What’s For Dinner: Pork Tenderloin with Caramelized Pears and Pear-Brandy Cream Sauce

Posted by Kelly on March 28, 2010 in Starr, What's For Dinner | 8 comments

It’s been a while since I’ve tried something new. I have been busy adapting some of my old favorites into gluten free versions, with some success. So far the changes have been minimal…mostly looking at “almost” gluten free recipes and making the small changes necessary. Nothing really worth sharing…yet!

Last night Starr was here for dinner and I had a pork tenderloin in the fridge. I didn’t want to do our standby pork tenderloin recipe so I did a little searching at Epicurious.com for a recipe that she might like. What I found was this:

Pork Tenderloin with Caramelized Pears and Pear-Brandy Cream Sauce

1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed, cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

4 firm but ripe large Anjou pears, peeled, halved, cored, cut into 1/3-inch-thick wedges

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup chopped shallots (I bought a medium sized shallot which produced nearly 1/4 cup or a little less. I don’t know if I would add too much more than that.)

1 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme

1/4 cup pear eau-de-vie (clear pear brandy) or pear schnapps (I didn’t have pear brandy so I used about 1/2 regular brandy and 1/2 Grand Marnier)

1 cup whipping cream

1/3 cup pear nectar (I went to the store for this and found pear juice…it would have to do! And did.)

Place pork slices between plastic wrap. Using meat mallet, pound pork slices to 1/4-inch thickness.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add pears and sugar; sauté until pears are tender and deep golden, about 8 minutes.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in another large nonstick skillet over high heat. Season pork with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add pork to skillet; sauté just until cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to plate. Cover. Reduce heat to medium. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in same skillet. Add shallots and thyme; sauté 2 minutes. Add eau-de-vie; boil until reduced to glaze, 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. Spoon into center of platter. Arrange pork around pears. Pour sauce over pork.

I loved every bit of this recipe. The sauce made me a very happy girl. Starr seriously loved the pork and the pears…but wasn’t interested in the sauce at all.

Oh, well. Despite her aversion to sauce, this will be going into my “to make again” files!! Yum.

Side note: I loved using my freshly sharpened knives!! What a difference!