Pork Tenderloin Wellington 
Stuffed w/Cherries and Walnuts  

"You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your Word."
Psalm 119:114

Food for the Palate

Ingredients

2 lbs. Pork Tenderloin

Puff Pastry, 1 sheet, thawed in the fridge

3 oz sliced prosciutto

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp dried rosemary, ground

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

4 Tbsp dried cherries

4 Tbsp chopped walnuts

Cherry Sauce

1/4 cup Fabbri Amarena Cherries w/syrup 

1/2 cup red wine

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

2 Tbsp butter

Instructions: Preheat oven to 425F

Start by preparing your tenderloin. Pat it dry with a paper towel. Cover your tenderloin with salt, pepper and rosemary on both sides. Set aside.

Grind your walnuts and dried cherries in a processor until they are of the consistency of a crumble. You want it ground medium fine, but not extra fine. Slice your tenderloin down the middle length wise without cutting it all the way through. Just go down about 3/4 of the way.  Stuff your pork with the ground walnuts and dried cherries. Set aside.

On a piece of parchment paper, you want to lay out your prosciutto so that it is barely overlapping. You are creating a blanket for your tenderloin to be rolled up in. Smear your Dijon mustard on top of the prosciutto right down the middle. Now lay your stuffed pork tenderloin onto the prosciutto and roll it up like a tight burrito. Put your pork tenderloin in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill it again.

On a fresh piece of parchment paper lay one sheet of puffed pastry. NOTE: make sure that you don't take your puff pastry out of the fridge until you are ready for this step. Puff pastry needs to be cold in order for it to properly bake.  Flour a rolling pin and flatten your pastry just a little so that it is large enough to cover your whole tenderloin. 

Now get your tenderloin out of the fridge and lay it close to the edge of one side of your pastry. Roll your pork up in the pastry dough, just like you did with the prosciutto. Lay your pastry rolled tenderloin on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 25-30 minutes. You want your meat thermometer to read 140 degrees. Remove from oven and cover with aluminum foil and set aside.

To prepare your sauce you will need a saucepan on medium-high heat. Add all ingredients for the sauce except for the butter. Once it starts to simmer, watch it carefully. You want to reduce your sauce by half. Turn off heat and add your butter. Stir until butter is melted.

Now it is time to slice your pork tenderloin and serve it with your cherry sauce on the side! 

Hint: It is easiest to use a serrated knife (bread knife) for slicing. Tasty to the Palate! 

Food for the Soul

Beef Wellington is far better known than Pork Tenderloin Wellington. But the concept is the same, and I am not the first one to substitute beef for pork. Pork Wellington should be called "The Poor Man's Wellington" in my opinion, simply because it is a fraction of the cost of a Filet Mignon. There is a lot of confusion as to the origin of Beef Wellington, but basically it is an English dish consisting of an expensive, high-quality cut of beef, wrapped in a scrumptious, buttery pastry shell. 

Do you ever have days when you just want to hide from the whole world? You know those days, right? You had a bad day at work where nothing went the way it should have; Your kids were climbing the walls because they couldn't go outside and run off their energy; Your spouse was short with you before or after coming home from work; You have overdue bills, and credit debt; And the list goes on and on and on. Life is not always easy. And sometimes, we just need a quiet place to hide and block out all of the chaos and allow our mind and soul to rest. Like a "Wellington "in a blanket of golden, buttery pastry, we just want to be wrapped in a soft, cozy blanket and hide from everything that causes us to be stressed and tired. 

I am not advocating that we run away from our responsibilities, but I do think that an "adult" timeout is often just what we need to rest, recharge, and regroup. Once we have done that, we can tackle life's frustrations with a renewed sense of resolve. Psalm 119:114 says, "You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your Word." This verse reminds me of the old and beloved hymn Rock of Ages where the chorus sings "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee." There is no safer and satisfying place to be then in the presence of Christ and His love for you and me. 

As Rev. Charles Spurgeon once said; "A man who is beset by foes does not stand still, and say, 'Yes, I can see there is a hiding place there,' but he runs to it." So it is with each one of us when we feel overwhelmed, attacked, tired, mistreated, unloved or useless. We run to our hiding place, Jesus Christ, and His Holy Word. You see, God is not just a hiding place. No, He is YOUR hiding place. He is MY hiding place. For all those who believe in Him and call upon His Son, Jesus Christ we can trust that we have a secure place of refuge. God and His promises are THE hiding place. And there is no greater place to find the warmth, the hope and reassurance that we are loved and secure in Him. 

It doesn't matter whether you can afford the most expensive cuts of meat and you have all the money in the world, or if you use the cheapest cuts of meat for your Wellington and have very little. No one has enough money to buy the love, the hope and the security that comes from having Jesus as your blanket in life, both here and in heaven. And the best part of all, it is completely free. Satisfying to the Soul!