Pork Medallions with Belgian Endive

Source:  Sunset Magazine

1 lb whole pork tenderloin
2 T olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 thyme sprig
2 T butter
6 heads Belgian endive, halved
1/2 c orange juice
1 T maple syrup
1/2 c heavy cream
2 T chopped flat leaf parsley

Remove filmlike silverskin from surface of tenderloin.  Cut tenderloin crosswise into 12 medallions, each about 1 inch thick.  Season with salt and pepper.  Heat oil in a very large pan over medium high heat.  Add garlic and thyme, cook, stirring constantly , until garlic is browned all over, about 1 minute.  Transfer to a plate.  Add pork and cook until browned underneath, about 3 minutes.  Turn over and cook until barely pink in the center, about 2 minutes.  Transfer to the plate of garlic and thyme.  Put butter in pan and let melt.  Add endive,  cut sides down, and cook until browned underneath, about 2 minutes.  Turn over and cook one minute more.  Transfer to plate of pork.  Add orange juice and maple syrup to pan and cook, scraping up browned bits, until liquid is reduced by half, about 2 minutes.  Add heavy cream and boil, stirring, until thickened and reduced by half, 2 to 3 minutes.  Return garlic, thyme, pork, endive and any accumulated juices to pan and heat, gently stirring, until everything is warmed through, about 1 minutes.  Sauce should be reduced enough to thickly coat the back of a spoon.  Garnish with parsley.

I have never worked with endive before.  I have always heard of it being used raw, in a salad, or an appetizer.  So when I saw this recipe, with braised endives, of course I had to try it.  My regular grocery store doesn't always carry endives, so I had to get mine from Whole Foods.  As far as vegetables go, they weren't cheap.  For easy reference, here is what you are looking for:

Otherwise, the recipe is easy to make.  I used minced garlic, and dried thyme, and didn't remove them from the pan at all.  Also, they are not kidding when they tell you to use a very large pan.  My largest pan didn't hold all the endives and I had to cook them in two batches, which meant using a little extra butter.

Word to the wise -- endives are bitter.  Cooking them in butter, with the sweetish sauce does tame the bitterness a little bit, but not completely.  The more tender leaves were good, because the leaves soaked up the sauce and only a hint of the bitterness remained, but the majority of the endive was still too bitter for my taste.  The sauce is delicious, sweet, creamy with a slight hint of citrus, and goes perfectly with the pork.  I think if the endive were used as an accent in this dish -- maybe use one head instead of six, and serve the dish with rice, this would be a delicious and different pork dish.