After a wonderful long weekend in Canada, it was off to the grocery store to plan some upcoming dinners. The plan for last nights dinner was to be Butter Chicken but that was immediately scratched with the chaos and delays in getting the necessary preparation done to really make this happen.

The back up plan came quickly into play. Pork Tenderloin.

I usually roast the entire tenderloin in the oven but short on time, I decided to prepare medallions.

Will the family be eating Butter Chicken tonight? Probably not…..Time to reinvent my 5 o’clock rush for tonight. I used most of the Butter Chicken ingredients last night. Well, except the chicken! 😉

Panko Pork Medallions with Savoury Apple and Pineapple Sauce

Serves 4

Mise En Place

Panko crusted Pan Fried Pork tenderloin

• 2 pork tenderloins, cleaned
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup of flour
• 2 cups of Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to season

Savoury Apples and Pineapple Sauce

• 2 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 pear, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 pineapple, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1/2 Vidalia onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tbsp of Oktoberfest mustard*
• 3 tbsp of caramel or maple syrup 
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450.  

Remove the silver skin from the tenderloin. Slice into at least 1″ medallions and flatten. Season both side of the medallions with salt and pepper.

Prepare a breading station. Place the eggs, flour and panko into three separate rimmed plates. I use inexpensive glass pie plates.

Season each with salt.  Coat lightly in the seasoned flour, shaking off excess. Dip into the whisked eggs to coat. Dredge in the panko mixture and press bread crumbs to ensure they stick well. 

In my time crunch last night, I did the ‘shake and bake’ method. I whisked the eggs in the bowl, placed the flour and breadcrumbs in 2 separate Ziploc bags. Place a couple of pieces of pork in the flour bag, zip the bag closed. Shake, shake, shake. Remove coated pork from bag, dip in eggs, then place in breadcrumb bag, zip, and shake, shake, shake. Continue with all pieces.

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat with 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil. Working in batches, fry the breaded medallions until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and cook on the second side until golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. The pic below shows that the pork is still very pink/raw, the pan frying is really just to colour both sides.

Place the golden brown medallions on foil lined baking sheet and put in the oven for 5-8 minutes until cooked through. 

Wipe out the same cast iron skillet that was used for the pork, and saute the onions, apples, pears and pineapple in butter.

Once the onions are softened about 2 minutes, add in water, mustard and red pepper flakes. Reduce and add caramel. Season with salt and pepper.

Tips: Cut into thick medallions to prevent overcooking.

When breading, make sure to season all the elements: pork, flour, eggs, breadcrumbs. Use the F-E-B technique — first Flour, then dip in Egg, and finish with Breadcrumbs.

* Can be replaced with a Dijon or grainy mustard.