Roast Pork Tenderloin

Well, my husband's schedule has gone back to keeping him at work later most nights, so I get to cook dinners again! Not that I don't enjoy when he cooks, but I do miss cooking when I don't do it for a while. This dish is nice because you can prepare most of it early in the day, or even the night before if you like, to decrease the time it will take to get dinner ready. For that reason, however, you'll have to excuse my photos if they are a bit blurry, as I was wearing my little helper on my back while doing the prep work - he likes to kick his feet if I hold still to take photos ("Giddyup Mama!") 

First combine your garlic and spices in a mortar.

And use the pestle to crush and macerate them.

Add olive oil and continue to grind the mixture into a thick paste. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can use a food processor or just a knife and cutting board. The cutting board method will take a bit longer and will probably not give you a paste so much as a spice rub, and you'll use the olive oil separately, but if it's all you have it will still taste good!

Rub the spice paste onto all surfaces of the meat. I used two tenderloins because I wanted leftovers, but you could use just one or a different cut if you prefer. You can continue to the cooking stage now, or wrap the meat and refrigerate until you are ready to cook.

Preheat oven to 425*. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a cast iron (or any oven-proof) skillet, and sear the meat on all sides.

Remove the meat and saute onion slices until fragrant. Stir them around with a wooden spoon during this step to pick up the browned spices that stayed in the skillet.

Return the seared meat to the pan on top of the onions and roast in the 425* oven for 10-15 minutes per pound.

Transfer meat to platter and allow it to rest while you deglaze the pan. Return the skillet to the stovetop over med-high heat and pour in about a cup of liquid (water works fine but if you'd like to kick it up feel free to use wine, or I bet it would be great with apple cider...). Stir with wooden spoon to loosen any more browned bits, allow liquid to simmer down if you want it thicker.

Pour your lovely brown onion jus (or gravy if you let it thicken) over the meat to serve.

And now for the recipe:

Roast Pork Tenderloin
1 or 2 pork tenderloins
5-6 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp dry rosemary
2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil, plus a drizzle for searing
1 large onion, sliced
1 cup water or other liquid

Macerate garlic and spices with mortar and pestle, add olive oil and continue to grind into a thick paste. Rub spice paste onto all sides of meat, wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook.
Preheat oven to 425*. Heat olive oil in cast iron skillet and sear meat on all sides. Remove meat and saute onion slices until fragrant, stirring with a wooden spoon to pick up browned spices from skillet. Return meat to skillet on top of onion, roast in 425* oven for 10-15 minutes per pound.
Transfer meat to platter to rest. Return skillet to stovetop over med-high heat. Pour in water or other liquid, stirring to loosen brown bits from skillet. Allow to simmer down to thicken if desired. Pour onion jus/gravy over meat to serve.

Enjoy!                                            

Sue