Caramelized Pork Loin with Apples

We've had quite the bounty of apples recently and have been trying to find applications for their use. So one day I was perusing some online recipes and thought to make an apple chutney and pair it with a pork dish.

From there, Melissa found a recipe for a pan-seared, oven-finished pork loin cooked with apples, and we went with that one, which is Caramelized Pork Loin with Apples from Health magazine. (This recipe serves 12 -- a perfect party dish -- but we halved it for our weeknight dining purposes.)

We made the spice rub, which includes brown sugar, ground cumin, salt, ground red pepper and black pepper ahead of time.

Then start by roughly chopping up some onions and rubbing the pork loin with garlic. Then add the onions to an oil-filled pan over medium-high heat. Take the pork and sear it on all sides:


Once the meat has a nice sear on it, place it and the onions in a 9-by-13-inch pan. Add the spice rub and balsamic vinegar. Cook in the oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.


Once it's nearing the 20-minute mark, take some apples chopped into wedges and saute in butter over medium-high heat until they are golden.


Then add them to the pork and put back in the oven for another 20 minutes, this time at 350 degrees. It's possible the pork could be cooked through before the 20 minutes ends.


While the meat and apples are resting, reduce the balsamic and onion sauce.

The meat came out perfectly cooked, retaining some juices. The onions and reduced balsamic sauce was a perfect rich compliment to the lightened sugar in the apples, and to the pork.