We had an amazing dinner made for us at home on Saturday night. Two of our friends recently visited Thailand, and while they were there, they took a Thai cooking class.
Luckily they were willing to share the deliciousness they learned with the rest of us. It’s can be a strange, foreign feeling, watching others take over your kitchen. I’m usually pretty particular about how many people I’ll let in the kitchen while I’m cooking. And by “pretty particular” I mean, just me. This time, I wasn’t doing the cooking, but taking on a sous chef position as well as guiding a few other people to where to find the tongs, bowls, pans, etc. Needless to say, with four people cooking multiple dishes, the kitchen was a war zone when we were done. So worth it, though.
Earlier in the week, I was in the kitchen with two beautiful pork tenderloins, and my trusty cast iron pan. I really do love my cast iron pans. Oh, and of course pork. I love pork too. You know what’s also great? Reduced balsamic vinegar. So tangy and slightly sweet.
Let’s get to it.
Balsamic Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 2-3 lb pork tenderloin
- 2 tbsp duck fat, coconut oil, or bacon fat
- salt & pepper
Pan Sauce
- 4 tbps butter
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 3/4 cup bone broth
- 1 leek thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic minced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Melt the duck fat, coconut oil or bacon fat in a large cast iron pan over medium high heat.
- Salt and pepper the pork tenderloin on all sides.
- Sear the pork on all sides in the hot pan. About 2-3 minutes per side.
- Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 40-50 minutes, or until the pork has reached an internal temperature of 145 degrees.
- When the pork has come to temperature, transfer it to a plate and cover loosely with foil to keep warm while you make the sauce.
- Place the pan over medium heat.
- Carefully pour in the balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan. Using a rubber spatula, stir the vinegar to loosen up the meaty bits that have stuck to the pan.
- Add in the leeks, garlic, and butter. Continue to stir.
- Once the butter has melted completely, add in half of the bone broth. Continue to stir until the sauce has reduced by about half.
- Add in the remaining broth and stir until the sauce has again reduced by about half.
- Pour the sauce over sliced pork tenderloin, and be prepared to lick the plate.
Yum! I can only imagine how good that pork tenderloin is. I love the comment you made about number of cooks in your kitchen. I wonder where you learned that from. 😉
I never knew how good pork tenderloin could be until I started buying it at the local butcher shop. Such a difference! And yeah, no idea where I got the solo cooking habit from. 🙂
Thanks for letting us take over your kitchen – you were cool as a cucumber and it really was a mad house (probably mostly my fault)! This week’s recipe looks sooo good, I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks again for cooking such a great meal!
Sounds fun and delish! Btw, I made slow-cooker sesame orange chicken from against all grain at our retreat last weekend. GOOD!
Oh I bet that was delicious! Everything from Danielle Walker has been amazing!