Battle Applesauce!

Applesauce Marinaded Pork Tenderloin with Applesauce Mushroom Gravy

In our latest version of Kids’ Iron Chef, the kids drew applesauce!  Once again, we drew the same teams — Christey and Andy(12) vs. Peter and Colin(8).  Christey and Andy got the appetizer course this time while Colin and I made the main.  Team Andy has won twice, while Team Colin, while winning categories, has yet to pull out a total victory.  Would this week change everything? Latkes with Applesauce Topping

Colin and I started the marinade early. We wanted the pork to sit in the applesauce for at least an hour, getting flavor. We started with a full cup of natural, unsweetened applesauce. We added a tablespoon of dijon mustard, and about 1/3rd cup of cider vinegar. Colin stripped some fresh oregano and thyme into the marinade as well.

While Colin stirred the marinade, I trimmed a pork tenderloin and sliced it into medallions. These went into the marinade to soak up the flavors.

Meanwhile, Team Andy was peeling potatoes for their latkes. After Christey and Andy decided on the appetizer, Christey went looking and found a great recipe at Eat Like A Girl, adapting it to our ingredients.

Christey minced a shallot, then grated the potatoes and washed the starch off with cold water.

The shredded potato was drained, then put in a dishtowel with the shallots to drain as much water as possible out of everything.

To bind the potatoes, Andy whisked up an egg and added it to the potato and shallot mixture, with a little kosher salt.

The latkes were fried 1/4 cup at a time until nicely browned.

Andy heated some applesauce for the topping, and applesauce latkes were ready for plating!

After the appetizers, Colin melted some butter in a saucepan and sweated some minced shallots. When the shallots were soft, I added some sliced mushrooms. When the mushrooms softened, we added a cup of chicken stock and let that come up to a simmer.

We added some flour to hot butter to make a roux, and thickened our mushroom sauce.

Colin stripped some more herbs while I wiped the marinade off the pork.

I put a large pan over medium high heat, and when it was sizzling, I added olive oil and a few pork slices at a time. Once browned on each side, I put them in a 400 degree oven to finish cooking while I worked on the next batch.

I minced Colin's herbs, then Colin added a heaping spoon of applesauce to the mushroom sauce, along with a teaspoon and a half of dijon mustard and some kosher salt.

The herbs are added last for freshness as they warm and spread their flavor through the sauce.

Each piece is pretty small, so a good serving is a few pieces with some mushroom sauce in the center.

After the votes were tabulated, Team Colin pulled his first win! The pork was very tender and had a good apple taste. The latkes were crisp and nicely flavored, and paired perfectly with the applesauce.