Blue Cheese-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Blue cheese stuffing adds special taste to the plain pork dinner in an hour. MORE + LESS -

tablespoons butter

small onion, finely chopped (1/3 cup)

clove garlic, finely chopped

cup (4 oz) crumbled blue cheese (preferably an aged Gorgonzola)

tablespoons coarsely chopped dried cherries

tablespoons chopped pecans

teaspoons chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

pork tenderloins (1 lb each)

1/4

teaspoon salt

1/4

teaspoon pepper

tablespoon vegetable oil

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1

Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat oven to 400°F.
2

In 8-inch skillet, heat butter over medium heat until melted. Add onion and cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat and cool about 5 minutes.
3

In medium bowl, stir cheese vigorously with spoon. Stir in cooled onion mixture, cherries, pecans and thyme; set aside.
4

Place 1 pork piece on work surface with short side facing you. Use knife to slit in half lengthwise without going all the way through. Open pork like a book. Repeat with remaining pork. Spread half of the cheese mixture in center of each pork piece. Close up pork and tie with kitchen twine to secure. Season outside with salt and pepper.
5

In 12-inch ovenproof skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering and hot. Add pork and cook about 4 minutes or until browned. Flip, being careful not to open them up, and cook about 4 minutes longer. Insert ovenproof meat thermometer so tip is in the thickest part of pork.
6

Place skillet in oven and roast 10 to 15 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted in center reads 155°F. Remove from oven and allow to rest, loosely covered with foil, about 5 minutes (temperature will continue to rise to 160°F). Slice each pork piece into 6 pieces. (If you don’t have an ovenproof skillet, after browning pork in skillet, carefully place them in foil-lined 13x9-inch pan and then place in oven.)

Why it Works: A Rainbow of Colors Just as plants owe their green color to chlorophyll, meat is red because of a pigment called myoglobin. Myoglobin is a sensitive chemical, readily changing color when exposed to light or air. For example, without air (before slaughter or when packaged in the airtight packages often found at warehouse clubs) myoglobin colors meat a dark purple. When exposed to oxygen, myoglobin changes meat to its characteristic cherry red. Too much oxygen, combined with the florescent lights in the grocery store, can make the meat turn brown. Although this brown is unattractive, it doesn’t always mean the meat is spoiled—just handled improperly. The one color to watch out for is green; it signals bacteria growth and bad meat.