While one a hiking trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire, my wife and I stumbled upon a jar of Maple Cream in a little shop. Intrigued, we bought it and brought it home! Originally, this sauce was designed to serve with Rabbit Quenelles…the quenelles didn’t work, but the sauce did…so we figured we’d try the sauce again, this time with pork! (We will try the quenelles at some point in the future again too). As we’d hoped, the sweetness of little bite of the sauce complemented the natural tender nuttiness of the pork tenderloin. There are a few things we plan to do differently next time though to make it even better:
- Turn the heat lower before adding our maple cream and maybe fortifying that with a little additional cream to build some body.
- Cook some bacon in the pan before cooking the pork…then crumbling that bacon over the sauce to add a little bit of a salty component.
We served our pork over a veggie infused couscous with Sauteed Zucchini.
Time: 45 Minutes
Ingredients:
- Pork Tenderloin
- Butter
- Bourbon
- Maple Cream (or Maple Syrup and Heavy Cream)
- Optional: Bacon
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- **If using bacon, heat a cast iron pan, and cook your bacon strips until crispy. Remove and set aside…then crumble when cooler to the touch. Leave rendered fat in your pan to sear your pork in the next step.
- If not using bacon, add a little oil or butter to your cast iron pan (or other pan that can safely go in the oven). Sear your pork for about 3-4 minutes on all sides so that it turns golden brown.
- Transfer your pork and pan to the oven, and roast for another 20 minutes or so until it reaches an internal cooked temperature of at least 145 degrees F (165 for well done).
- When your pork hits the magic cook temperature, remove it from the oven, and set aside on a cutting board.
- As your pork sits, melt a little butter in a saucepan, and then whisk in a little bourbon. Lastly, turn the heat down to low, and add some maple cream (or maple syrup and heavy cream), and whisk in. Remove from heat, and allow to cool slightly so it’s not runny.
- As your sauce begins to cool, slice your pork, and arrange it on your plate.
- Drizzle your sauce atop, and if using bacon, add your bacon crumbles over everything.
- Devour, and enjoy!
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