By Election week. I will not dwell on the details — the news covers the details, the country lived the details, and I am a woman who cooks and not a woman who analyzes electoral maps. But I will say that on Wednesday morning, with the results still uncertain, I drove to the hospital at 4:30 AM and I made breakfast for my team and the breakfast was eggs and toast and café con leche and the normalcy of eggs and toast was the most radical thing I could offer in a week that had nothing normal in it. We ate. We went to work. The cafeteria opened at 6. The patients needed feeding. The feeding happened. Whatever the country decided, the feeding happened.
Eduardo watched the news compulsively, which is Eduardo's version of stress — he metabolizes anxiety through information the way I metabolize it through garlic. He sat at the dining table with his laptop and his TV and his reading glasses and three different news sources and he said, Carmen, this is unprecedented. I said, Eduardo, the pernil is ready. He said, The country might be — I said, Eduardo. The pernil. He ate the pernil. He felt better. This is not a metaphor for solving political problems with food. This is a literal fact about what happens when my husband eats my pernil. He feels better. The world may not improve but the person improves, and the person is the smallest unit of the world, and if the smallest unit improves then the arithmetic works.
Isabella is five months old and eating rice cereal. Jenny started her on solids and Isabella received the cereal with the dignified skepticism of a Delgado — tasting, evaluating, forming opinions before she has the vocabulary to express them. I said, Jenny, when she is ready for real food, I will make her first sofrito. Jenny said, She's five months old. I said, I will make it mild. Jenny looked at me. I looked at Jenny. The negotiation about when and how my granddaughter will eat real Puerto Rican food has begun, and I intend to win it, and Jenny knows I intend to win it, and the knowing is the first skirmish.
I cannot share my pernil recipe here because it belongs to my mother and she is watching, but what I can tell you is that the principle of the thing — pork, low and slow, with something sweet cutting through the fat — is something any good pork tenderloin can approximate. Eduardo does not need to know it is not pernil. He needs to feel better, and this fruit-sauced tenderloin, warm and savory with that bright sweetness underneath, does what pernil does: it returns a person to themselves. That is the whole job.
Pork Tenderloin with Fruit Sauce
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/3 cup apricot or peach preserves
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 425°F. Pat the pork tenderloin dry with paper towels.
- Season the pork. Combine garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture evenly over all sides of the tenderloin.
- Sear. Heat olive oil in an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tenderloin and sear for about 2 minutes per side, turning until browned on all sides, approximately 6–8 minutes total.
- Roast. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven and roast for 15–18 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 145°F. Remove pork to a cutting board, tent loosely with foil, and let rest 5 minutes.
- Make the fruit sauce. Return the skillet to medium heat on the stovetop. Add chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the preserves, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and red pepper flakes if using. Simmer for 3–4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove from heat and swirl in the butter until melted and glossy.
- Slice and serve. Slice the rested tenderloin into 1/2-inch medallions. Arrange on a platter and spoon the warm fruit sauce generously over the top. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 285 | Protein: 31g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 420mg