Okay I’m about to give up one of my favorite recipes. It is so easy and every time I serve this dish I seem to be a bit of a Rock Star with my guests. Think Lady Gaga if she looked like Meat Loaf. LOL!
Keep in mind I’m not great with measurements so you will need to be a little creative. Here we go!
Things you will need:
- 2 good size pork tenderloins
-1 can of canned cherries or 2 cups of fresh pitted cherries – depending on the season and I usually am not all that interested in doing the pitting so I stick with the canned version. It all depends how “Martha” I’m feeling.
- 3 tablespoons of honey – only recommend if you are using the fresh cherries as the canned cherries are pretty sweet but will leave to you to decide if sweeter is better.
- Butcher’s string
- One bag of sliced almonds
- Salt and pepper
- 3 cloves of garlic – peeled and sliced paper thin – if you are not good at the paper-thin slicing method than just keep dicing until little bits.
- Goat cheese
- 1 cup of red wine (1/2 a bottle to enjoy while cooking LOL!)
- Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Slice both tenderloins down the middle just over 3 quarters through the tenderloin. Just be sure you don’t cut them all the way through or you are screwed and might as well switch over to your favorite pulled pork recipe.
In a bowl, combine the goat cheese and garlic and mix up. Be sure to add a little salt and pepper. Just be careful not to salt too much as it is used in several places in the recipe.
Open the tenderloins up on your cutting board, salt and pepper the insides. Distribute the mixture between the two pork tenderloins. Keep the mixture close to the middle of the tenderloins.
Now that the mixture is in the middle of the tenderloins, close them up and be sure not to squeeze the mixture out. Use the butcher’s string to tie the tenderloins closed.
I just tie the string around one end and then wrap the string all the way to the opposite end of the tenderloin, always making sure not to squeeze to tight, and then either tying at the other side or going back down around the tenderloin to the starting position and tying it there. You decide how best to do this for yourself ad I know you are one smart cookie.
In a frying pan, pour in a good bit of olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat the pan up. Once at a good temperature to sear the tenderloins place each one in slowly and be careful not to burn yourself. Brown the meat on both sides and then remove and place each of the tenderloins in a baking dish and put the tenderloins within the dish inside the oven.
In the pan that you seared the pork in. pour in the cherries and wine. If you are using the canned cherries I would only pour in a half of the cherry juice from the can. If you are using the pitted cherries then also add the honey. If you are using the pitted cherries, I would add more than a cup of wine, but I’ll leave that with you to decide.
Add a pinch of salt and pepper and bring the cherries and wine up to a boil . As soon as it is bubbling, bring the temperature down to a simmer. Use a wooden spoon to scrape all those lovely bits of pork off the pan that are left behind from searing the pork. Let the mixture reduce while the pork cooks and you toast the almonds. Be sure to stir often.
The pork should cook for about 45 to 60 minutes depending on the size of the tenderloins. Once they are done, take the pork tenderloins out and cover with aluminum foil for 8 to 10 minutes to rest on the counter.
While the oven is still on, place the almonds on a roasting sheet and toast for a couple of minutes. Keep your eye on them as they can burn easily. Once they are golden brown, remove from the oven and place to the side.
Snip the string off the pork and slice the tenderloins up in to good size pieces and lay each piece on a platter one over the next so they cover about 2/3rds of the piece underneath. Be careful not to disturb the filling.
Once the pork is on the platter, pour over the lovely wine and cherry reduction and sprinkle on the toasted almonds and serve immediately.
Whenever I make this dish I usually make baby potatoes with butter and fresh herbs to go with it. Enjoy!
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