A great cold weather roast.  This was my first time roasting a pork tenderloin, and I used Greenspan’s around my french table for pointers.  It was surprisingly easy to put together, and the results were simply mouth watering.  I will definitely be making this one again.  I served the tenderloin with Hasselbacken potatoes – another great recipe that will be posted and linked soon.

Kale & Apple Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lb Pork Tenderloin (room temp)
• 1 diced Onion
• 3 minced cloves of Garlic
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• 1 lb Baby Kale (you can use regular kale – make sure to remove the stems and chop it up)
• 1/2 of a firm, tart Apple diced (granny smiths are great)
• Pinch of hot Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds
• Salt and Pepper for seasoning
• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper Corns
• 1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds

Materials (that will make your cooking experience easier):

• Meat thermometer or cooking probe
• Kitchen Twine
• Mortar and Pestle

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. On the stove top sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil.
3. Gradually add in the kale.  The kale will wilt and cook down a bit, so crowd the sauté pan and keep on adding more kale as the pervious kale cooks down until all of the kale has been incorporated.
4. Season the kale with salt, pepper, the fennel seeds, and a pinch of red pepper flakes (more if you enjoy the heat).
5. Remove the kale from the stove top, and stir in the apples.
6.  Use a knife to butterfly open the pork tenderloin.
7. Evenly spoon and press the kale, apple stuffing onto the open pork tenderloin.
8. Tightly roll up the pork tenderloin so that the stuffing is trapped in the center of the tenderloin.  Unfortunately, my pork tenderloin came in two separate thin pieces, so instead of rolling the tenderloin up, I ended up butterflying both pieces and laying one on top of the other with the stuffing in between.  This technique is probably easier then rolling up the tenderloin, but can be harder to cut uniformly when serving.
9. Use kitchen twine to hold your stuffed tenderloin together.  Once again since I stacked my tenderloin instead of rolling it, I did not need to use twine to hold it together.  Another advantage of not messing with rolling it.
10. Place the pork tenderloin into a lightly greased, open baking dish.
11. Grind up the black pepper corns, mustard, and coriander seeds.  Using a mortar and pestle that would be ideal, but you can use the bottom of a heavy bottomed pan if push comes to shove.
12. Rub the ground spices on to the top of the pork roast.
13. Season with salt.
14. Place the roast in the oven for about 40 minutes or until the meat thermometer reads 140 F internally at the thickest part of the roast.
15. Remove the roast from the oven, and allow it to rest for about 15 minutes before carving into it.