I served this meal during the Holidays and took some images for later because I was too busy. But here it is. Pork tenderloin with Mushroom and Figs red wine sauce. I served mine with thyme herbed small potatoes and tomatoes in a red wine vinaigrette. Serve this recipe with a glass of "Hess cabernet sauvignon", and, believe me, you will thank me!
I work on this recipe to make it cleaner than usual by cutting on the fat and exchanging most of the butter for olive oil, everything is organic, I served it with potatoes, but you can exchange the potatoes for a green like Arugula and you will cut more calories and still will be delicious!
Remember Thyme is a wine-loving herb, so adding thyme to the meat and potatoes make the notes on the pinot stand out. The holidays are gone and I am not drinking alcohol until next Holiday celebration, but anyone who is having a romantic or special dinner at home can use this recipe, enjoy!
Ingredients
1 cup boiling low-sodium organic chicken broth or just water 3 Tbsp olive oil 2 Tbsp unsalted real butter ½-lb. shiitake mushrooms wiped clean and sliced sea salt freshly ground black pepper 1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and silver skin, about 1-½ lbs. 1 large shallot, finely chopped 1 cup red wine (I used the same I paired with, "Hess select Cabernet sauvignon" ) 4 figs, stemmed and finely chopped 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme In a large skillet, heat a 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Season pork on all sides with salt and pepper. Add it to pan and sear, turning it to brown on all sides, 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until medium-rare and internal temperature is 145-150 degrees F, 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a warmed platter and loosely cover with foil. Heat a half tablespoon olive oil and half tablespoon of butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until they release their juices and are tender and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat and set aside. Heat remaining half tablespoon olive oil and half tablespoon of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add shallot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add wine, chopped figs, bring to a boil and reduce by half. Add wine reduction to skillet used to cook pork. Bring to a boil, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to remove any brown bits. Stir in thyme. Remove pan from heat and swirl in the remaining tablespoon butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Cut pork into 1/2-inch thick pieces. Briefly, return pan with mushrooms to heat to warm. Spoon fig and mushroom sauce on top of each portion. Serve with Thyme small potatoes and tomatoes with red wine vinaigrette and arugula.
PS. For the small thyme herbed potatoes, after boiling the potatoes I saute them on a hot pan with Thyme and one tablespoon of olive oil. You can use your own recipe or just leave them out and just enjoy the salad with the Pork.
This is my recipe for red vinaigrette :
Light red wine dressing
1/2 cup red wine vinegar 3 tablespoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons honey 2 teaspoons salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 cup olive oil
In a small bowl or glass jar, add all the ingredients except the olive oil. Mix well, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.
