I read a recipe on Better Homes & Gardens recently that caught my attention. It was a beef stroganoff recipe where the sour cream sauce was mixed together, then poured over the meat and simmered. This may be a common way of doing it, but it’s not something I was familiar with. When adding sour cream to a sauce, I usually whisk it in at the end.

I have been in a rut recently — I haven’t done anything honestly new. Sure, I make things that taste different, but it’s really the same thing, just differing a few ingredients.

Lorraine defrosted a pork tenderloin and asked me to make scallopini, something with a wine sauce. We haven’t done that recently (lots of grilling) so it would be a nice change. I was going to get out white wine but thought of the stroganoff recipe. Since I had a brand new container of sour cream in the fridge, I brought up one of my few remaining bottles of 2016 Chocolate Orange Port, and set to work!

Lorraine really liked this one! It’s not low fat, but it’s really easy to make, and it’s done in 40 minutes start to finish.

Pork-Port Stroganoff

• 1 pork tenderloin, cleaned of silverside, cut in 1″ slices, pounded 1/4″ thick
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• paprika salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup sweet red or white wine (port or Marsala work great!)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp Pampered Chef Greek seasoning
• 1/2 tsp paprika salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Heat the butter and oil in a large, deep skillet or saute pan. When hot, brown the pork in batches on both sides, sprinkling lightly with paprika salt. Add more oil if needed. When browned, remove to a large bowl and cover to keep warm.

While the meat is cooking, whisk the sour cream, wine, stock, cardamom, Greek seasoning, salt, and pepper until smooth.

When all the pork is cooked, add the meat back to the pan and spread out in a single layer if possible. Pour the sour cream sauce over the top.

Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the sauce is thick. Watch for burning. If it gets too thick, add a bit of chicken stock and cook 1 additional minute.

Serve over pasta.

Notes:

I was given a large jar of paprika salt for Christmas. When this runs out, I’m going to try mixing 1 Tbsp paprika with 4 Tbsp salt. This is just a guess and I won’t know for sure until I try it.

Unfortunately for the world, the Fazekas Winery 2016 Chocolate Orange Port is not generally available. Substitute a commercial port or Marsala, or a cream sherry. A dry wine will work, but the sweet wine adds character.

If you don’t have the Pampered Chef Greek seasoning on hand, substitute any “Greek” seasoning or Herbes de Provence.

The pepper listed was skipped, as pepper can bother Lorraine’s stomach. I have a grinder on the table containing a pepper blend (black, white, red, & green) so I ground some over my plate.

No biggie. I assumed (rightly) that Lorraine wanted me to do something with it. A few hours later when she got home she confirmed that she wanted me to make dinner … and just getting the pork out and not saying anything was an in-joke for us. I doubt that anyone else would understand OR think there was a joke, but after 26 years together, Lorraine and I have our own “things” that no one else is expected to understand. LOL!

I looked at my recipe database (I’m a computer geek, I have a recipe database that currently has 9,000+ recipes, plus probably several thousand more I haven’t loaded) and didn’t find anything I liked.

Got lemons in the fridge and chocolate-orange port downstairs … figured it would be interesting.

Pork Scallopine in Port/Lemon Sauce

• 2 pork tenderloins, 2 to 3 lbs
• corn starch for dredging &thickening
• salt & ground black pepper
• butter & olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground or rubbed sage
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 2 cups chicken stock
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1/2 cup port wine

Clean the tenderloins of excess fat and silverside. Cut in 2″ to 3″ pieces. Pound thin: Place a couple of pieces on a solid cutting board, cover with plastic wrap to avoid spattering, and pound thin (3/8″) with a good meat mallet. Repeat until all pork is processed.

Heat 2 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saute pan until the butter sputters. I reduce the heat after the butter/oil is hot, typically to medium.

Dredge pork in cornstarch. I do enough to fit in the pan and then dredge the next batch while the first one is frying. Brown the pork on both sides, making sure to not overcook. If it’s still a bit pink in the middle it’s fine. The pork has to reach only 145 F to kill parasites, so rare pork is actually ok.

After each batch is browned remove to a covered dish and keep warm. Add more butter/oil as needed, bringing it up to temperature before adding the next batch of pork.

Add chicken stock and lemon juice, and bring to a boil. Add port. Boil for 2 minutes, scraping the browned bits up. Add seasonings. Yes, I did not directly season the pork. If desired, the pork can be seasoned with salt and pepper before dredging.

Mix 1/2 cup cold water with 2 Tbsp cornstarch, and add slowly to the pan while stirring. Thickening is an art, not a science, so it may take more or less to make the stock thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Reduce heat to low and add the pork back into the pan, stirring to coat. Cover and simmer for 2 minutes to ensure the pork is hot.

Serve over pasta.

Final Note: Lorraine told me it was one of the best pork dishes I’ve done!

Options:

The cornstarch coating increases the amount of butter/oil required. I do a lot of dishes without a coating to reduce calorie count, any coating increases the amount of oil needed for sauting … but sometimes it’s nice to do it the old fashioned way. While this recipe can be done without the coating, it tastes a lot better with it.

Spot a Chicken Francais recipe. I don’t have any fresh lemons nor capers, but it sparks an idea — which is what I needed. Go into the cellar, get a bottle of Chocolate-Orange Port I made a couple years ago.

Chicken Francais in a Port Wine Sauce

4 boneless chicken breasts, split horizontally
Herbes de Provence
seasoned salt
cornstarch
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup port wine
3/4 cup plain yogurt

Season the chicken with Herbes de Provence and seasoned salt. Roll in cornstarch to coat.

Heat the butter and oil in a large deep fry pan over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted and sputters, add half the chicken. Saute on each side for 2 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan and keep warm. Add a bit more oil to the pan if necessary, and add the remaining chicken and cook same as the first batch.

Reduce heat to low, add the first batch of chicken back to the pan, and cover. Let cook until the chicken is barely cooked through — do not overcook, it makes the chicken tough. Remove the chicken and keep warm.

Increase heat to medium high and add the red wine, scraping the pan to deglaze it. When the wine is reduce by 3/4 add the port, stirring well. Correct seasonings if necessary.

Reduce heat to medium and cook until wine is reduced by half. Turn off the heat and stir in the yogurt, stirring and crushing any globs until the sauce is smooth. Add the chicken back in and stir to coat.

Cooking Notes

I used a homemade Chocolate-Orange port, plus whatever red I had available. I used Herbes de Provence because I have a large bag of it. Any herb mixture will work.

Serve with whatever red wine you cooked with. If there isn’t any left, open another bottle.

Don’t have another bottle??? You are a barbarian and should not be allowed on the internet or in public.