Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Savory Pumpkin-Sage Sauce

Can you believe Halloween is less than a week away already?!  I haven't even started looking for sales on candy yet.  Tonight is our town's annual Halloween parade.  It's a very small town and a very small parade but I look forward to watching the children strut their stuff in their homemade costumes while I sip on some hot chocolate and try not to get hit in the head by flying candy from the firetrucks.  Next on the list will be to carve some pumpkins from the garden and then roast the seeds.  On Halloween night, I will have some of my family over; half of us go tick-or-treating with the kids and the other half stay behind to hand out candy and have fun.  

In addition to the parade, carving pumpkins, roasting seeds and trick-or-treating, I am always trying to squeeze in as much cooking and baking of my favorite fall foods as I can.  What are some of your Halloween traditions and favorite fall foods to make?

Speaking of fall food, this sauce is one that I have recently experimented with.  The creamy pumpkin-sage sauce pairs so well with this perfectly roasted pork tenderloin.  The sauce is very rich, so a little goes a long way!  Who says pumpkin has be sweet?  

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pork tenderloin 
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper 
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Savory Pumpkin Sage Sauce:

• Reserved pan drippings
• 1/4 c red wine 
• 3/4 c pumpkin puree
• 3/4 c heavy cream 
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar 
• 1/4 tsp ground sage
• Smidgen ground nutmeg 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  

Liberally season the pork tenderloin with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  In an oven-proof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Once the oil just begins to smoke, sear the pork on both sides until deep brown.  

Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven.  Roast until a thermometer reads 140 degrees, about 25 minutes (depending on the size of your tenderloin).  Turn the tenderloin over once halfway through cooking.  Remove the pork from the oven and wrap it in tin foil.  Allow it to rest for 15 minutes.  Reserve the pan drippings. 

Meanwhile, make the sauce.  Using the same skillet, heat the pan drippings on the stove to medium heat.  Deglaze the skillet with the wine, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom.  Turn the heat down to low.  Stir in the pumpkin puree, heavy cream, brown sugar, sage and nutmeg.  If desired, thin with a little more heavy cream.  Taste the sauce and season with salt, pepper or additional brown sugar, to taste.  

Unwrap the tenderloin from the foil and slice it against the grain.  Serve the sliced pork with the pumpkin sage sauce.

Enjoy!