Pork Tenderloin for Saturday Night #Dinner

How was your first Saturday of 2013?  Are you back to your routine?  -  We are back to our Saturday routine as the Sophie Scholl Schule {German Saturday School} started back up today.  Both girls have been excited the last couple of days as today there the kids got to enjoy a show by a German performer {yes, all in German}.  I am so excited that both girls like going; yes, I speak pretty much only German with them but there is no way that I am able to teach them writing and reading in German.  The drive  on Saturday's to the school is - admittedly - a drag as it takes us close to thirty minutes to get to Beaverton. But the benefit by far outweighs the burden...yup, it really does.  I usually spend the 2-1/2 hours working but as the week ahead will be super busy took the opportunity to get all of the grocery shopping out of the way.

What on earth - yes, I can clearly hear you say that - does any of this have to do with the title of this post. Yes, yes, it is just taking me a very long way to get to what we had for dinner.  So, as I said I went grocery shopping as the girls were in school and I got a beautiful pork loin.  One of my blogger  friends - Liz - posted about the Spaetzle she made earlier this week so Spaetzle was a total must side for this Saturday night...Plus the entire family really, really likes Spaetzle - I guess you can tell that the mothership is a "Schwaebin" :)

Usually cut the pork loin into individual slices, wrap it in canadian bacon and bake it under a blanket of sauteed brown onions. The other option was to cut it into slices and fry it up individually.  Neither option sounded that great to me and I wanted to create something similar to a "Schweinefilet Toepfle" {individual pork filet pots}.  It is a dish that is on many restaurants in Swabia {Southern Germany} which usually consists of tender slices of pork tenderloin, mushroom cream sauce {or other cream sauce}, and Spaetzle.  I am not sure if the explanation is any good - but it is really good. So, my goal was to make the pork tenderloin in one piece without drying out.  Take a look at the result...

there is good and bad news.  The good news is that I am certain that I will be able to recreate the meat, the bad news is that I tweaked the sauce so much that it surely will taste a lot different the next time plus I can only give estimates...

Pork Tenderloin
Splash of olive oil
1 Pork Tenderloin {app. 1 lb}
Salt
Pepper
Dijon or Aioli Mustard
1. Liberally cover the meat with salt and pepper.  Slather it with mustard
2. Heat olive oil in pan - when hot sear the meat from all sides
* Preheat oven to 180F
4. Bake in a dish for 40 minutes
5. Increase temperature to 375F and bake for another 10 minutes {be sure to check the meat after 10 minutes to make sure it is not overcooked. It will continue to cook after you remove it from the oven}

*** While the meat is in the oven prepare the sauce ***

Mushroom Sauce
1 small onion diced
1-1/2 c white button mushrooms sliced
1/8 C dry Sherry
1/8 C dry white wine
1/2 C Soy Creamer {plain}
Salt, Pepper
2-4 Tbl While Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbl Aioli Mustard

1. Using the pan where you seared the meat - add the diced onion and sautee with a pinch of salt
    until soft. You may have to add a little splash of olive oil. When the onion is soft,
2. Add mushrooms and sautee for another 5 minutes or so. Then add
3. Sherry, and white wine carefully scraping up all the bits that burned to the bottom of the pan.  Bring
    to a slow boil, then add
4. Soy Creamer {and Tofutti Sour Cream}, salt, and pepper and bring to a slow simmer. Stir often.
5. Adjust flavors by adding salt, pepper, and vinegar.  I finished it with Aioli Mustard

To serve, cut the meat into thin slices {it should be a little pink} serve with a side of Spaetzle, the cream sauce, and - of course :) - a big bowl of salad.