Pork medallions in Dijon cream sauce
Tender rounds of pork tenderloin in a silky, tangy mustard cream sauce that comes together in the same pan in 25 minutes.
- 30 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.17 a serving
- 350 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 pork tenderloin, about 1¼ lb
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
- ½ French bread, sliced, for the sauce (optional)
From your pantry
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp dried thyme
Each serving has about 350 calories, 32 g protein, 4 g carbs and 22 g fat, and costs about $2.17 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No French bread? Sourdough bread works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the silver skin from the tenderloin, cut it into 1-inch rounds, and press each round with your palm to about ¾ inch thick.
Trim. Trimming means cutting off the parts you don’t eat, like stem ends, tough bits or thick fat. It keeps chewy or bitter bits out of the finished dish.
How you’ll know: What’s left is the good part, with no dry ends, woody stems or thick white fat.
the rounds dry and both sides with the salt and pepper.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high until it . the pork 2 to 3 minutes a side, until and the middle reads 145°F, then move it to a plate.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Sear. Searing means cooking the outside of meat or fish in a hot pan, without moving it, until a deep brown crust forms. The crust is packed with flavor, and it only forms on a dry surface.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the moment it goes in, and it lets go of the pan on its own when the crust is ready.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Cook in two batches if they don’t fit with space between them. Crowded pork steams instead of browning.Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
Turn the heat to medium, add the butter and shallot, and cook 2 minutes, stirring, until soft. Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Pour in the broth, , and let it bubble 3 minutes, until by about half.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Reduce. Reducing means simmering a liquid with the lid off so some of the water steams away. The sauce gets thicker and its flavor gets stronger.
How you’ll know: The level drops in the pan, and the sauce coats the back of a spoon instead of running off.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Stir in the cream, mustard and thyme and 2 to 3 minutes, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Run a finger through the sauce on the back of the spoon. If the line holds, it’s thick enough.Return the pork and its juices to the pan and turn the rounds in the sauce for 1 minute to .
Heat through. Heating through means warming food that’s already cooked until it’s hot all the way to the center. You’re not cooking it more, just making sure no part is still cold.
How you’ll know: It’s steaming, and a piece from the middle is hot, not lukewarm.
Low heatTimer: 1 min
Scatter the parsley over and serve with bread for the sauce.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
