Pork Medallions with Blueberry Salsa

A good friend sent me some amazing (shot!) blueberry salsa; it pairs perfectly with pork tenderloin, which tends to lend itself well to lighter flavours as well as being low in calories. 

Should you  not have an awesome blueberry salsa connection, any fruited salsa or chutney would work, maybe even a marmalade. I think one of the recipes I collected from my fambly involved a chutney, hmmm, will have to have a look-see. I will throw it up here if so, double recipe! Here is what I did:

You will need:



2 tsp olive oil ( not ever EVOO for cooking)
1 pork tenderloin (mine was 14 oz, so almost a pound)
Salt, pepper, thyme
1/2 medium onion, chopped small-ish
3-4 garlic cloves
1/4 c red wine
1 c chicken stock, divided (so don't dump in all at once)
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp blueberry salsa or otherwise fruited salsa or chutney

Prep! Chop up your onion, smallish, as advertised. Mince your garlic, prepare your tenderloin. To do so, you want to remove all of the silverskin membrane on the outside. Slide a sharp, thin blade under the silver bit and pull it up, sliding the blade along the length.

Also trim off any extra fat you see kicking around. Atta boy / girl. Cut into 1/2 inch (approximately) medallions, meaning crosswise.

Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper on both sides, heat the oil in a large saucepan at medium-high heat. NOT non-stick. Sticky is all bueno.

When the oil is almost shimmering, add the pork. It will immediately attach itself to the bottom and refuse to budge. We want that. Let brown for about 3-4 minutes, until it has a brown crust and will move easily for you.

Flip it and cook for 3-4 minutes more, until you get the same on the other side. Don't overcook, pork tenderloin can dry out like a mofo and then won't be as nummy as we want. Remove from the pan and keep warm. Add in the onions, cook for 3-4 minutes, until almost softened.

Add in the garlic and about half a teaspoon of thyme, cook for how long? One minute!

Deglaze by pouring the wine into the hot pan, use a straight edge wooden spoon to scrape up all the goodness on the bottom. If you are ever reading a recipe and they tell you to cook meat in a non-stick pan and then wipe it out before preparing the rest of the meal, I want you to know that they do not have your tastebuds in their heart. They may have your waistline in mind, but they don't care about the amazingness that is the fond and you should just stop reading that recipe immediately. Disclaimer: I have posted a recipe like that, I was mostly concerned about the size of my bum. And I apologize. Moving on!

Keep scraping the bottom until the wine is almost gone, then add in half a cup of the chicken stock. Turn the heat up, continue scraping the bottom of the pan until it has reduced by half. Sprinkle on the tablespoon of flour, stir to mix quickly.

Slowly add in the remaining half a cup of chicken stock, stirring the whole time. Taste it. Probably more pepper, little salt, more thyme. Make it so!

Stir in the salsa until fully mixed, return the pork and any juices to the pan and heat through.

This makes four servings, at aboot 185 calories per, making it crazy low calorie for how much flavour contained therein. Add in a half cup of rice and some steamed veggies, we are so in our goal range of 400 to 500 per meal. We totally rock!

Enjoy!