Whole30/Paleo Apple & Onion Braised Pork Medallions

The other day, I was looking through Amelia’s 1st year photo album and I saw a picture of us apple picking. She was eating her first whole apple and loving it. She would take the tiniest bites and the juice would dribble down her chin. She laughed so hard and her innocence made my heart melt.

Looking at that photo reminded me how much I love cooking with apples and how I wanted to bring that into my Whole30 month of cooking. Since pork craves fruit, I knew it would be the perfect dish. And it really, really is! The pork absorbs all of the apple flavors and it ends up tasting like a baked apple. I can’t imagine eating anything better (or sweeter) for dinner!

Whole30/Paleo Apple & Onion Braised Pork Medallions

Servings: 4
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

1.5 pound pork tenderloin
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons salt, divided
2 teaspoons pepper, divided
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and sliced 1/4″ thick
2 medium green apples, cored, peeled and sliced 1/4″ thick
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup apple sauce (or apple juice)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees with the oven rack in the middle. Preheat your cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
Pat the pork loin dry with paper towel, and season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the cast iron skillet, and sear the pork loin until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Flip and sear all sides. Transfer the pork loin to a plate (it will finish cooking in the oven).
Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the cast iron skillet. Add the apples, onions, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Saute, stirring frequently, until the apples and onions begin to soften and get some brown spots, about 5 minutes.
Add the pork loin back on top of the apples and onions. Add the chicken stock, apple juice and apple cider vinegar. Transfer the cast iron skillet to the oven and braise until the pork loin reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees, about 10-15 minutes.
Remove from the oven. Allow the pork loin to rest for 5 minutes, then slice into medallions and serve with the apples, onions and braising liquid. Enjoy!