Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Red Grape Sauce
Although at first glance the recipe from thekitchen.com for pork tenderloin with plum sauce has almost nothing in common with what follows, it served as my starting point. I really intended to make the plum sauce, but plans sometimes fall through or shift focus because of something else that seems more intriguing at the moment. That other thing was the red dessert grapes, which I wasn't looking for but found, and it was so tempting that I immediately decided to replace the plums with it. From there the recipe changed on several levels. Notes: 1) The sugar - muscovado gives the sauce a pleasant caramel and molasses taste, while demerara, besides complementing these flavours, will caramelize, making the sauce thicker and stickier. Using one type in double quantity, even white sugar, will also do a good job. 2) The chilli pepper - you may use it or ignore it entirely in favour of more ginger, which gives a milder heat. With one tablespoon of grated fresh ginger, as given in the recipe, the sauce is only slightly spicy. If you like it hotter, add 1 finely chopped chilli. If you want to keep the sauce slightly spicy but without burning heat, add another tablespoon of grated ginger. 3) I thought to add the grape/mulberry molasses (petmez) at the end, after the sauce was ready and strained - first it was too runny to stay on the meat, and second it lacked balance between sweet and sour. Mulberry petmez did this job perfectly. In its place you can use grape petmez or skip it depending on the grapes you use. Serves 4-6.
Ingredients
| 500 g | red grapes (berries) | |
| 50 g | brown muscovado sugar | |
| 50 g | dark demerara brown sugar | |
| 50 ml | rice vinegar | |
| 1 | small onion, finely chopped | |
| 2 | garlic cloves, finely chopped | |
| 1 tsp | 5 ml | mustard seed, crushed in a mortar |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | grated fresh ginger |
| 1 | chilli pepper, finely chopped with or without seeds (optional) | |
| 3 tbsp | 45 ml | mulberry petmez (fruit molasses) or grape petmez |
| — | salt and freshly ground black pepper | |
| 2 | pork tenderloins, about 500 g each, cleaned of sinew and membranes | |
| 2 tbsp | 30 ml | sunflower oil or light olive oil |
| 6 | small clusters of red grapes | |
| 2 tbsp | 30 ml | red wine |
Instructions
For the red grape sauce:
- In a wide, but not necessarily deep, pot, combine all ingredients except the grapes and the petmez. Place over high heat and bring to a boil until the sugar melts. Then add the grape berries, bring the mixture back to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
- Mash the grape berries in the pot with a potato masher or slotted spoon so they release their juice, reduce the heat to medium and cook everything for about 20 minutes.
- Pour the mixture into a sieve and press with a spoon to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the solids and return the juice to the pot. Add the petmez and cook for 3-4 minutes over high heat to thicken. At this stage, while hot, the sauce will have the consistency of maple syrup; once it cools it will thicken more. Taste for salt and add if needed. The sauce can be made 1-2 days in advance. For the pork tenderloin:
- Season the tenderloins with salt and freshly ground black pepper and rub them all over with oil. Heat the oven to 200C.
- Heat a non-stick, oven-safe frying pan over high heat. Add the tenderloins and sear on all sides until golden-brown, about 8 minutes. (No oven-safe pan? Sear the tenderloins on the hob, then transfer them to a suitable tray that has been preheated in the oven, along with the juices and fat from the pan, and finish the recipe in the tray.)
- Remove the pan from the heat and brush the tenderloins all over with some of the grape sauce. Arrange the grape clusters around them, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and immediately place everything on a middle rack in the preheated 200C oven. Roast the tenderloins for 15-18 minutes or until the temperature in the middle of the meat reaches 64C.
- Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the tenderloins to a warmed plate. Cover with aluminium foil and let rest for 10 minutes. (While resting, the meat's temperature continues to rise and may reach 68-70C.)
- While the tenderloins rest, add the remaining grape sauce and the wine to the grapes in the pan. Stir well to combine with the juices released during roasting and pour this mixture over the grape clusters. Return to the oven for 10 minutes to roast the grapes well and reduce the juices.
- Slice the meat and serve with the roasted grapes. Strain the sauce in the tray and serve with the meat.