Food Blog

I haven’t posted a recipe lately - here’s one.

Mutsu apple and Thai Basil Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

I got a few Mutsu apples from the Evanston farmer’s market. Mutsus are also known as Crispins and are a sweet, crisp, long-lasting apples. A woman tasting a slice at the booth gave a description more likey to be heard at a wine tasting “notes of honey and tart spice’. She also described the skin as heavy a slightly ‘chamois’ quality. She knew her apples and noted that they hadn’t peaked yet. The conversation moved on to the longevity of these apples, and I learned that the best way to keep them, is to wrap them individually in newspaper and store them in the frig. They could last up to 3 months but the farmer said she had been told that one of her apples was fine a year later.

I also grabbed some Thai basil, and the spicy fragrancy seemed a good match with the apples and a pork tenderloin I had at home. I also had a couple of packages of filo dough in the freezer.

I didn’t really do any planning for this dish, I just winged it, but next time I might throw in a few more fancy steps like roasting the apples first. Also, in my haste, I thought I might save some time and add some flavor by parboiling the tenderloin in a mix of water, apple, apple cider vinegar, and a bunch of the Thai basil. It worked, but for a better stuffed look, it would have been better to cut the tenderloin so it rolled out, which you really can’t do once the meat is even slightly cooked.

After parboiling, I cut the tenderloin like you would a roll of french bread for a sandwhich - not cutting all the way through, and scooping out a bit to add room for the stuffing. The excess meat was minced and added to the stuffing which consisted of minced apple and minced Thai basil. I think I threw a shake or two of ginger in there, and if I didn’t, I should have.

The whole stuffed tenderloin was then wrapped in several layers of thawed filo dough, which was dampened with melted butter. Because of the way I cut the tenderloin, I didn’t need to tie it up. It went into an iron pan, and into a 350F degree oven until the filo was brown and flaky.

I would recommend pre-cooking the tenderloin somehow, by browning or by my parboiling method, since if the meat is too thick, it may not cook before the filo is browned.

Slice the meat with a very sharp knife, preferably with a bread knife, to show off the stuffing, which should infuse the inside of the meat with it’s apple-ly basil goodness.