Pork and Sauerkraut for New Years

Elegant Tenderloin Pinwheels

I grew up with my Mom's traditional pork chops and sauerkraut as our New Year's Day dinner. I just never thought much about it until I started getting objections to this menu. And so it is that although I have tried to just go ahead with making it on a couple of occasions, it was not well received (my husband would just pick off every tiny shred of sauerkraut that clung to the pork or the potatoes), I enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Mom would bake her pork chops in the oven, adding quartered, peeled potatoes to the pan, covered with foil. Once all this was cooked (in the case of the pork chops, way overcooked), she would empty a jar of sauerkraut into a colander, rinse it well, then scatter it over the pork and potatoes, then top with a little brown sugar, cover again and bake. 

So, while my husband has never been keen on the idea of sauerkraut, I know my son and his fiancé do love it. Hence my idea of creating a really stellar pork dish, one that wasn't overcooked, and then making the sauerkraut as a stand-alone dish, so those who do not love it (ahem!) could just skip it, while the rest of us enjoyed. 

My husband's teeth need some work at the moment, so I was looking for something soft; pork tenderloin would be the meat. Then, I recalled a recipe I had made a very long time ago, where the pork was butterflied out flat and filled with a mixture that included prunes (dried plums). I recalled that it was very good, but I wanted to jazz it up some. Recalling another recipe, one for a rolled and stuffed flank steak, where the filling was so amazingly flavorful (from my very old Creme de Colorado cookbook), I got out both these recipes to compare and see what parts of each stuffing recipe I liked best. 

Ingredients I absolutely wanted to include from between the two recipes were: prunes, bacon, spinach, parsley, Romano cheese and mushrooms. White bread crumbs were a part of both recipes, but I had some pumpernickel I wanted to use instead. Nut meal sounded good, and I opted for hazelnut meal. Somewhere I read lemon zest as a possibility for flavor with a pork stuffing. Caramelized onion and garlic were also good additions. For fresh herbs, thyme and sage were added to the list.

Elegant Tenderloin Pinwheels

I wanted to have the pork look pretty in a spiral when sliced, so it would be best to have both of (a package of) two pork tenderloins cut open and slightly overlapped to fill, roll, then tie them in place. There are different ways of cutting open pork tenderloins. One is to simply cut most of the way into the center, lengthwise, open flat and pound the heck out of them until of an even thickness. I hate this. It makes so very much noise, splatters meat, blood and bits everywhere and takes forever to truly get the meat flat. Somewhere online, someone butterflied this way but instead of pounding, cut into each thick section to create an unfolded piece of tenderloin. I don't see that as any easier. My preferred method is to use small cuts with a very sharp knife parallel to the cutting board, continuing parallel until the meat is mostly all one thickness and laid out flat. There are many, many places online showing this and the other methods in excruciating detail, so I do not believe it is needed to reproduce all that here. Whatever method is used, it is good to have the thickness small, about 1/4 to 5/8-inch thick. 

While this seems an extraordinarily long recipe, if broken up into the do ahead parts and finalized on the day of serving, it is very doable. The final result of this experiment was a chorus of groans of pleasure at the table, so I accomplshed my goal. Here is what I did:

Elegant Tenderloin Pinwheels for Dinner

Elegant Tenderloin Pinwheels

Served 8 - 10

STUFFING:
5 ounces bacon, cut small and fried crisp
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1 medium onion, chopped
½ teaspoon salt, divided
1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil or bacon fat
3 tablespoons dry Sherry or Bourbon
6 cloves garlic, minced
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¾ pound fresh mushrooms (I used 'Baby Bella'), sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 - 3 tablespoons Sherry
½ tablespoon fresh thyme leaves½½
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¾ cup finely shredded Romano cheese
½ cup chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1½ cups fresh baby spinach, in fine chiffonade
7 - 8 soft, pitted prunes, cut in small pieces
¾ cup fresh pumpernickel crumbs (or other bread crumbs as preferred)
½ cup hazelnut meal
- zest of one lemon

