Roasted pork tenderloin with grape sauce

Pork tenderloin has got to be one of the easiest, best-tasting cuts of meat to cook, but acquiring it has become something of an art here. Whole Foods gets its delivery on Wednesday, but, as one of their butchers patiently explained to me some time ago, the relatively small shipment of pork tenderloin has to be allocated among all the WF stores in the city.

As a result, the tenderloin is almost always gone by the weekend. This effectively means that if you want tenderloin, you have to shop for it on Wednesday or Thursday. Last weekend, for instance, our first choice was tenderloin, but no dice, so we had to settle for rack of lamb (sigh).

So when I was shopping Thursday I got a single tenderloin for us and tried a simple little recipe from The Italian Farmer's Table by Matthew Scialabba and Melissa Pellegrino, which purports to have gathered home recipes from farms in Northern Italy that host paying guests.

I actually used the roasting technique from Molly Stevens' Roasting, which is the recipe that caught my eye last weekend. She browns the tenderloin on all 4 sides over 8 minutes and puts on a sheet pan to roast at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 min (she actually says 13 to 18) or to 140 to 145 degrees. The other book has you brown it on one side, then turn over, put two pats of butter on the cooked side, and stick the skillet in the oven. Six of one, etc., but I liked the idea of actually browning it on all sides. Scialabba and Pellegrino specify grapeseed oil for the browning and since we had a small bottle tucked away in the pantry, I used that.

In both cases, you salt and pepper beforehand. Stevens even recommends seasoning several hours beforehand, but I didn't manage to do that. Let me parenthetically add that I've become a true believer in sea salt (as opposed to kosher salt) and believe it truly does enhance the flavor. It was Sara Jenkins who made this point forcefully in Olives and Oranges. There are some people who think it doesn't make any difference, but I'm pretty sold on it.

What I liked about the Farmer's Table recipe was the grape sauce. You take 1 c. of grapes (red, green or mix) and put them in the skillet with a little salt for 3 to 5 min., until they start to give up their juices, then you swirl in 1 Tbl honey mustard, 1 Tbl warm water and 1 Tbl chopped thyme and cook together for 1 min. When the tenderloin is done, you let it rest a few minutes, then slice and spoon the sauce over the slices.

The photo in the book (I often start using a new cookbook by taking the ones that are photographed first) showed what looked like sauteed apple wedges on the plate as well. I could have just sauteed some apple wedges but I sneaked a quick peek at a tenderloin recipe in Anne Willan's Regional French Cooking, which she accompanies with caramelized apple rings. You don't peel the apples, but just core them and slice into thick rings. You dip one side in 2 Tbl of sugar and put into a skillet with 2 Tbl butter, cover and cook at high heat for 3 to 5 min., then sprinkle the top side with more sugar, turn over, cover and cook (be careful, the second side cooks much faster and mine got a little dark).

We had with a green salad and a Mondavi fume blanc.