Maple-Mustard Pork Tenderloin with a Cranberry-Port Relish

Sweet and slightly smoky maple syrup is an easy way to add full complex flavor to both sweet and savory dishes. Here it balances the spiciness of the Dijon mustard to make a simple glaze for a lean pork tenderloin. A splash of port wine contributes to a bold sauce punctuated by sweet and sour fresh cranberries and zesty crystalized ginger.

Ingredients - 

1 pork tenderloin approx. 1  - 1  1/2 lb 
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 cups fresh cranberries

1/2 cup tawny, ruby port or Marsala wine

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons crystallized ginger - minced

How - 

Preheat oven to 385 F

Season the tenderloin with salt and pepper.

In a large oven proof frying pan over medium high heat, melt the butter. Add the pork and cook turning occasionally until browned on all sides, about 5 - 8 minutes. Remove rom heat.

For the tenderloin glaze - 

In a small bowl, stir together the maple syrup and the mustard. Spread about half of the sauce on the tenderloin. Put the pan in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Take out and spread the rest of the sauce over the meat and return to the oven for 10 - 15 more minutes or until the internal temp reaches 165 F.

For the Cranberry relish -

Fresh cranberries

Crystalized ginger

Marsala wine

While the pork is roasting, cook the cranberries, the wine, the sugar and the minced ginger in a heavy bottomed sauce pot. We decided to use Marsala wine, but Port would work just as well. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook uncovered stirring regularly until the berries have popped and the juices are syrupy, about 10 minutes. Then remove from heat. Serve this warm with the pork. This stuff is amazing. You will want to make this at Thanksgiving for sure. It would also be good on chicken or beside fish.

Finished cranberry relish

When the tenderloin is ready, transfer to a carving board and let rest for 5 minutes. Then cut the meat crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces.

The finished roasted tenderloin with maple-mustard glaze

Divide the slices evenly and fan out on the plates. Spoon some of the warm cranberry sauce next to the slices.

We roasted mixed color baby potatoes seasoned with rosemary as a side.

How to Make Fileja Pasta

Fileja is a traditional handmade egg-less pasta from southern Italy, specifically Calabria where many of my ancestors lived. It has a distinctive look and a shape that traps and holds sauce very well. Because it is a substantial pasta it has a nice chewy bite that goes well with a rich meat sauce. We usually serve them with a slow cooked pork ragu or with chunky roasted tomatoes.

The technique for making fileja involves rolling a piece of pasta dough around a metal or wooden rod or skewer. In Calabrian dialect this pasta making tool is called a dinaculu. I made our dinaculu by snipping off the long side of a wire coat hanger. Credit for that idea goes to Rosetta Costantino in her book My Calabria. It is the perfect tool for making this interesting and versatile pasta. One Christmas I gave sets of them to my kids as stocking stuffers calling them "pasta machines".

There are similar types of pasta in other parts of Italy. In Sicily, they are called busiate. The general term for pasta that is made by rolling the dough around a steel or wooden rod is maccheroni al ferratto - literally maccheroni made on iron.

Here two of the dinaculu I made -

Video on how to make them - 

Proportions for making enough for 4 people as a main dish - 

3 cups of flour - semolina or unbleached all-purpose or a mix of half semolina and half all purpose flour
3/4 cup water (approx)

The amount of water can vary depending on the humidity in your kitchen and the moisture level in your choice of flour. If using all-purpose, we like King Arthur brand.

Mound the flour on a work surface or in a bowl and add the water a little at a time to form a dough. Knead until smooth and allow to rest for 30 minutes wrapped in plastic wrap. 

Rolling is best done on a sturdy smooth surface like a kitchen table or counter top. Dust the surface you will be working on with just a little flour - not too much or the dough won't roll and wrap properly. Pull off a small piece of dough, a little bigger than a marble, and make a short rope with it, about 2-3 inches long and almost 1/2-inch in diameter. Gently push the rod into the pasta lengthwise and at a slight angle. Using only light pressure from your fingertips roll each piece forward away from you and then back again several times, stretching it a little as you go. The dough will wrap itself around the rod to form the fileja. Then slide the pasta off the rod. Repeat with the remaining dough. Lay the fileja out on a towel or sheet to dry for at least 30 minutes to an hour before cooking.

With a little practice you can make dozens of these quickly. And if you are having friends over, pour some wine and let everyone do some rolling. 

You will notice the surface of the pasta has a slight roughness. This is typical of fresh hand made pasta and one of the reasons it's so much better than store bought That roughness helps the sauce adhere and absorb into the pasta.  

Note: Fresh pasta does not take as long to cook as store bought dried. Figure about 5 minutes max in rapidly boiling water for fileja, less if you are adding them to the sauce in the pan to finish cooking. Don't over cook them !

We make these at home regularly where it's a fun group activity. As you can see in this photo, different hands make different variations on the theme. Like snowflakes, no two fileja are the same...

With roasted tomatoes - Letting the fileja, or any type of pasta, finish cooking in the sauce lets the pasta absorb the flavors of the sauce much better than just ladling the sauce over the finished pasta in a bowl.

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Fileja with a pork ragu