Pork medallions with pomegranate sauce

No, those aren't small golden potatoes, those are grapes. I'm familiar with the concept of grapes in a warm sauce (red grapes, shallots and chicken are particularly nice), so I wasn't put off by the concept. But this recipe called for both grapes and catsup in the same recipe. I figured it would either be possibly really good, or just really odd, so I had to try it to find out.

Pork medallions with grapes in pomegranate sauce

Adapted from “Jacques Pepin: More Fast Food My Way”

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin (slightly over a pound), cut crosswise into 1-inch slices)

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ cup pomegranate juice

½ cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons ketchup

3 tablespoons dried cherries (or cranberries)

1 cup small green seedless grapes

¼ cup shredded arugula

Method

Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Cook in skillet about 2 to 3 minutes a side until just lightly pink in the middle. Set aside and keep warm.

Add pomegranate juice and stock. Cook over high heat to reduce. Add ketchup and cherries. Stir until mixture thickens slightly. Add grapes and toss to coat. Serve pork topped with sauce and sprinkled with arugula.

Rating: The pomegranate, stock, ketchup and dried cherry combo works just fine as a sauce; the pork medallions are perfectly tender and the arugula garnish was a nice contrast of color and texture. But the grapes, well, not so much. It being winter in Minnesota, small green grapes are not an option. (Well, really, they never are.) I think champagne grapes would have worked nicely, or as a second choice, red grapes would have paired better. Even sliced in half the green grapes just kind of stuck out like the odd men out. But the ketchup incorporated nicely to make a smooth sauce that's a good fast fix. Worth experimenting with, at any rate.