MEAT:
2 pork tenderloins (about 2.5 lbs. total)
½ teaspoon salt
chicken or beef stock for pan
1 medium onion, sliced

PAN SAUCE:
4 tablespoons Bourbon (or Sherry)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
½ cup red currant jelly
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup sour cream

Make ahead (1 to 3 days in advance if needed): Begin the stuffing by frying the bacon and draining on paper toweling. Once cooled, place into a medium sized container with lid. Set aside. If using bacon grease, leave a tablespoon worth in the skillet and add in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the chopped onion and sauté on medium to medium high, stirring often until the liquid has mostly gone, then add in 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and the minced garlic and stir constantly, lowering the heat if needed so as not to burn, until the onions are nicely browned. Add in the Sherry or Bourbon and cook quickly until completely evaporated. Pour the contents into a bowl to cool, then add to the container with the bacon.

Add to the same skillet the butter and olive oil and add the mushrooms, sautéing until all the liquid has cooked out and evaporated. Add in the remaining quarter teaspoon salt and continue cooking, stirring, until the mushrooms are browned. Do not stop cooking the mushrooms as soon as their liquid evaporates or they will be flabby and still leach liquid into the stuffing mixture.  Add in the thyme leaves and the Sherry and cook until the Sherry is completely evaporated. Add the mushrooms to the same plate where the onions cooled; once cool, add to the bacon and onion mixture and refrigerate.

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Grate the Romano cheese and place in another container with lid. Add to the cheese the chopped parsley, spinach chiffonade, prunes, pumpernickel crumbs, hazelnut meal and lemon zest. Toss to combine, cover and refrigerate if needed for up to 2 days.

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ON THE DAY:

Remove any silver skin from the tenderloins. Taking one tenderloin at a time, using a very sharp knife with the blade set parallel to the cutting board and about a quarter to a half-inch from the board, begin slicing into the length of the meat.  As it opens, continue to slice in at the same height along the length, using small cuts if needed, until the tenderloin is completely opened flat. Set the tenderloin aside and repeat with the other tenderloin. (Some ideas, with video or pictures, on how to open and flatten the pork tenderloins are here, and here.)

Combine together all of the two containers of prepared stuffing ingredients into one bowl and toss repeatedly until all the ingredients are well and evenly distributed. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with cooking spray. Measure out 7 or 8 lengths of cotton kitchen twine, long enough to go around the rolled tenderloin and tie, and set them nearby. 

Place the two tenderloins spread out, slightly overlapping, with one narrow end pointing the opposite direction from the other. This offsets the fact that each sort of come to a point, and makes the whole a more uniform shape to roll. Place the stuffing mixture onto the meat, spreading and patting evenly, leaving about an inch bare all around the perimeter. Neatly roll the meat, carefully lifting while rolling to keep the stuffing from oozing out. Once rolled, slide one piece of cotton twine under the roll and tie at the center, tightly. Repeat this about every 2 to 3 inches. Trin the ends of the twine to no more than a half inch long. 

Place a large skillet over medium high heat and add some olive oil to the an. Carefully brown the meat on all sides. Once browned, set the meat into the prepared 9 x 13 pan. (Leave the skillet as is, to deglaze and make a sauce, later.) Pour some stock around the meat, to no more than a third of the way up the sides of the meat. Add in some of the onion, then cover with foil and bake the meat for 50 to 70 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 155 to 160 degrees. Remove from oven and leave covered. 

Meanwhile, with the skillet on a burner, deglaze the pan with Bourbon or Sherry, stirring with a plastic spoon or spatula until all the browned bits are mixed in. Add in the garlic and jelly, stirring until dissolved. Stir in the butter until emulsified, then add in the sour cream and mix, off heat, until combined. 

Slice the meat across the roll, into 3/4 to 1-inch thick slices. Leave the twine in place to keep the rolls from unraveling (it is easy to remove at table). Set the slices slightly overlapping on a platter and pour the pan sauce down the center of the meat.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.