Quick and Easy: Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apple Cider Sauce

Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal

French cooks make a sauce called beurre blanc that calls for boiling vinegar and wine until well concentrated, then beating in butter.

The American riff on that butter sauce is easier. Boil apple cider (or juice) down to a few tablespoons, add cream, boil again, then add butter. The one trick: Make sure your butter is fresh.

If you want to increase the amount of sauce, feel free to double it; the ingredients may take a little longer to reduce to sauce consistency.

• 1 pork tenderloin (about a pound)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup apple cider or apple juice
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Salt and pepper the pork. Spray a small baking sheet with nonstick spray and put the pork on it. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 155 to 160 degrees. Remove from the oven and remove pork to a cutting board.

Put the apple cider into the pan and scrape any brown bits up from the bottom. Put the pan on a stove burner. Stirring occasionally, let the cider boil until it is reduced to 1/4 cup (it will be quite dark). Add cream and boil five minutes until very thick. Remove from heat. Put in a tablespoon of butter and beat vigorously as it melts. Add the second piece of butter and beat until it melts. To serve the pork, slice thinly and drizzle with sauce. Pass extra sauce, if desired.

Serves 4.