Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Spinach

With my Mom and Step-Dad in town for the weekend I needed to think of “healthier” meat dishes that they would enjoy. We were cooking at home on Friday evening and going out for dinner on Saturday. I searched though a few cookbooks and magazines and came across Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sautéed Apples in the October issue of Cooking Light.

Pork tenderloin is lean, affordable and pairs very well with fall flavors like apples, cinnamon and nutmeg. It is a win/win situation, I get a healthy and flavorful dinner and my Step-Dad gets meat for dinner. A nice spinach salad on the side for some extra veggies makes this a great Friday night fall dinner.

Ingredients

• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground coriander
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
• 1  pound  pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut crosswise into 12 pieces
• Cooking spray
• 2  tablespoons  butter
• 2  cups  thinly sliced unpeeled Braeburn or Gala apple (I used Pink Lady)
• 1/3  cup  thinly sliced shallots
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  cup  apple cider
• 1  teaspoon  fresh thyme leaves

Directions

• Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Combine first 5 ingredients; sprinkle spice mixture evenly over pork. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove pork from pan; keep warm.
• Melt butter in pan; swirl to coat. Add apple slices, 1/3 cup shallots, and 1/8 teaspoon salt; sauté 4 minutes or until apple starts to brown. Add apple cider to pan, and cook for 2 minutes or until apple is crisp-tender. Stir in thyme leaves. Serve apple mixture with the pork.

This was a great fall dish, the pork had nice fall flavors and I loved the sweetness of the apples pairing with the savory pork. So good! My Step-Dad and Mike each had two servings.