As you can probably tell from my blog, I usually post about sewing, and craft projects. I do however like to cook, and have fallen in love with my Instant Pot (Pressure cooker). This is the first time I've really written up a recipe, so please be kind. I'm sure there are other ways to do this, and I might drop the cooking time to 8 mins next time. But the meat was not overcooked, and still very juicy. I had looked up a few different recipes for the pork, and found a couple that sounded good so I kind of merged the recipes. One was for a slow cooker, the other was oven roasted so I adapted the cooking method to the Instant Pot. I was really impressed with the flavor so I decided to write down what I did while it was still fresh in my memory. Then I decided I should share it with others. So here it is, I hope you like it. I'm sure you could lots of other root veggies, or a splash of brandy to de-glaze.
Instant Pot: Pork tenderloin with apples and sweet potatoes
1 pork tenderloin
1 med onion
1-4 cloves of garlic depending on taste
2-4 apples depending on size
1-2 sweet potatoes sliced ½” thick
½ cup apple juice (or stock)
Handful of dried cranberries, (frozen would be great too)
seasoning
Cut pork into large pieces to fit into pot *. Put Instant Pot on saute and heat up some olive oil. Then season the pork with all purpose seasoning (or your fav mix), and sear in the bottom of the pan. Meanwhile chop onions, garlic, apples, and sweet potato.
Take the meat out of the pan and add the onions, stir and cook for a few minutes, toss in the garlic till fragrant. Add a splash of the apple juice to deglaze the pan and scrape up any brown bits.
Now add everything back into the pot, season to your taste, and add the rest of the apple juice. Put the lid on and set to ‘Chicken 10 mins’. Then NPR
After about 10 mins I took the lid off and checked my meat, it was perfect, I ladled it all into a serving dish, leaving the liquid. Put the pot back on saute, and and mix 1 Tbs cornstarch with a bit of water, and add to pot. Stir till you get the desired consistency for your pan sauce. Serve on the side, or pour over the meat.
*I had a very large tenderloin I cut into 4 4” sections, any smaller and you’ll have to reduce cooking time. If you have a small tenderloin you can sear whole, then just leave it.
If you don’t have an Instant Pot, or other electronic pressure cooker, then you can easily do this in the slowcooker (leave pieces whole), or bake in the oven. I’d check your meat at the 20 mark, to keep an eye on it, you don’t want to overcook your pork.
I also did brown rice in my instant pot to serve with this. 1 cup broth to 1 cup rinsed rice, and a dab of butter and salt. Set to manual for 22 mins. (this was my first time trying it, and it turned out perfect).
