What's for Dinner?

The hubs and I aren't super in to Valentine's day.  Never really have been.  But never-the-less, we decided to use it as an excuse to make ourselves a nice dinner and enjoy some fancy cocktails at home together the other night.  Oh alright, twist my arm!

I volunteered to be the chef for the night and make an old favorite - Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Rosemary Cranberry Sauce.  Mmmmmmm. This is no pinterest find m'friends. This is straight from Mamma-O's recipe stack.  As always, it came out amazing. Recipe below.

To go with the pork, I made some lemon asparagus and decided to try this new mashed potato recipe - The Best Mashed Potatoes. Perhaps it was the name that drew me in, but oh boy it did not dissapoint.  Rich, creamy, flavorful - delicious!

For dessert, I decided to try my hand at individual Chocolate Lava Cakes.  I cooked mine too long and they ended up being just individual chocolate cakes, but the Tillamook Coffee Almond Fudge ice cream I bought to go along with it "came out" great and saved the day.

All in all, it was a nice night in with satisfied bellies and lots of puppy cuddles.  Oh yeah, and I got some pretty flowers too :) Thanks Steve. Valentine's Day isn't so bad....

Recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic-Cranberry-Rosemary Sauce 

 

Ingredients

• 1can of whole cranberries -  or make your own cranberry sauce
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary - I double cause I LOVE rosemary
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 lbs pork tenderloin
• salt
• pepper

The sauce is the best part, so I encourage making extra by doubling (or even tripling) the first 5 ingredients - you can never have too much sauce! :)
 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Add olive oil to a saute pan over medium-high heat.
3. Pat pork loin with paper towels to dry. Season liberally with with salt and pepper and place in pan.
4. Sear pork on all sides, transfer to baking dish and pop in the oven
5. Roast until thermometer inserted into center registers 155, about 20 minutes.
6. While the meat is cooking, add butter, onion, and rosemary to saute pan and cook until onions are soft, about 3 minutes.
7. Add chicken broth and mix
8. Add cranberry sauce and balsamic vinegar and bring to a boil, reducing heat to medium-low and simmering for ~15 minutes, until sauce has thickened.
9. When the meat is done, let it rest in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a plate and tent with foil.
   
10. Scrape meat bits and juices left in the pan into the sauce
11. Slice tenderloin to desired thickness and serve with sauce.