Bridget's Recipe Corner

The other day I defrosted a pork tenderloin. Knowing I needed to cook it, I was looking for some inspiration. It's funny how things pop into your head when you least expect it. Here's what happened. We had an opportunity to attend the Balistreri Vineyard Harvest Party on Sunday. If you haven't been, I strongly recommend going next year. The food, venue, people, wine...it's all good. Any way, they had amazing platters of cheese, which was a great thing for someone like me. There was an abundance of one of my very favorites - goat cheese. After consuming way too much of it, I thought of how I might incorporate it into my meat dish. This was the result. It went over well in my 'test kitchen' so now I am sharing it with you. Hope you enjoy it too.

Stuffed pork tenderloin

For the stuffing:
1-2 pork tenderloins, trimmed of fat

1/2 lb. Cremini mushrooms, chopped coarsely (divided)
1/2 lb. Button mushrooms, chopped coarsely (divided)
2 shallots, minced
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
3-4 oz. Garlic herbed goat cheese
dash Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
olive oil

For the coating:

2 eggs
1/2 - 3/4 c. milk

3/4 c. Panko breadcrumbs (I think they're better than regular bread crumbs).
2-3 T. Italian leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
freshly ground pepper, to taste

For the pan dripping sauce:
1 1/2 cans vegetable broth
3/4 c. dry white wine
freshly ground black pepper
1 t. olive oil
remaining chopped mushrooms

Preheat oven to 375°. Trim any extra fat/sinew from pork tenderloin. Butterfly and lay open. Pound both sides of meat with smooth side of mallet to approximately 3/4" thickness on both sides. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large skillet. When hot, add onion and shallot. Cook approximately 5 minutes or until soft. Add 1/2 of each kind of mushroom. Cook until soft. Remove from heat and place in large bowl. Add goat cheese and mix well until cheese is absorbed/melted into mixture. Take spoonfuls of the mixture and place on meat. Fold over and secure with toothpicks. Combine milk and eggs in one shallow bowl, whisk well. In separate shallow bowl, combine Panko crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley and seasonings. Carefully dip stuffed meat into liquid mixture. Be certain to cover thoroughly. Then, carefully place in Panko coating, making certain to cover entire piece of meat. Repeat with second tenderloin. In the same skillet used for the mushrooms, heat additional olive oil. When hot, add the pork tenderloins and brown well on all sides. Place the browned meat in a greased 13x9 baking dish. Place in oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until cooked through. In the same skillet, add 1 t. olive oil and mushrooms. Slowly add vegetable broth and wine. Let the drippings and liquids condense before adding the rest. When the meat is cooked, remove from oven and let rest about five minutes. Cut slices of stuffed meat and spoon pan drippings over the meat.