This Pan-Roasted Pork with Rhubarb Sauce Is the 30-Minute Meal I’m Making All Spring

Why It Works

Coating the pork tenderloin in cornstarch helps it brown higher, and likewise offers the sauce a floor to cling to.
Cooking the pork throughout within the sauce on the stovetop is less complicated and quicker than cooking it within the oven.

Proper on cue in late March and early April, spring whets my urge for food for the brilliant, tart taste of rhubarb. When its acid-green and ruby crimson stalks begin popping up in markets, I seize all I can discover, and churn out rhubarb pies and compotes to fulfill my candy tooth. However rhubarb’s tart taste can be proper at dwelling in savory meals.

On this fast supper recipe developed by our Birmingham-based take a look at kitchen colleague Elizabeth Mervosh , we rejoice rhubarb’s savory facet by simmering it with candy orange marmalade and an array of aromatics to create a jammy sauce, and pair it with pork tenderloin for a satisfying seasonal meal. Elizabeth’s pan-roasted pork with rhubarb sauce is savory, candy, vivid, and excellent for a spring supper. Plus, it takes solely half-hour to cook dinner, making it a fantastic weeknight dinner choice.

The Pan Sauce

Step one to make sure a wealthy, flavorful pan sauce for the pork is so as to add gelatin to the inventory or broth earlier than utilizing it. This method has been utilized in many Severe Eats pan sauce recipes, equivalent to culinary director emeritus Kenji’s pan-roasted hen and pan sauce recipe. Whether or not you’re utilizing home made hen stockor store-bought hen broth, including just a few teaspoons of powdered gelatin to the liquid offers the combination a lift in richness to make sure a very nice, shiny sauce that may cling to each chunk of the pork.

Severe Eats / Jen Causey

Cooking the Pork

Subsequent up: the pork. We right here at Severe Eats like to reverse sear bigger roasts like beef tenderloin (the place you begin by gently heating up a big reduce of meat in a low-temperature oven till it is evenly cooked, then end by searing it over excessive warmth to offer it a browned crust); however for a lean, skinny tenderloin, the approach is a nonstarter. As Kenji discovered when growing his pork tenderloin recipe, reverse-seared pork tenderloin inevitably dries out as a result of the reduce is lean and comparatively small.

As a substitute, searing this lean pork roast originally, then cooking it by within the pan, is the best way to go. To additional promote browning on the outside of the meat, the seasoned pork tenderloin is dredged in cornstarch earlier than going into the skillet. The cornstarch additionally provides a fantastic tough floor on the pork for the glaze-like sauce to cling to. Consider the cornstarch because the layer of primer you apply to a wall earlier than you paint it.

As soon as the pork is browned throughout and put aside, consideration is turned to the sauce. It begins with sautéing some minced shallot and garlic within the residual pork fats. Subsequent you will whisk within the hen inventory and gelatin combination, together with some whole-grain mustard and orange marmalade. The marmalade brings sweetness and balances the tart rhubarb. However if you happen to’re not a fan of marmalade, you possibly can substitute your most well-liked fruit preserves, equivalent to strawberry, cherry, or fig.

At this level you might end the dish by cooking the pork by within the oven and lowering the sauce individually within the skillet, however since we needed this pork to be glazed with the sauce, there is not any have to cook dinner the meat in a means that preserves a crisp exterior crust. As a substitute of utilizing the oven, Elizabeth discovered it a lot simpler to easily nestle the pork into the sauce and end cooking all of it collectively. The pork cooks throughout whereas the sauce thickens and also you additionally keep away from additional soiled pans and turning on the oven. Simply be certain that to show the pork each jiffy to make sure even cooking.

Bringing It All Collectively

Whereas the pork rests, rhubarb and butter are added to the sauce and simmered till the rhubarb is tender and the sauce turns into silky and jammy. If you add the pork again to the pan, you will see why that cornstarch was such a good suggestion. It actually helps the thick, flavor-packed sauce cling to the meat. Serve the pork alongside spring greens equivalent to peas or asparagus for a scrumptious seasonal meal.

This recipe was developed by Elizabeth Mervosh; the headnote was written by Leah Colins.

Cook dinner Mode
(Hold display awake)

1 cup (240 ml) home made hen inventory or store-bought low-sodium hen broth
1/4 cup (60 ml) dry white wine or dry vermouth
2 teaspoons (6 g) unflavored powdered gelatin
1 pound (453 g) entire pork tenderloin, trimmed
1 3/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, divided; for desk salt, use half as a lot by quantity
3/4 teaspoon freshly floor black pepper, divided
2 teaspoons (5 g) cornstarch
2 tablespoons (30 ml) impartial oil equivalent to canola oil, divided
1 medium shallot (1 ounce; 28 g), finely chopped (2 tablespoons)
1 medium (5 g) garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tablespoons (30 ml) orange marmalade or different preserves, equivalent to strawberry
1 tablespoon (15 ml) whole-grain mustard
1 cup cubed recent rhubarb or thawed frozen rhubarb (4.5 ounces; 127 g)
2 tablespoons (28 g) chilly unsalted butter, reduce into 1/2 inch items
2 tablespoons finely chopped blended recent tender herbs equivalent to chives, tarragon, and flat-leaf parsley

In a small bowl, mix hen inventory or broth with wine and sprinkle gelatin evenly over floor; put aside. Reduce tenderloin in half crosswise and season on all sides with 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Place cornstarch in a fine-mesh strainer, and mud cornstarch over tenderloin halves, flippantly coating all sides.

Severe Eats / Jen Causey
In a 10-inch chrome steel skillet, warmth 1 1/2 tablespoons oil over excessive till shimmering. Add pork; cook dinner, turning as wanted, till nicely browned on all sides, 6 to eight minutes whole. Switch to a big plate; put aside.

Severe Eats / Jen Causey
Scale back warmth to low. To now-empty skillet, add shallot, garlic, and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil and cook dinner, stirring always, till softened and aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add hen inventory–gelatin combination, orange marmalade, mustard, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Convey to a vigorous simmer over medium-high, stirring often. Return pork together with any of its accrued juices to skillet; cook dinner, turning about each 2 minutes and adjusting warmth as wanted to take care of a vigorous simmer, till an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest portion of pork registers 120 to 130°F (49 to 54°C) for medium-rare or 130 to 140°F (54 to 60°C) for medium, 6 to 10 minutes. Switch pork to a reducing board.

Severe Eats / Jen Causey
Add rhubarb and butter to sauce in skillet and proceed to vigorously simmer over medium-low, adjusting warmth as wanted, till rhubarb is tender, sauce is thickened and shiny and flippantly coats the again of a spoon, 8 to 10 minutes. Take away from warmth, and stir in herbs. Return pork to skillet, and switch to coat, then return pork to reducing board.

Severe Eats / Jen Causey
Slice pork thinly crosswise and serve with rhubarb sauce.

Severe Eats / Jen Causey

Particular Tools

Nice-mesh strainer, 10-inch chrome steel skillet

Notes

This recipe can simply be doubled with two pork tenderloins in a 12-inch skillet.

Make-Forward and Storage

Leftover cooked pork and sauce will be refrigerated individually in hermetic containers for as much as 4 days.