Pork Tenderloin in a White Wine and Pear Reduction

Last week I told you about my friend Jennifer's bachelorette party in Plymouth, MA.  While we were at one of the wineries, they told us about a pear jam they make with one of their white wines, and I knew I needed to bring a bottle of it home to use in a marinade.

This works best when your wine has notes of pear, since you're making a white wine & pear reduction - add a dash of cinnamon and a little sugar and it's the perfect complement to the pork.

Unless you have endless amounts of time to make dinner, I'd recommend making this marinade while dinner cooks the night before.  Then you'll have plenty of time for the pork to marinate...and you can just preheat and cook the next evening!  Easy-peasy.


And...if you're interested, the wine I used was the Plymouth Bay Winery's Widow's Walk white wine.  You can buy some here.

Ingredients
4 Bartlet Pears
1.5-2 cups white wine (with pear notes)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 cup sugar
2 pork tenderloins
Salt

Directions
Wash, peel and chop pears.  Combine pears, 1 cup wine, cinnamon, and sugar in a medium pot and cook over low for 40-60 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes.  If wine cooks off, add another half cup to continue cooking.

Once pears are cooked through, use a handheld masher and mash pears in pot, so they're smashed, but not completely pureed (the little chunks are delicious).

Add another half cup of wine and simmer on low for another 15 - 20 minutes, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and let cool.
Place 2 pork tenderloins in a galon sized Ziploc bag and pour in cool marinade mixture.  Seal and refrigerate for 4-24 hours.

Transfer pork and marinade into a large Pyrex dish and sprinkle with salt.  Bake at 350 degrees for 60-90 minutes (depending on tenderloin thickness), or until done.  Then slice and serve with a scoop of the pear/white wine reduction.

Want to try another yummy tenderloin recipe?  Check out my Honey Mustard and Apple Tenderloin.