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.