Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sautéed Apples

Fall is in the air around here - how about where you are? With tonight's brisk air and the abundance of apples populating our grocer's produce aisle, we thought we'd spice things up with an autumnal fruit dish. Today, it's Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sautéed Apples, from Cooking Light's October 2010 issue.

Let's cut to the chase - this dish was outstanding! It required a decent

amount of fresh ingredients, although no

thing that will spoil too quickly (and don't pretend like you aren't looking for any excuse to buy apple cider right now!).

We didn't have a cast iron skillet, which concerned us at first, but have no fear. That particular item is not essential to a successful dish in this case. We began by mixing up our spice rub for the pork - the cinnamon and nutmeg are what give this pork its delicious fall flavor.

The pork is sliced into medallions, then rubbed with the spice mixture and transferred to a pan coated with cooking spray (or a touch of extra virgin olive oil, if you prefer). The slicing of the pork allows it to cook quickly, taking 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Because we have to soak up all those wonderful seasonings from the pan, the recipe instructs you to remove the pork and keep it warm. (We stash ours in the microwave.)

Now enough about pork - let's talk apples! Sauteed in real, bona fide, salted butter and complimented with some lovely shallots, those apples are a thing of beauty. Sauté them to whatever texture you like: crisp like taking a bite right off the tree, or soft like those heavenly ones they serve at Cracker Barrel, this part's completely up to you.

The recipe only calls for 2 cups, but we had a feeling we'd love them, so we made about twice that. We ought to have doubled up on the cider and spices to compensate, but taste wise, it didn't matter - we were in apple heaven!

This dish held up pretty well in the microwave, which was the final test for our Yuppie Test Kitchen seal of approval. We have a feeling this is going in our rotation until spring time, and we just might sneak it in a couple of times after that, too!