Julio's Delicatessen

Click here for a PDF of this recipe without photos.

My uncle Jeff recently sent my daughter a signed Lee Brothers cookbook after attending an event they hosted.  On Memorial Day, we cooked our entire meal from the book.  Photos of the other dishes below the fold.  This particular recipe calls for fresh figs, but we were unable to find them in late May in Indiana, so we substituted fresh cherries.

Adapted from the Lee Brothers Simple Fresh Southern

• 1 cup dry Madeira
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 12 thyme sprigs
• 2.5 tsp kosher salt
• 2 lbs pork tenderloin
• 2 tsp canola oil
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 3 Tb butter
• 1 cup diced shallot
• 1 tsp flour
• 1 lb fresh cherries, pits removed and cut in half

1:40 before you want to eat – Combine the Madeira, vinegar, garlic, thyme, and 1 tsp salt in a gallon Ziploc.  Add the pork to the bag, seal tightly (getting out as much air as possible) and place on the counter to marinate at room temperature for an hour.

40 minutes before you want to eat – preheat the oven to 450.  Remove tenderloins from the marinade (reserving the marinade) and transfer to a cutting board.  Pat the meat dry with paper towels, then brush with 1 tsp of the oil and season with 1 tsp salt and the black pepper.  Heat the remaining oil in a cast iron skillet over high heat.  Add the tenderloins and sear on all sides, about 6 minutes total.  Remove pork from the skillet.

30 minutes before you want to eat – add the butter and shallots to the skillet.  When the butter has melted, add the remaining salt and the flour.  Cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes, then add the cherries and the marinade.  Bring to a simmer, then stir, remove from heat, and add the tenderloins to the pan.  Transfer the pan to the oven and cook until the pork is 135 degrees.  Remove from oven, remove pork from pan, and allow to rest for 5 minutes.  Slice and serve immediately with the gravy.

For starters we had pickled grapes and smoked shrimp with Shriracha buttermilk dip:

Here’s the finished main course:

Sides included collard-flavored spinach and lemon-glazed sweet potatoes:

And for dessert we served buttermilk pudding cakes with sugared raspberries.