Hello everyone! I’m back…at least for right now! I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since my last post. I’ve been meaning to get this one up on here for awhile now, so here it goes!
Since October is National Pork Month, I thought it was fitting to share this recipe with you. Back on Thursday, September 27th, I was asked to join the Iowa CORN-Quest Tour in Des Moines for lunch. What that was, was a bunch of food/mommy bloggers from all over the country touring around Iowa with the Iowa Corn Growers Association and learning where their food comes from.
Their last stop of their trip is when I met up with them. It was at a local HyVee in West Des Moines. We met up with Chef Terrie Kohl of Country Club Market and split into four different groups. Each group was in charge of a different part of our lunch. We made a fabulous dinner of:
- Maple Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary Cherry Sauce
- Roasted Corn Chowder with Bacon
- Asiago Herb Duchess Potatoes
- Warm Apple Gallette with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Chef Terrie came up with all of these recipes and said that we could share them with our readers. Thanks Terrie!
About a week later, I decided to make the pork at home for dinner one night. I had to do a little improvising since I didn’t have a pork tenderloin, but pork chops worked well also!
Here is the recipe and directions! Enjoy!
Maple Bacon Wrapped Pork with Rosemary Cherry Sauce
By Chef Terrie Kohl of Country Club Market in Clive, IA
Ingredients
2-2 pound pork tenderloins (or 2 large pork chops in my recipe)
1/2 pound maple bacon
2 T. olive oil (divided)
1 c. red onion
2 t. garlic, minced
3/4 c. dried cherries
2 t. fresh or 1 t. dried rosemary, chopped/crushed
1 1/2 c. chicken stock
1 T. red wine vinegar
1 T. cornstarch
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap bacon around tenderloin and secure with toothpicks. (Since I was using pork chops, I was planning on wrapping the bacon around the pork chops just like I would with the tenderloin, but when I open my package of bacon from our butcher, I realized that it was the package with all the scrap bacon pieces, so there wasn’t any long slices of bacon. So instead of wrapping the bacon around the pork chops, I just placed the pieces in the pan along with the chops.)
Heat sauté pan on high and just before adding the pork, add 1 T. olive oil to it. Allow the pork to sear/brown on all sides, then transfer to a sheet pan and finish cooking in oven for approximately 20 minutes. Internal temperature should read 145 degrees.
While roasting the pork, make the pan sauce. Start by mincing the garlic and crushing the rosemary. In the same sauté pan, heat olive oil over med-high heat.
Add onions, garlic, dried cherries and rosemary. Sauté til golden, about 10 minutes.
Add chicken stock and turn heat to high and bring to a boil (sorry no picture of this step).
While broth heats, stir together vinegar and cornstarch. When broth comes to a boil, add cornstarch mixture to pan, mixing well with a wire whisk until sauce is thickened, about 1 minute.
Remove pan from heat, cover and set aside until serving. If sauce cools, warm in pan, covered, over low heat. If it thickens, use a wire whisk to mix in a few tablespoons of chicken broth.
Once the pork is done, place it on a plate and top with the sauce. I served this at home with mashed potatoes and green beans that night. Enjoy!
This looks amazing!