Cider Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apple, Prune & Pine Nut Stuffing

By foodiva

Ingredients

• Cider Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apple, Prune & Pine Nut Stuffing
• (Servies 8-10)
• 2 Pork Tenderloin fillets
• 2 cups white breadcrumbs
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup (firmly packed) pitted prunes
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 3 Granny Smith apples, grated or finely chopped
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, plus a sprig or two extra
• 1 tbs fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
• Salt & Black pepper
• 500 ml (2 cups) bottle apple cider
• 300 ml (@ 1 cup or less) pouring cream
• olive oil

Details

Servings 25
Adapted from thymefoodblog.com

Preparation

Step 1

I’ve been nominated for Babble’s Top 50 Food Blogs. I’ve moved from 197 to spot 31, but I sure would love make it into the top 30! Could you take a minute and add your vote? C

, apples, prunes, and pine nuts. Just mixing up the stuffing and breathing in the scents was enough to convince me that this was going to be a new favorite.

I put the entire roasting pan on my double burners

Sweet Honeycrisp apples are cut in half, filled with

a butter-cinnamon-brown sugar mixture, and wrapped in a flaky pastry crust.

gorgeous lake views, and sweeping vistas kept us hopping out of the car while discovering the magic of Killarney National Forest, we arrived on the Dingle Peninsula ~ in inky darkness.

It will take four days just to soak in all of this beauty and scenery.

The owner, John, has little idea of the special place he creates for travelers. He is humble, attentive and so kind…and that is part of the charm.

{above} that captivated the kids. This precious plate of soft boiled eggs arrived at the table all snug in their little knitted green sweaters. They were accompanied by “soldiers” to dip into the warm eggs. As much as teens tend to react to life in often times “blasé” manners, John succeeded in bringing big goofy grins to their faces! They were delighted! It was adorable!

and the bay. The rain began pouring down and pelting the huge windows at the back of the house.

I met a lovely woman from Canada, Kathleen, who had two teens close in age to mine. We curled up on the comfy couches, chatted together as if we had known each other for years, and watched the rain pour down over the valley below.

and one day I would love to return again. When we would come home in the evenings, exhausted from a day of trekking over hills, John would have a stuffed animal waiting on Madeleine’s bed. It was filled with a bag of warmed liquid for her to tuck in her bed to make it all nice and toasty.

to John of Pax House on the Dingle Peninsula in lovely Ireland. You charmed us, your land beguiled us, and our hearts are all the more gladdened because of it.

300ml (@ 1 cup or less) pouring cream

Add the bread crumbs, onions, prunes (chop these into small pieces first), pine nuts, grated/finely chopped apple (remove peelings), thyme, sage, salt, and freshly ground black pepper into a bowl with 1 Tbsp. of cider. Mix it all up together.

Lay out 5 or 6 pieces of cooking twine horizontally on a cutting board. Place the pork filet vertically on top of the strings. (The strings must be long enough to tie around the pork fillet.)

Using a long thin knife, make a slit in the middle of the pork roast. Imagine a tunnel or pocket that you will stuff in the filling. (Snippet’s Notes: I completely opened the pork roast, filled it with stuffing and then tied the strings around the pork and the filling. However, I think the filling would be moister if the filling is

Place the pork roast on a baking sheet and season it with salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and a pour of apple cider over the two roasts.

Roast in the oven at 350˚ for 1 hour or until the meat is cooked (use an instant read thermometer) 145˚ minimum. Halfway through the cooking time, pour another splash of apple cider over the pork roast.

Remove the pork roast from the tray and put it on a side plate loosely covered with foil to keep warm. Place the tray used to cook the pork on the burners of your stove top. Begin to loosen any bits that are stuck to the tray. Pour in all of the remaining cider (**I added a bit of extra cider). Bring the mixture up to a boil in order to “deglaze” the pan.

Reduce to a simmer and pour in the cream. Salt and pepper the sauce and add a few torn thyme leaves. Stir well, heat thoroughly. When it reaches a nice creamy consistency, transfer sauce to a serving bowl and add to the table alongside the pork roast.

4 sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tsp. water

Directions:

To make the dough, in a small bowl, dissolve the salt in the water. In a food processor, pulse together the flour and baking powder until combined. Add the chilled butter pieces and process until the butter resembles the size of small peas. Gradually drizzle in the ice water mixture, pulsing to combine. Remove the dough from the food processor. Divide the dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a disk. Wrap separately with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

Preheat an oven to 350°F.

To prepare the apples, peel and core each apple, then cut each apple in half crosswise. (Snippet’s Notes: do not try to wrap an entire apple…the dough just can hold up while baking) In a bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Rub each apple evenly with the sugar mixture. Combine the remaining sugar mix with the butter and set aside.

Remove 1 dough disk from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes (Snippet’s Notes: remember dough takes a long time to come to room temperature so 5 min. may not be long enough). Divide the disk into 4 equal pieces. Working in batches, on a floured surface, roll out a piece of dough 1/8 inch thick and about 8 inches square. Place an apple half,

cut side down

, in the center of the dough square and fill the core with some of the reserved butter-sugar mixture. Pull the dough around the apple to create a beggar’s purse and gently tie the corners together with butcher’s twine. Repeat the process with the remaining dough and apple halves.

Transfer the wrapped apples to a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush the dough with the egg mixture. Bake until the dough is golden brown and cooked through, about 25 minutes. (Snippet’s Notes: my dumplings took more like 45 min. to brown up nicely) Remove the apple dumplings from the oven and let cool slightly. Serve with warmed cream and caramel sauce. Serves 8. (Snippet’s Note: I served my dumplings in tiny shallow bowls because the delicious juices can be scooped up with a spoon)

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