this little piggy stayed home…

Can you tell that I’m running out of ideas for post titles? Well, I am.  It’s hard to be creative with these things, day after day. 🙂  I may soon resort to Pork 5, Chicken 27, and Salad 34. Whatever, this is a pork recipe…

I used up the remaining rhubarb-strawberry compote. If you didn’t make the compote, you can still make this recipe, just substitute jam or preserves. I also had small portions of three different onions in my fridge; red onion, sweet onion, and a large shallot, so I combined those to make up the 1 1/2 cups needed for the sauce. Any type of onion will do. The recipe works equally well with pork loin or pork tenderloin, whichever you prefer or find on sale.

Sage Rubbed Pork with Sweet Onion-Rhubarb Compote

6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, ground in a spice mill
2 1/2 pounds pork loin or pork tenderloins, trimmed of fat and silver skin
1  1/2 cups diced onion
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 cup rhubarb-strawberry compote or 1 cup berry jam or preserves

Fresh sage sprigs, for garnish

Mix 3 tablespoons olive oil, ground black pepper, salt, dried sage, and ground fennel in a small bowl. Rub spice mixture all over the pork and let stand 15 minutes.

Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and cook until browned on all sides, about 6 minutes. Remove to a plate.

Add onion to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and 2 tablespoons water; continue cooking, stirring often, until the onion is soft, 5 to 7 minutes more, adding 1 tablespoon of water at a time if necessary to prevent burning. Stir in rhubarb compote and mix well.

Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of pork registers 150 degrees, turning pork occasionally, about 8 minutes longer for tenderloins and 12 to 15 minutes for pork loin.

Transfer pork to cutting board; let rest 5 minutes. Cut pork crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices; arrange on a platter. Serve with onion-rhubarb compote and garnish with sage sprigs.

Serves 6