Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and right now we are up to our eyeballs in Valentine’s cards for 14 preschoolers. We have been cutting, gluing, sticking stickers, and writing our names for a couple of days now. The end result is eventually going to be 24 handmade butterfly Valentine’s. Aren’t they cute?! (I found the print out for them here if you are interested )
Anyway, back to adult Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day isn’t really a big deal for us. The hubby usually has to work and I am usually here with the kiddos, so we don’t really do a big night out on the town fighting the crowds and bad service. We typically stay in and treat ourselves to a nice meal we made ourselves. The meal usually isn’t “cheap” but it certainly comes out cheaper than us hiring a babysitter.
By the way, when did babysitter’s start getting paid so much? I never made this much money when I was babysitting.
So, this is one of those dinners. Phyllo Wrapped Pork with an Apple-Thyme Chutney. A fancy treat for a special night. It’s not particularly difficult, but it a little time consuming. It is a meal that is worth the effort. I paired up this pork tenderloin with some roasted asparagus and some mashed potatoes. Everyone will feel the love with this meal.
Phyllo tips: If you have never worked with phyllo, here are a few things you should know:
1 – It’s in the freezer aisle next to the pie crusts ( just in case you can’t find it)
2 – it can dry out very quickly once opened so keep waiting dough covered with plastic wrap while you are working with it.
3 – it’s very fragile, so don’t worry about a few tears or buckles.
4 – remove all small children from the kitchen since there is a possibility of a few four-letter words coming out of your mouth.
Happy Cooking!
Phyllo Pork
serves 4
adapted from Cooking Light
1 (2lb) pork tenderloin, trimmed
salt and pepper
2 T stone ground mustard
2 T chopped fresh thyme
8 sheets frozen Phyllo ( Filo) dough, thawed
3 T butter, melted
Apple-Thyme Chutney ( recipe follows)
Preheat oven to 400.
Season pork with salt and pepper and place in a greased jelly roll pan ( or what ever you’ve got). Bake the pork for 15 minutes, making sure to flip it halfway through. Remove pork from the oven and let it cool slightly.
While the pork is cooking, lay out a single sheet of phyllo on a cutting board or flat work surface and lightly brush with melted butter. Lay another sheet of dough directly on top of the first sheet and repeat the buttering. Continue until all 8 sheets are buttered and stacked up.
Mix together mustard and thyme in a small bowl and then smear the pork with the mustard mixture and place on the short end of the phyllo.
Roll the pork, jelly roll style, until you reach the end. Make sure to not roll the pork to tightly.
Place the pork, seam side down, back into the greased jelly roll pan. Brush the top with melted butter and bake until dough is golden brown and a meat thermometer reaches 155 degrees, about 20 minutes.
Let the pork rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing into thick slices and serving. Top with chutney.
Apple-Thyme Chutney
Adapted from Simply Recipes.
2 large apples (anything but red delicious)
1/2 c. minced red onion
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 T chopped fresh Thyme
1 T grated fresh ginger
1 T grated orange peel ( I actually used a tangerine, but whatever you’ve got)
1/2 t. allspice
Combine everything in a saucepan and stir well. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes or until everything is nice and soft. If there is a lot of liquid left, simmer uncovered for a few minutes to thicken. Then mush slightly with a potato masher until you have a nice lumpy chutney.
Serve hot over pork. Will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Ingredients
- 2 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed
- 1 teaspoon salt and pepper
- 2 Tablespoon stone ground mustard
- 2 Tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 8 sheets frozen Phyllo Filo dough, thawed
- 3 Tablespoon butter melted
Apple-Thyme Chutney
- 2 large apples anything but red delicious
- 1/2 cup minced red onion
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh Thyme
- 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 Tablespoon grated orange peel I actually used a tangerine, but whatever you've got
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Season pork with salt and pepper and place in a greased jelly roll pan ( or what ever you've got). Bake the pork for 15 minutes, making sure to flip it halfway through. Remove pork from the oven and let it cool slightly.
- While the pork is cooking, lay out a single sheet of phyllo on a cutting board or flat work surface and lightly brush with melted butter. Lay another sheet of dough directly on top of the first sheet and repeat the buttering. Continue until all 8 sheets are buttered and stacked up.
- Mix together mustard and thyme in a small bowl and then smear the pork with the mustard mixture and place on the short end of the phyllo.
- Roll the pork, jelly roll style, until you reach the end. Make sure to not roll the pork to tightly.
- Place the pork, seam side down, back into the greased jelly roll pan. Brush the top with melted butter and bake until dough is golden brown and a meat thermometer reaches 155 degrees, about 20 minutes.
- Let the pork rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing into thick slices and serving. Top with chutney.
Apple Thyme Chutney
- Combine everything in a saucepan and stir well. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes or until everything is nice and soft. If there is a lot of liquid left, simmer uncovered for a few minutes to thicken. Then mush slightly with a potato masher until you have a nice lumpy chutney.
- Serve hot over pork. Will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Love phyllo dough! These butterflies are too adorable!
This looks delicious. Beautiful picture. Adding this to my recipe box =)
One thing I did not like was when I printed this out, I got 15 pages. I did some cutting and pasting into Word, and reduced it to one.
I apologize John. This recipe is from long ago, before I had WordPress and before I had a plug-in to make printing nice and tidy. I will add this post to the list of posts to update. Thanks for visiting!
Looks so good!