This dish was in my to-make list for almost 8 months – I wanted to try my hand at making a French technique-driven dish, featuring a French onion jus and pommes aligot, and this is what came about from that. For those who are unfamiliar with where I was going with, a French onion jus is basically caramelized onions cooked down with beef broth, similar to a French onion soup, but more reduced into a silky, unctuous sauce. I used shallots instead of onions for mine, just because shallots are slightly sweeter and since they are smaller, just easier to caramelize. For pommes aligot, these are potatoes that are pureed with lots of cheese to the point where they are almost stringy and like a cheese fondue. This dish was my way of trying to make a rich, hearty meal, but plating it in a very delicate manner. I specifically went with pork over beef because pork tenderloin is so underrated – I feel like people, when they eat pork anyways, go for pork belly, pork chops, even pork shoulder for braised pork dishes. With the tenderloin, it is a lean cut with little marbling, and it can be overcooked very easily if you aren’t careful with it. However, when you get it right, the tenderloin just melts in the mouth, cuts like butter, and acts like a perfect foil to the stringy, cheesy potatoes and the caramel-like, nutty French onion jus. To add some texture, I went with taking the caramelized shallots from the jus, blending that down, and making tuiles with them. These crisp cookies were lightly onion-flavored, and gave the dish some nice height, alongside some peppery nasturtium leaves!

I would definitely start the sauce first on this recipe, followed by the aligot, then the tuiles, and finally, the pork itself. My reasons for this being that the sauce takes the most time, while the tuiles themselves can’t be made until after the shallots in the sauce are caramelized. The aligot itself is a two-fold process – first you have to boil the potatoes and turn them into a puree with garlic, herbs, cream, and milk, then you have the cheese. Make sure that the cheese is finely cut up already, so that melting that into the potatoes is not an arduous and time-consuming process. With the tuiles, making the batter is fairly easy, just make sure that you have a blender. However, I found that the tuile molds I was using were VERY finicky – I only had 3 of 10 tuiles not break because these are fragile cookies. Be patient and be delicate with them – or better yet, you can also just not make them. I contemplated doing that, but I was very stubborn. With the pork, the main thing is getting a nice sear on all sides of the tenderloin before it goes into the oven, just so that it will be evenly cooked throughout. I used nasturtium leaves to add a light spicy and peppery note to contrast the sweet nature of the sauce. I forage mine whenever I go on hikes, but that’s just my California privilege – if you do not have nasturtiums, arugula works as a pleasant substitute! While the plate presented in the photos may look small, this recipe as a whole can serve up to 6 people comfortably.

Makes 4-6 portions:
For the French onion jus:
4 shallots, peeled and diced
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp chili flakes
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp mirin, cooking sake, or vermouth
8oz beef stock

In a pan, sweat out the shallots with butter, thyme, chili flakes, and salt on medium-high heat until translucent. Once so, lower the heat and continuously stir the shallots until they turn brown in color. Add in. the tomato paste and stir until that is fully mixed into the shallots. Deglaze the pan with mirin, cooking sake, or vermouth, allowing the alcohol to fully cook off before adding in the beef stock. Reduce the mixture down by half before carefully straining out and reserving the shallot solids – these will be used as a base for your tuile. Reduce the rest of the sauce down by half again to form your French onion jus.

For the pommes aligot:
4 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped up Swiss cheese
1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese
a pinch of salt

In a large pot, start by heating up your butter with garlic and thyme. Once the butter is fully melted, pour into that the heavy cream and milk, allowing that to all come to a low simmer. until the garlic is tender. In heavily salted water, boil your potatoes for 4-6 minutes, or until fork-tender and then strain out the potatoes. Pass both the garlic cloves and potatoes through either a sieve or ricer to remove any lumps. Add both back into the pot with the milk and cream, stirring into that the cheeses and salt. Return the pot to low heat if necessary to help with the cheeses melting in.

For the shallot tuile:
1.5oz reserved shallot
1 egg white
1oz canola oil
a pinch of salt
2oz flour

In a blender, puree the shallot, egg white, oil, and salt together. Mix into that the flour to form your batter. Spread the tuile batter over silicone tuile molds and bake at 350 degrees F for 7-8 minutes. Carefully remove the tuiles from the molds and repeat with your remaining batter – I was able to get about 10 tuiles in total.

For the pork loin:
2 pork tenderloins
2 generous pinches of salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried mustard powder
canola or grapeseed oil

In a bowl, coat the uncooked tenderloins with the other seasonings. In a cast iron or nonstick pan, heat up a small amount of oil. Sear the tenderloin in the pan on high heat for roughly 3-4 minutes before flipping them and searing them on the other side for another 3-4 minutes. Sear the other two sides of the tenderloins with 1 minute each. Transfer the tenderloins to a roasting tray and bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes – the internal temperature should register to roughly 140 degrees F. Allow the tenderloin to fully rest before slicing into 1/2-thick medallions.

For garnish:
Nasturtium leaves

Start by placing down roughly 3-4 tbsp of the aligot. Next to that, I placed 2 tbsp of the jus. On top of that, I placed down two medallion slices of the tenderloin, then the tuile, then 3 nasturtium leaves to garnish.