Do you ever go to the supermarket and think, what am I going to make for dinner this week? There are many times I arrive at the store, walk through the meat section and think, I don't want chicken, we had pork last week, and I'm so done with hamburger. This week, as I wandered the aisle, I came upon some turkey tenderloins. We make quite a few turkey cutlet recipes, but tenderloins offered something new.
On Wednesday night, turkey tenderloins became my meal challenge. Since we make pork tenderloins quite often, I figured I would need a good rub and a sauce or dressing once it was cooked. My friend, Sharon, visited and dropped off a quart-size container of fresh raspberries, picked from her mom's garden. A-ha, here was my sauce base. I found a recipe for a Blackberry Shallot Chutney and changed it quite a bit. I added raspberries (and lots of them), flavored balsamic and chicken broth. This was a recipe that I had great success with because not only did we eat it with the turkey tenderloins, but later in the week, we fought over it for grilled chicken. I think I won getting an additional spoonful for my dish!
That's one of the problems with making one dish wonders. Everyone loves them, we fight over leftovers and then very rarely will we make the dish again. Since we began this blog, 5-1/2 years ago, we have made over 2000 different recipes, yet, we have only written about a quarter of them. Sometimes we don't get a picture or the dish was just OK. I'm trying very hard to capture more pictures and get a few more recipes out to you.
Back to the tenderloins - for mixing two very different recipes, we ended up with a fantastic meal. The rub for the turkey looked simple and flavorful. I love what we call "sweet heat". It's that wonderful flavor that starts sweet and ends with a bit of a burn. Nice, warm and spicy. The Raspberry Shallot Chutney seemed appetizing with a bit of fruity sourness that goes perfect with a spicy rub. You can have some fun with the chutney adding blackberries and sage instead of raspberries and thyme. Blueberries with fresh rosemary could be good, too.
The preparation was easy and I liked the spicy rub ingredients so much that I actually made another batch of the spice and keep it handy as a quick pork or chicken rub. While Jeff was cooking the turkey tenderloins on the grill, I made the raspberry shallot chutney. As the chutney reduced, I had the rice pilaf cooking and when Jeff brought the tenderloins in to rest, everything was basically done.
If you are looking for an easy summer meal, with great flavors, this is a dish you should try. It also gives you the opportunity to cook with turkey tenderloins, if it's not something you eat on a regular basis.
And, try not to fight over the Raspberry Shallot Chutney!
Spiced Rubbed Grilled Turkey Tenderloin from Southern Living
Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 pounds of turkey tenderloin
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
Spice-Rub Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon of cumin
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon of ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon of coriander
Preparation:
1. Preheat grill to medium high - 350 to 400 degrees.
2. Place all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together to make the rub.
3. Brush the tenderloins with olive oil and then generously sprinkle the spiced rub all over the tenderloins.
4. Place tenderloins on the grill and cook for 10 minutes on each side or until a thermometer, in the thickest portion, registers 165 degrees.
5. Remove from grill and allow to rest for 5-7 minutes, cut into slices and serve with the Raspberry Shallot Chutney.
Raspberry Shallot Chutney
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 4 shallots, quartered
- 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme, chopped
- 3/4 cup of chicken broth
- 2 cups of fresh raspberries
- 1/2 cup of dried cranberries or cherries
- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of flavored balsamic vinegar, we used lemon balsamic*
- salt to taste
*if you don't have flavored balsamic vinegar, regular will do
Preparation:
1. Preheat a large sauté pan over medium heat, add two tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Once olive oil is heated, add shallots and cook for 2-3 minutes or until slightly softened.
3. Add thyme and cook for 30 seconds, add the chicken broth, fresh raspberries, dried cranberries, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar.
4. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 7-10 minutes or until the mixture reduces and becomes slightly thickened.
5. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with turkey tenderloin.
Serves 4
