On a whim one Sunday afternoon I thought I’d try making pork medallions with some of the amazing herbs happily growing in our garden. I stuck to the rosemary and thyme for this recipe, but we have some sage that is growing out of it’s mind crazy this year. We’ll have to come up with some other recipes for that…it’s a beautiful problem to have!
My son competed in Pro Start during High School (which is basically a 2 year cooking school for high school kids) and his high school had two teams competing in the State competition during his junior year. His team cooked lamb and the other team cooked pork medallions…the lamb beat out the pork medallions and took 1st in state, so they actually got to go to nationals to compete, which is blog post for another day. Let’s just say it was my son, 4 girls and whole lot of fun in San Diego, CA!
Back to the pork medallions….they were peppercorn crusted and were pretty amazing. Based off of this food memory I thought using our garden fresh herbs instead of the peppercorns might be kinda fun, also…I’m the only one that really likes pepper enough to warrant using them so heavily in a recipe! So herbs it was.
It’s actually a pretty quick meal to put together…pair it with some roasted veggies or butter basted baby red potatoes and a salad and you’ve got dinner on the table in no time. Hope it makes your mouth smile as much as it does ours!
herb crusted pork medallions
Paleo & Whole30 Pork Medallions
Credit: backporchpaleo.com
Ingredients
- 2 tblsp Dijon mustard
- 3-4 tblsp fresh thyme & rosemary, finely minced
- 1½ cup bone broth
- 1 tblsp @ottos_cassava_flour
- 2 tblsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 pork tenderloin, silver skin removed, cut into 1½” medallions
- 1 tblsp avocado oil
- 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
- Redmond Real Salt & pepper to taste
Directions
- Prep the mustard and herbs. Place the mustard in a small bowl and the herbs on a small plate, set aside.
- Mix bone broth, Otto’s cassava flour and balsamic vinegar together in a bowl and whisk til all the flour is completely incorporated, set aside.
- Pat the pork tenderloin dry. Carefully remove the silver skin that is typically always on one side. If you leave this silver skin on, when it’s cooked it will tighten up that section of the medallion and synch up the meat on that side, making it tough and not cook very evenly. Take the time to remove it. Just use a sharp knife and go slow so that you don’t cut into the tenderloin too much.
- Once the silver skin is removed, cut the tenderloin up into 1½-2″ sections and season cut sides with some salt. There will be a smaller piece from the very end of the tenderloin…just keep in mind that this one will cook quicker than the others so you might need to remove it from the pan so it doesn’t get overcooked.
- Once all medallions are cut, use a brush and paint the mustard around the sides of a medallion and sprinkle with fresh herbs. (If you’re using dried herbs, just remember that you won’t want to use as much of them as they are more concentrated, rather than roll them in the herbs you can dust sprinkle the herbs on the sides) and place on plate. Repeat with remaining medallions.
- Heat up a 10″-12 cast iron skillet over medium heat then add avocado oil. Once pan is ready, place all medallions in the pan cook until you have a golden sear on the first side then turn over and do the same on the other side. Remove medallions to plate and cover to keep warm.
- Add mushrooms to warm pan and season with a pinch or two of salt and pepper. They will begin to release some of their moisture and deglaze the pan. Let them brown up a bit then whisk broth/flour/vinegar mixture again and pour into the pan with the mushrooms. Stir to combine and simmer stirring occasionally. Sauce will thicken as it simmers
- Check the temperature of the medallions with a meat thermometer. If not quite done, place back in pan with sauce and cook to the desired temperature. Otherwise, serve medallions over your favorite cauli mash, potatoe puree or even roasted potatoes and spoon sauce over the top.
Just made this today (10/28/19) based on your photo on IG which drew me in. I made the balsamic mushroom sauce and served with my leftover roast beef and WOW! Going on my short list, for sure! Thanks!
Hey MJ – thanks so very much!! So glad you enjoyed the sauce, kinda scrumptious right! We sincerely appreciate you’re taking the time to leave such a great comment. Thanks for following along 🥰~Michelle