Monday, March 01, 2010

Kitchen Confidential: Delicious Pork Rub

I'm a huge fan of pork. It's delicious, nutritious, and lean. Last weekend, when I made the baked chicken, I purchased a ton of fresh herbs, so I scoured the interwebs trying to find another healthy dish utilizing them. And I found a killer pork rub recipe.

Pork chops are a standard at my house, but I haven't made many tenderloins. That will change now, because this dish was so fantastic that I ate all of the leftovers throughout the week. DELISH, my friends, I tell you, delish!!!

As always, my first step in the kitchen was to open a yummy bottle of South Coast Winery's Chardonnay Sans Chene.  It was mellow, buttery, and strong.  It makes me happy and if my dinner guest was a drinker, that bottle would have been dunzo immediately.  But, I threw the vacuum seal on it and it happily lasted me through the week.  South Coast is a So Cal vineyard that produces really great wines.  As I'm allergic to tannin, I have become a connoisseur of whites, and this vineyard consistently produces great ones!  I highly recommend you check them out!
But next up, the REAL ingredients: 2 lbs of pork tenderloin, 1 tsp black pepper, oregano, sea salt, garlic salt, and 2 tsps of fresh thyme.  You'll also need 2 tsps of EVOO.

Coat your baking dish with non-stick spray, then cover the tenderloin with the EVOO. In a separate dish, mix the dry ingredients together to make the rub.
Then, take the rub and work it into the tenderloin. You'll want to make sure you've got the dry ingredients on the top and bottom.
Bake on 400 degrees for about 40 minutes...but you're really going to want to rely on a thermometer here. Pork is done at about 160 degrees at the center. When you pull it out of the oven looking like this, your guests will oooh and aaah!

It will likely look too pretty to eat, but at this point, I implore you to TEAR into that sucker because it is mouth-wateringly good!!!
It was divine and EASY...and who DOESN'T love the other white meat???


3 comments:

Jennifer Vanderbeek said...

Sounds yummy! We love pork tenderloin in our home, much more than chops, and have had some wonderful results grilling it instead of roasting.

My favorite pork, ever, though, is a pork roast studded with slivers of garlic and green onion (inserted into the meat, make some holes first with a pairing knife) and salt and pepper. Roast 'til tender and, oh, it's the smell of my Louisiana paw-paw's kitchen when we'd go to visit!

Happy SITS Monday!

Chelsea said...

I made this tonight for dinner and it was wonderful, thanks for the recipe! We will definitely have this meal again!!

Jen@balancing Beautyand Bedlam said...

WOWZA - it does look amazing. Thanks for sharing it with my Tasty Tuesday readers....hope you're doing well, my friend. :)