Roasted Pork Tenderloin With Raisin-Ginger Pan Sauce

Well I wanted to try a pork tenderloin recipe from Anthony Bourdain, but pork tenderloins come in two packs.  I wasn't going to cook both for dinner for just the four of us, so a quick search of food and wine and I found this.  I was a little leery, ground ginger and raisins.  Neither are some of my favorite things.  Top that off with the use of apple juice.  I know there are pork chop and applesauce lovers out there, but I am not one of them.  I am getting over my reluctance to try anything that mixes sweet and savory but I still am not a fan.  Well I prepped the Bourdain recipe for tomorrow and trimmed the tenderloin for tonight's dish.  (I'm proud of myself; this is another (one of many) issue of mine.   It was good.  We all liked it better than we thought we would.  The ginger was unmistakable, but not overpowering. It suggested steamed greens with it, but my boys wouldn't be too happy with greens in general so I opted for creamed spinach.  After a quick scan of the ingredients, I saw I had them and didn't look too closely until after I started cooking it.  I had assumed that the amount of spinach was a bag's worth (9oz).  WRONG, it was 48 ounces.  Well I was already simmering the cup and a half of cream for the 48 ounces.  Now, I love cream, I think I could drink it, but 5x's too much for the spinach was going to be soup. (hey soup that might have worked?) So I poured about 3/4 of the cream/onion mixture into another pot and reheated some rice in it.  Then I added the spinach to the remaining cream and cooked both rice and spinach over medium high heat until each pot had lost  the excess liquid.  A good dinner, but nothing we want to open a restaurant over;D

Roasted Pork Tenderloin With Raisin-Ginger Pan Sauce

1    one and 1/4-pound pork tenderloin
2 t  vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 c  naturally sweetened apple juice
1/2 c  low-sodium chicken broth
1 T  low-sodium soy sauce
3 T  golden raisins
1/2 t  ground ginger
1/4 t  cornstarch dissolved in 1 teaspoon of water
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Coat the pork with the oil; season with
salt and pepper. In a large, nonstick ovenproof skillet, cook the pork
over moderately high heat until browned all over, 3 minutes per side.
Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast for about 18 minutes,
turning twice, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the
thickest part of the meat registers 140.
2. Transfer the pork to a carving board and let rest for 10 minutes.
Add the apple juice, broth, soy sauce, raisins and ginger to the same
skillet and bring to a boil. Cook until the liquid has reduced by half,
4 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and cook, stirring, until
thick enough to coat a spoon, about 30 seconds; remove from the heat.
3. Carve the pork and arrange on plates. Stir any carving juices into
the pan sauce. Spoon the sauce over the pork and serve.

Creamed Spinach
1/2 c  finely chopped onion
1 1/2 c  heavy cream
48    ounces baby spinach,washed
Salt
Cayenne pepper
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the onion and cream.
Let simmer until the cream is thickened and reduced by half and the
onion is soft, about 10 minutes.
Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add about a quarter
of the spinach. Cook in the dry pot, stirring occasionally, until
wilted. Add more spinach to the pot and repeat until all of the spinach
is wilted.
Drain off all the excess liquid released by the spinach and return the
pot to the stove. Add the reduced cream mixture and stir to combine
with the spinach. Season well with salt and cayenne pepper. Serve.