Pork Tenderloin with Sautéed Korean Pears & Brandy Cream Sauce

It's Korean Pear season, and if you've yet to try this unique variety, now is the time. These pears are special. Thin-skinned, juicy, firm, and fragrant, they are fine for eating out of hand, and perfect for sautéing and serving up with thick, juicy slices of seasoned, roasted pork tenderloin. It is the perfect fall dish, and one that your family will adore.

The pork need not be brined to make this recipe, but brining adds so much flavor, juiciness, and tenderness to the pork, that I urge you to plan ahead and do so.

Pork Tenderloin with Sautéed Korean Pears

& Brandy Cream Sauce

1¼ pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed and brined (see below)

2 tablespoons butter
2 Melissa’s Korean pears,

peeled, halved, cored, cut into 1/3-inch-thick wedges
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon onion powder (NOT onion salt)

¼ teaspoon garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)

2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 cup chopped shallots

1 teaspoon dried thyme

¼ cup brandy
1 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup pear nectar (or chicken stock)

BASIC BRINE:
1 cup cold water
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar (I used light brown)
3 cups ice water

To make the brine: Place the salt and sugar into 1 cup of water and microwave it for 3 minutes until everything is well dissolved. Pour mixture into a large bowl. Add the ice water and cool the mixture to at least 45°F. Submerge the pork tenderloin in the brine. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours. Remove the pork from the brine, pat dry, and wrap in plastic wrap. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pears and sugar; sauté until pears are tender and deep golden, about 15 minutes.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in an oven-safe, large, nonstick skillet over high heat. Season pork tenderloin with pepper, thyme, garlic, and onion powders. Sear on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer pan to oven and roast for 50-60 minutes until internal temperature reaches 150°F on a meat thermometer. Remove to cutting board and cover with foil to “rest” while you make the sauce.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in same skillet, scraping up bits. Add shallots and sauté 2 minutes. Stir in thyme. Add brandy; boil until reduced to half, scraping up any browned bits, about 2 minutes. Add cream and pear nectar; boil until thickened to sauce consistency, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Reheat pears if necessary. Slice tenderloin crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices. Arrange pears around pork. Pour sauce over pork.  

Serves 4.

This post is linked to:

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Tasty Tuesdays

Full Plate Thursday

Foodie Friday

Brandy and Orange-Mashed Sweet Potatoes in Orange Cups

I have newly come to love sweet potatoes.  As a kid I never liked them because they were orange…and potatoes…and that was just wrong.  As an adult I steered clear of them because of those rather frightening looking casseroles studded with miniature marshmallows that, I swear, looked like eyes.  I don’t care for food that looks back at me.  Then I saw Emeril make these sweet potato filled orange cups and had to try them.  Making these has become something of a fall tradition ever since.  I did change up his recipe a bit, adding orange zest and doubling the amount of Brandy (Oh, yeah!). 

Brandy and Orange-Mashed Sweet Potatoes in Orange Cups

Adapted from a recipe by Emeril Lagasse

 To make filling:

7 large Melissa's organic sweet potatoes, about 3 pounds

4 large oranges

1 stick butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup brandy

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/2 teaspoon salt

To make topping:

½ cup brown sugar

½  cup chopped pecans

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until tender, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let rest until just cool enough to handle.

Lower the oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the orange cups by cutting the oranges in half and scooping out the pulp, leaving only the shell. Set aside. I find this amazingly easy to do by using an Electric Citrus Juicer.  If you don’t have one of these, get one.  It is money well spent.  These juicers can absolutely get the very last drop of juice out of any piece of citrus and leave you with an almost pristine shell.

While still somewhat hot, peel the potatoes and place in a large bowl. Discard the skins and tough, stringy fibers. Add the butter, and with an electric mixer, beat out the lumps. Add the sugar, eggs, orange juice, heavy cream, and brandy, and mix until smooth. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, and mix well. Re-season, to taste.

Spoon the sweet potato mixture into the orange cups, mounding and smoothing the top.

Mix together topping ingredients and put a generous dollop on top of each potato.

Bake until puffed and slightly golden, about 20 minutes.

NOTE:  Both mixture and orange cups can be made a day ahead.  Store them in separate containers and refrigerate until ready to use.

This post is linked to:

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

Chocolate Stout Cake

This is an excellent cake, and I'll tell you how I know.  Last week when my youngest son came over to help my husband and me around the house, I made this cake as the dessert for the meal I'd sent home with him for he and his wife to enjoy.  As usually happens when my son comes to visit and he, my husband, and I are all in the kitchen at once, chaos ensues.  As a result, I sent him home with an insipid dinner, why, I still don't know as I'd used a recipe that has long been a family favorite, and a dark, dense, chocolate cake, that was not at all sweet.  It was good, mind you, but just not as sweet as I generally like a cake to be.  Then, thinking back on the day and all of our activity, culinary and otherwise, I didn't recall adding any sugar.  Huh, I thought, how unusual to have a cake with no sugar.  Then I looked at the recipe.  It did call for sugar, 2 cups of it.  I'd forgotten it!  The amazing thing is that even without the sugar it wasn't half bad.

This afternoon we'd invited my parents for dinner and to watch a Cardinal pre-season game.  All week long I was haunted by this chocolate cake, so I decided to make the cake again only this time with the sugar.  It was fantastic!  It is undoubtedly the best chocolate cake I've ever tasted.  Those of you who don't like beer, fear not!  I can't stand beer or ale, or anything that even smacks of beer or ale -- can't even stand the smell of it -- but this is food for the Gods!  No one, not even you, will know it contains ale at all.  It is just rich, and dense, and chocolaty, and delicious.  You'll thank me later.

 CHOCOLATE STOUT CAKE

1 c. Guinness Stout
1 c. (2 sticks) butter
¾ c. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1½ t. baking soda

¾ t. salt
2 extra-large eggs
2/3 c. sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9" x 9" square glass cake pan.  Set aside. Bring stout and butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

 

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to blend; set aside. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs and sour cream until well blended. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 40-45 minutes or until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Transfer to rack to cool. When cool, top with chocolate frosting.  

 CHOCOLATE FROSTING

¾ c. chilled whipping cream

3 T. butter

1½ T. dark corn syrup

9 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

1½ T. Brandy

½ - ¾ c. confectioner's sugar

Bring first 3 ingredients to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low. Add chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat, stir in Brandy. Let stand until cool, whisking occasionally, about 1 hour.  Add confectioners' sugar until desired thickness is achieved.  Spread on cooled cake.

 

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