Don’t throw away those old recipes

 

Recently a search for a much-used crockpot pulled pork recipe sent me prowling through old files of recipes I’d clipped and served over the years. My great downsizing several years ago had involved heavy thinning of my appalling collection of recipes, but there were some I just couldn’t part with. They went in file folders to be tucked away in the filing cabinet in my closet—don’t ask! Looking for that barbecue recipe, I came across several treasures that were familiar down to the stains that indicated they had been well used.

One was a recipe for pork medallions with a tarragon sauce. It’s from a page in a September 1984 issue of Woman’s Day. It’s on a page titled, “30 Minute Meals.” The paper is yellowed and fragile, and I photocopied it for safety’s sake.

Food writer Mark Bittman has a version of this that calls for browning the entire tenderloin before cutting it into medallions. I tried his version a few days after the older one from my files, and while I agree with him about browning the whole piece of meat, I liked the original recipe best. I did substitute sour cream for heavy cream, mostly because that’s what I had on hand. It worked well. Here’s what I did.

Ingredients

Pork tenderloin, about 1-1/2 lbs.

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp. butter

½ c. beef broth

½ tsp. tarragon

½ c. sour cream

Directions

Brown the tenderloin on all sides in butter; you can curve it to fit the skillet. When it has a nice sear, remove from skillet and cool enough to handle. Slice into medallions, about 1-1/2 inch thick. Use meat tenderizer or other tool to flatten the medallions just a bit.

Spread thin layer of mustard on one side of each medallion. Brown the medallions, mustard-side down, in same skillet. You may want to add a bit more butter, but remember that pork makes it’s own fat. It should only take three or four minutes to get a nice brown in one side; turn and brown the other side. Remove medallions from pan and keep warm (I put them on a cookie sheet in a cold oven; if you heat the oven keep it low, like 200^o—pork dries out easily.)

Add beef broth and tarragon to skillet and scrape browned bits off bottom of pan. Cook gently until broth reduces by a third. At this point, you can put dinner on hold if necessary, if the meat is kept warm. When ready to serve, add sour cream to broth, stir to blend, and then put medallions back in the sauce. Do not let it boil or the cream will curdle.

Good with mashed potatoes or egg noodles for the gravy and a green vegetable such as beans or asparagus. This served four easily.

Would you believe I forgot to take a picture? The image above is close but not mine.