Glazed Pork Tenderloin w/ Caramelized Pears & Sweet Potatoes
April 2, 2011
As a kid, pork chops and applesauce were always a family dinner highlight. In my family it was known as “pork chawwwps and apple sauwwwce”. To this day I still love it, but I also love exploring different sweet combinations for pork. Recently, I discovered this delicious recipe in a cookbook from my grandma called America’s Best Lost Recipes. This recipe has that same sweet kick that applesauce gives pork, but includes more nutritious components.
To make sure that you don’t overcook your pork, be sure to have a meat thermometer handy. Also, I made sure that I cooked the potatoes and pears long enough before cooking the pork, to ensure that they were nice and soft. This dish is easy and great to feed a large group.
Glazed Pork Tenderloin w/ Caramelized Pears & Sweet Potatoes
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 pears the less-ripe, the better (peeled, cored & cubed)
- 1 lbs sweet potatoes peeled & cubed
- 1 3-4 lb pork tenderloin
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, then stir in the maple syrup, brown sugar, cloves, nutmeg and water. Bring the mixture to a boil then remove it from the heat.
- Toss the sweet potatoes and pears with half of the maple syrup mixture and transfer them to the bottom of a roasting pan and bake until partially tender (about 30 minutes). Remove the potatoes and pears from the oven
- Season the tenderloin with salt, pepper and cinnamon, place the tenderloin on a metal rack over the potatoes, and pour the remaining syrup mixture over the meat.
- Return the roasting pan to the oven and cook until the tenderloin is cooked through to 135F (about 30 minutes).
- Remove the pork tenderloin from the oven, cover in foil, and let rest. Meanwhile, increase the oven to 425F and let the potatoes and pears roast until tender and caramelized (about an additional 10 to 15 minutes).
- Slice the pork and serve with spoonfuls of potatoes and pears. If desired, drizzle with pan drippings for extra flavor.
