if you want to feed a group, just get a few of them. The rest of the recipe can be doubled or tripled.
EQUIPMENT: Large Pan, Cutting Board, Knife, Plastic Wrap, Meat Tenderizer or other heavy utensil, Food Processor, Toothpicks or Twine, Sheet Pan, Whisk
FEATURED IN: Episode 10: Pears
Olive and Pear Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 1 lb to 1.5 lb Pork Tenderloin
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1/3 cup Breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp chopped Herbs (any combination of Sage, Rosemary, Parsley, or Thyme)
- 1 clove Garlic, minced
- 1 cup Anjou Pear, diced
- 2 tbsp Kalamata Olives, diced
- Lemon Juice
- 1 tbsp Flour
- up to 2 tbsp Butter
- 1 cup Chicken Stock
- up to 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Step 2 Butterfly your pork tenderloin and pound it flat using a meat tenderizer or other heavy utensil. Season on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Step 3 In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil, garlic, and herbs until fragrant. Then add the breadcrumbs and season with salt and pepper. Toast until lightly browned.
- Step 4 Add the olives and pears and sauté 3-5 minutes until the pears soften and shrink slightly.
- Step 5 Transfer the whole mixture to the food processor and pulse to a coarse paste, similar in consistency to a tapenade.
- Step 6 Spread in a thin layer all over the pork, hit it with a squeeze of lemon juice, and roll up the pork lengthwise. Secure with toothpicks or twine.
- Step 7 Heat another tablespoon in a large skillet over medium high heat. Sear the pork on each side for 3-5 minutes until nicely browned (seam side down first).
- Step 8 Transfer to a sheet pan and roast until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees, approximately 30-35 minutes.
- Step 9 While the pork is roasting, make a pan sauce using the fond at the bottom of the pan you seared the pork in. Turn the heat to medium, and add a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon of butter. Whisk together to make a roux, then add the stock slowly, whisking to incorporate and scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Finish with a dash of apple cider vinegar (about a quarter cup) and another tablespoon of butter.
- Step 10 When the pork is done, let it rest for 3-5 minutes before slicing into medallions. Serve with the sauce on the side or underneath.
