Lemon Rosemary Pork Medallions - a test with the other white meat!

Once again I was in need of a new recipe and I turned to Williams Sonoma Cooking at Home for inspiration.  I wanted to do something different so I went for a recipe using the other white meat - PORK!  While there were a couple of recipes that looked interesting, I decided to make the pork medallions with lemon and rosemary.

The Ingredients

The Necessities...

• 1 Pork tenderloin (about 1 1/2 lbs), trimmed
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• Salt and ground pepper
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• 4 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 Teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1/2 Cup dry white wine
• 2 Cups chicken broth
• 1/4 Cup rinsed capers (optional)
• 1-2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Lemon wedges (garnish)

First step: I cut the pork tenderloin crosswise into slices about 1/2 inch thick and one at a time placed them between saran wrap and flattened with a a meat pounder until the meat was 1/4 inch thick.  We don't have a meat pounder (space is at a premium in our kitchen!) so I used the bottom of a glass jar, which worked just fine.

Before moving onto cooking the meat, I prepared the rest of the components by chopping and mincing the garlic as well as chopping the fresh rosemary.

All Chopped Up!

Next, I rinsed the capers.

Capers

Capers are something I am never sure of, and since they were optional I almost didn't include them, but I figured I should try them again.  I think overall I'm still not a big fan - I find them to be very similar to olives - but they were totally worth keeping in this recipe.

To finish preparing the meat, I poured the flour onto a large plate and stirred in the salt and ground pepper.  I coated the pork and shook off any extra flour. 

Flouring the pork...

Meanwhile, I heated the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Once the oil was hot enough, I placed the pork into the pan and allowed it to cook for about 4 minutes on each side until golden brown.  I had to add a bit more olive oil a few times to the pan since it kept drying out.  Also, my cuts of meat were a bit thicker than the recipe called for, so I cooked each side for the full 4 minutes.  If yours are thinner you could cook them less.

Cooking Pork

As you can see, the meat was cooking and leaving all sorts of brown bits on the bottom of the pan that would add delicious flavor to the dish.  I set the meat aside on a warm pan for later, reduced the heat to low and sauteed the garlic and rosemary in the pan.  After a minute, I raised the heat to high and added the wine and deglazed the pan, making sure I scraped up all the good brown bits.  The rosemary was so fragrant!

Deglazing

I allowed the wine to boil until it reduced by half, which only took about a minute.  I added the broth to the pan and brought it all to a boil again until it reduced by half again, about 5 minutes. 

Reducing some more...

Finally, I stirred in the capers and seasoned the sauce with the lemon juice, salt and pepper. 

I plated the meat, added the asparagus that I steamed, and poured the sauce over the pork and garnished with a lemon wedge and a rosemary sprig (very creative, I know).

Plated Meal!

Overall I really enjoyed this meal!  Being pork and all it was a definite stretch from our typical meals, but that was good for us!  The sauce had a lot of dimension and the you could really taste the rosemary and lemon.  The capers added a great texture and flavor to the sauce that really mixed things up.  Even better, the dish really did not take much time - this is a totally doable weekday meal.