So awhile ago, I blogged about my new favorite side dish. And it’s still pretty much my favorite side dish, except now that fingerling potatoes are difficult to come by, I just buy a bag of red potatoes and pick out the smallest ones I can find and it works beautifully.
One of my favorite things about those potatoes isthis flavorful, garlicky/salty/tangy rosemary-infused crust that develops. Once, as I was secretly snacking on the roasted garlic crumbles washing the dishes after dinner, I was completely stricken with how fabulous the rub would be on a roasted pork tenderloin. And I tried it. And it was fabulous.
One of the best things about pork tenderloins is that they cook quickly and feel fancy, so, say you have a romantic Valentine’s Day planned with lots of skiing and canoodling and you want to cook a nice, romantic dinner at home, but you don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen. Or…say you spend Valentine’s Day wrangling children and cleaning up messes and you’re at your wit’s end and you want a nice dinner, but you’re too tired to cook. Well…lucky you…this recipe works either way!
Seriously–thirty minutes, you’re done (and a good chunk of that is spent sitting on the couch while the pork is roasting). You can mix a little extra olive oil with a little of the rub and toss it with some diced potatoes and bake them right on the pat at the same time. Or serve it alongside some asparagus or blanch some green beans for a minute or two and saute them in a little butter and garlic and Happy Valentine’s Day to YOU.
Garlic-Rosemary Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 medium or small pork tenderloins
- 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 2 ½ tablespoons chopped rosemary leaves strip them from the woody stem first
- 2 ½ tablespoons coarse mustard
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- A few turns of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450℉. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Rinse pork tenderloin in cool water and trim any excess fat or the silvery membrane on the meat. Pat dry and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, combine olive oil, rosemary leaves, mustard, garlic, Kosher salt, and black pepper. Carefully rub all over pork roast, particularly on top. Place in heated oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer reaches 155 degrees. When the meat is done, remove from oven and allow to stand 5-10 minutes before slicing.
Questions & Reviews
It's in the oven right now! Smells wonderful!
Looks like a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner… I love rosemary!
Just finished this for dinner tonight. It was amazing! The whole family loved it and even my 6 year old and my 3 year old cleaned their plates. The seasoning was perfect and it was nice and juicy in the middle. I don't have a meat therm. so I cooked it for 30 minutes and it was perfect. Thanks for the great recipe~
thats an awesome picture of the pork loin.
This is fantastic. My husband hates mustard so I was nervous but it turned out sooooo delicious! The whole family loved it. We made it on the grill/smoker and that extra layer of Smokiness was great. I will definitely make this again!
Looks like another good recipe. Just wanted to say I made your sunrise punch for New Beginnings tonight and it was a huge hit. Thanks so much–I love your stuff!
I have a pork roast in the freezer and I am thinking that I am going to have to make this. It sound really good.
le7–I've seen Kosher lamb at Sam's Club (go figure, right?)
Oooh that sounds yummy. I would love to try it on lamb but I'm not sure where I would buy a kosher leg of lamb.
le7–Hmmmm…maybe something hearty like a whole chicken? My hubby hates fish and I hate cooking stuff nobody eats, so I'm not as familiar with fish as I should be. I also think it would be great on a boneless leg of lamb, but I don't know if you eat lamb or not.
Would this taste just as yummy with some sort of fish or poultry? (I don't eat pork but I really like the idea of trying out these flavors together).