Friday, April 1, 2011

Pork Tenderloin With Blueberry Balsamic Ginger Sauce

You will be amazed by the flavors in this unique dish!


I always think my ideas are original, but, then there's the internet. Sometimes I don't want to look. I want to believe I'm unique. Well, there are a lot of creative people out there and it's wonderful to learn from them. 

Thinking this would be an average dinner, an internet search initially wasn't even on my mind. But, as always, my eyes scanned the fridge and I spied the blueberries, which were looking a little tired. As I started unwrapping the pork I wondered what I could serve it with. I had asparagus, a side of that maybe? I also had organic spring mix. A salad maybe? 

But, oh no, those blueberries triggered my creative juices so I flipped up the screen of my laptop and typed "pork tenderloin with blueberries" in Google search.

I skimmed recipes and I was surprised to find how many recipes there were with pork and blueberries! Nothing sounded right. Then I googled, "pork medallions with blueberries". And this delicious-sounding recipe for "Pork Medallions with Blueberry-Balsamic Ketchup" showed up (with a much nicer photo than mine).  And the rest is history as they say . . .


Pork Tenderloin With Blueberry Balsamic Ginger Sauce
The link to the original recipe also has a recipe to make the pork medallions, if you want, but I didn't use it. I just roasted a whole pork tenderloin.

Sauce:
2 1/2 cups blueberries
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion
1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar 
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1/4 ts salt

Method for pork: Remove the silvery skin from the pork, if any, season with salt and pepper and other spices or herbs you like, and bake at 350 degrees on a baking sheet for about 30 minutes, depending on the size - test with meat thermometer and remove at 150-155 degrees. Let it sit and residual heat should finish cooking it to 160 degrees.  

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce:  See the original recipe here. Or add all ingredients above in a sauce pan, cook on medium heat until thickened, about 20-30 minutes. 

When I made the sauce I added all the ingredients above, but used regular balsamic vinegar since I didn't have white and added only a pinch of salt. 




I served the pork with an organic spring mix salad and homemade Dijon mustard vinaigrette.




This is a good way to use up those tired-looking blueberries, and healthy! And just like the author said, there's plenty of sauce left over from this recipe to use with other dishes.