Medallions of Pork with Pear Sauce

I pulled another one out of the vault last night. In fact, I had only made the recipe once before, and it had to be about 7 years ago. Normally, pork medallions are something that I don't just have on hand, but recently getting tired of the same rotation of chicken, salmon, and steak, we had to branch out.

I had forgotten how good this recipe is. Adding a simple pan sauce of caramelized pear and ginger to the pork transforms a meat that I typically find just so-so, into quite a fancy entree.

Medallions of Pork with Pear Sauce

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 1/2-inch-thick boneless pork loin chops
• Dried rubbed sage
• All purpose flour
• 2 pears, peeled, cored, thinly sliced (about 1 pound)
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Season pork with dried sage, salt and pepper. Coat pork with flour; shake off excess. Add pork to skillet and sauté until brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to platter.

Drain fat from skillet. Add pears and sauté over medium heat 2 minutes. Stir in wine, sugar and ginger, scraping up any browned bits. Increase heat to high and boil until pears are tender and syrup is thick, about 5 minutes. Return pork and any accumulated juices to skillet. Simmer just until cooked through, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange pork on plates. Spoon sauce over and serve.

Note: last night I substituted powdered ginger for the crystallized and it worked just as well.

Enjoy!