Legal Tender-loin

Hello all....
I'm feeling a little tired today...smoothie for breakfast, turkey salad on flatbread for lunch, an apple and some trail mix on the road, and then dinner, which was, I have to say, incredible...I wanted it to be different, and I wanted to include homey, comforting and memorable flavours that would go together....it should be ILLegal it was so good...I'm absolutely not bragging here, just so pleased, it's exactly what I wanted and it was a gamble all the way, most of my experiments are...
Legal Tender-loin

1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of any surface fat

Glaze:
2 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 c honey
2 pcs. candied ginger chopped fine, or 3/4" fresh garlic, grated. Don't use dry ginger, you'll appreciate the bits when you get one...
2 tsp. cornstarch
4 cloves garlic, minced fine
Zest and juice of one medium orange
Combine the soy sauce and honey, whisk until combined, and add everything else...heat on LOW, do not let this boil.... Give it a stir now and again and your kitchen will smell really nice....

Pork Filling:
1 apple peeled and finely chopped, then soaked in 2c. water with 2 tbsp. lemon juice
small handful of loose pack dates, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Drain the apples but leave them wet, mix with the dates and spices, and set aside. Make sure the spices are evenly distributed, there isn't much but you really wouldn't want any more...

Use a meat tenderizer or mallet to flatten out your tenderloin until it's about 1/2" thick and big enough to contain your apple stuffing.

Lay your apple mixture out in a line down the middle of your tenderloin and either bring up the sides to meet and slightly overlap, or roll it if you can...I used skewers to secure it but you could use hooks, string, whatever you would usually use...

Get your oven reallllly hot..over 500 degrees...

Put your tenderloin in ( on a rack, don't let it rest on the bottom of the pan, and make sure to use a metal pan, I broke a stoneware baking dish getting it that hot...) and let it sear for 10-13 minutes...remove it from the oven and turn the temperature down to 350 degrees... spoon sauce over it until it's covered, but be sure to reserve sauce for your second glazing coat during cooking, and about 1/2c for drizzling...it will reduce in volume as you let it sit on low heat while your meat cooks...the reduction is flavourful, glossy and smells amazing...

Cook it for about another half hour, glazing once more about 10 mins short of being done.

Slice it into coins almost an inch thick and drizzle the remainder of your sauce over it...the apples will be very tender and the dates will be soft, it looks like it's not healthy at ALL but it really is!

I served it with baby carrots and cauliflower, but it would have been very very nice with yams and something green and linear, green beans maybe, or asparagus...I had to go with what I had on hand..*sigh*


Have a good night and if you make this, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Amy