The Other White Meat

As a disclaimer, I have grown up hating pork. My mother would make pork chops and other pork related dinners all too frequently (in my young opinion!) and I would struggle to finish them. I actually went through a time after graduating from high school until probably 2-3 years ago of never eating pork at all. Nothing. No pork chops, pork tenderloin, bacon, nothing.

Well, as most everyone knows, Joe likes pork. I started off by trying bacon, and am now wholeheartedly a fan of that. Occasionally we'll get stuffed pork chops from the grocery store, and I don't mind those either. A couple of months ago our dinner club prepared a pork tenderloin. I figured I'd try it and give it a chance - much to my surprise, I really enjoyed it!

This weekend I figured it was time once and for all to shake off my issues with the other white meat. I found a recipe that sounded really good and thought I'd try it. Last night was the big night, and I am proud to say I really impressed myself!! :) Even better, the recipe was incredibly fast and easy, so I'm going to share it. I mean, if I liked it, it's gotta be good! (And yes, Joe liked it. Of course, he likes pork anyway, so for him, this was just another good dinner, outside the realm of the normal spaghetti casserole and rice & bean burritos)

Rasberry and Thyme Pork
4 (3 oz) pork medallions
canola oil
1/3 cup chopped red onion
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp orange juice
1/3 c raspberry preserves/jam
chopped fresh thyme to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Heat canola oil in saute pan. Saute pork in heated canola for 3 minutes. Turn pork over and saute the other side for an additional 3 minutes. Add red onion, vinegar and orange juice to pan and let cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add thyme, salt and pepper and continue cooking until pork is glazed.

I also steamed some fresh green beans, and used sea salt on both the pork and green beans (I love sea salt - it's so much better than regular salt, in my opinion!). Great dinner, and since our pork and green beans were on sale, it was cheap too!