Lemon Butter Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is such an awesome cut of meat. It’s versatile, delicious and can be made in so many ways. I love pork tenderloin from the grill, in the oven, with sauces, dry rubbed, cooked in a pan, in sandwiches, with salads, well, you get the point. This recipe is one I found on the internet. I wanted something a little different and that would utilize the best lemons I’ve ever had. A long time friend of ours offered to give us a “few lemons” from the trees in their back yard. Having a bumper crop this year, they wanted to share. Wow, did they ever! We received a large shopping bag full of beautiful lemons, so many that I had to find a way to keep them long term and not have them spoil. These lemons are the same as those that are grown along the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The skins are not as thick, they have a slight orange tint, a hint of sweet, and can be eaten by themselves! The Amalfi Coast in Italy is famous for its lemon trees and lemons that are grown on every hillside and spot of land that isn’t occupied by a structure of some kind.

So, being inspired to make use of the lemons brought me to this recipe. I’ve made a few changes because the results were not as good as I had hoped. The problem may have been the chef, but I think the directions were a little off, in terms of timing.

This recipe will make 4 hearty servings and can be served over egg noodles, pasta or rice.

Prep time: 20 min – Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients

Making The Magic

Prep the pork tenderloin by slicing it into 1/2″ thick slices. Place about six of the slices into a large freezer bag. Pond the meat until it is thinned. I like to use the edge of a plate, not a meat tenderizer. The plate doesn’t pierce the bag and it keeps me from pounding too hard. You want to “thin” the meat into cutlets, not obliterate and separate! Season the cutlets to taste with the salt and pepper.

Wash the outside of the lemons. Cut one of the lemons in half, squeeze out all the juice from both halves, and set it aside for later. Discard the skin. Slice the other two lemons and set them aside.

Heat the Olive Oil and 2T butter in a large sauce pan or skillet. Bring the heat up to medium high. Add the pork tenderloin cutlets and brown on both sides. Don’t cook more than 1 1/2 minutes per side.

Remove the cutlets from the oil and set aside.

Begin to cook your egg noddles and let them finish while you do the rest of this.

Add 2T butter to the pan. Lower the heat to medium and drop in the mushrooms. Spread them evenly and allow them to cook, undisturbed, for a few minutes. Look for them to begin to change color, then stir the mushrooms to allow them to start releasing their moisture. DO NOT add salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, and then remove the mushrooms from the pan, leaving as much liquid as possible.

Add the garlic to the sizzling liquid and stir for a minute. Add the lemon juice and scrape all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the garlic bloom in the pan and the lemon juice blend with the butter, oil and garlic. This takes about 3 minutes. The flavors will enhance each other and it begins to add a richness to the intensity of the flavor.

Add the pork and the mushrooms back to the pan. Layer the sliced lemons all over the pork and mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes. Don’t overcook the pork, or it will dry out. The original recipe said to cook for a total of 10 minutes, but that was far too long.

While this is cooking, drain the noodles and plate them.

Ladle the sauce over the plated pork tenderloin and lemons. Sit down and be prepared for your tastebuds to tingle! The flavors are amazing!

Variations To Keep It New

Since this is the first time I made this dish I can’t tell you what I’ve had. I can share what I think would be good with this.

Try serving this over rice or with a pasta, like linguine. I’m thinking this could also be an awesome dish if you made it with oranges, instead of lemons. I would definitely serve it over Jasmine Rice if I did it with oranges. I’m also thinking that adding some raisins to this while the pork tenderloin, mushrooms and lemons are cooking together would be awesome.

Wines We Love With This

We had a nice Pinot Grigio

Also would be good with:

Chardonnay

Sauvignon Blanc

Leftovers

What we had, we simply reheated in the microwave. It was just as delicious as the first time.

So, when life gives you lemons…….make Lemon Butter Pork Tenderloin!

Question

What is your favorite recipe using lemons!