Smoky, bloody swine

I've discovered that any sort of fruit juice + chipotle canned in adobo makes an amazing sauce for pork. Previously, my favorite that I invented was with some leftover pomegranate juice, but heretofore, the sauce has been a completely off-the-cuff improvisation. I made it intentionally recently because I was inspired by some really beautiful blood oranges at the store, and I hadn't done a pork tenderloin in a while.

Pork Tenderloin with Blood Orange Chipotle Sauce

Serves 4

For the pork:
2 pork tenderloins
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Sprinkle tenderloins generously with salt and pepper, place together, thin end-to-thick end, in a roasting pan and bake until the internal temperature reaches 141 degrees, about 30 minutes. Remove and cover in foil and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes. Cut into 1/2 inch medallions to serve.

For the sauce:
7 blood oranges, 3 segmented and juiced, 4 juiced. Reserve juice and segments separately
2 shallots, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T olive oil
2 c broth
1 chipotle in adobo, minced with about 1 T sauce. Remove seeds for reduced heat.
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute shallots until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chipotle and saute for about 30 seconds. Add broth and orange juice and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add orange segments and simmer for about 2 minutes. Pour the juices from the rested pork into the sauce, stir and serve over the pork medallions.

I served this over polenta which I made from instant and added a little freshly grated parmesan cheese.

The boy gave this dish a standing ovation, so I think it was pretty good. The leftovers were great too.