Hello everyone, Jess here.
One foot of snow… Never mind, it’s going to blow past us. Wait a second, we will get some snow…
This past few days of iffy weather forecasts has reminded me of just how tough our farmers have it. Is it time to plant? Will things get covered in snow? How about those freak hailstorms and microbursts? I don’t envy our farmers when it comes to this, and I hope that we all keep this in mind when visiting the farmstand, enjoying our food, and always.
Tonight’s dinner was centered around a Springdell pork tenderloin from a recent Meat Subscription pickup. I thawed it in the fridge for a couple of days, and here we are ready to prep it by trimming some of the fat (really not much to speak of) and the silver skin (which, for those that don’t know, is that thin skin next to the fat that can become tough when cooked).
Tonight’s cooking method calls for an ovenproof skillet. The method of a quick sear and a trip into the oven is a wonderful method, especially if you’re known for overcooking meat (as I am). Since the ovenproof skillet has entered my life, I’ve found overcooking to be a much more difficult thing to do.
It’s pretty easy to remove silver skin by running your knife blade along the edge (feel free to shoot me a message at Dear CSA365 if you have questions about it, or anything else for that matter. I’m happy to help!)
Here is the list of ingredients for tonight’s recipe:
1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and silver skin removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 medium onion, slivered
3 apples (hard and tart apples are best, I used the “cooking apples” from the CSA pickup) Peel apples and slice into segments, save peels to dehydrate into apple peel chips!
1/2 cup of apple cider, chicken stock, or white wine
2 tablespoons of fresh thyme, or 1 tablespoon of thyme herb butter
I pan seared the tenderloin in the olive oil over medium-high heat, about a minute on each side for a total of four-ish minutes.
I love fresh thyme with pork, but since it’s the winter, I’m resorting to my roll of herb butter from the chest freezer. It’s the next best thing!
A little dollop goes a long way! After removing the loin from the pan, watch as I melt the butter how the thyme falls out of it, looking as fresh and green as the day I picked it!
Next, I added a slivered onion from the last CSA pickup.
Just before bringing the pork back into the pan, in went the apples.
I had rubbed the pork loin with dijon mustard, (and debated rubbing it with more thyme butter in lieu of fresh thyme – your choice!) The skillet then went into the oven at 450 degrees, I began checking it after about 10 minutes. This particular loin took 20 minutes in my oven to reach an internal temperature of just under 150, as it continues to cook once out of the stove.
I removed the loin from the pan and mixed in some cider with the apples, onions and thyme, just enough to deglaze the pan over the stovetop for a minute or two.
I sliced it and served it over with the sauce.
The whole tenderloin rested on top of potato pancakes, but that’s another recipe for another day.
There you have it! With the exception of the olive oil and the dijon mustard, it’s completely from the farm and completely delicious! I hope you enjoy this Sunday Dinner as much as we did. Until tomorrow, sweet and savory dreams!