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
Thank you for the recipe! We’re having this tonight. I also do not have a thermometer – I did, for one meal, but in one of the dumbest cooking moves of my personal career, I closed the oven door on my brand new instant read thermometer for no longer than a second. When I opened the door, the thing was completely shot. I didn’t even tell my husband… just put it in the trash. That was ~$10 well spent. What a moron 🙂
Don’t be too hard on yourself Heidi, we have aLL done something (or more likely sometHINGS) lome that. I bet dinner was stil delicious!
I ran across this post and just had to comment. I LOVE my meat thermometer! It was recommended by a grilling chef on PBS. Thermoworks is the brand he likes. I went for a $20 model. I liked it so much I bought one for my mother-in-law . . now she’s hooked too! Here’s the link: http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt600c.html. Just don’t forget to turn it off! There’s nothing worse than an awesome thermometer with a dead battery. 🙂
My 4 year old drew me a picture “as big as the whole world” to show me how much he liked this pork. I’ll definitely make this again.
I’ve got my pork loin in the oven now — can’t wait! I have great faith that it will turn out fabulously. I’m so thankful for the oh-so-easy idea. I am in that first trimester, can’t-bear-to-look-at-or-smell-food phase and have been feeding my beloved family a diet of restaurant food and frozen pizza lately. It’s nice to feel like I’m doing something good for my family that doesn’t require that I labor long and hard (we’ll save that for 7 months from now) or get sick just to put some decent food on the table.
I’m serving it with Stove Top stuffing (I hope that doesn’t make you cringe too hard.), because I can. Preggo, you know. (Yes, I use that for an excuse, ahem reason, for a lot of things.) Steamed broccoli/brocolli (I never know which one is right.) will finish out the meal.
I’m fairly new to your website, girls, and I love it! Keep the great ideas coming!
dishinaboutnutrition–Go for 160. Maybe your meat thermometers are more well-behaved than mine! 🙂
I think I am going to try this tonight! What should the temp read if we do have a thermometer …hypothetically speaking we have not thrown it out…yet 😉
I made this tonight and it was AMAZING! My husband said it tasted like something from a restaurant – so thanks for the great recipe! Amanda
Heidi–My guess is actually the garlic just because garlic can become really bitter if it's cooked too long. Was the garlic on the dark brown/charred side? If so, you might just need to keep an eye on it next time to make sure it's not getting to dark (or maybe reducing the heat by 25 degrees or so). I'm sorry it didn't turn out!
Hi Kate, I am making this tonight for sure. I often have Heidi’s problem with the garlic twisting bitter. Would using garlic past it’s prime do this too? I thout I read once that garlic that has gone green in the center shouldnt be used, but every clove of garlic I find at the store is green in the center when I get it home. I don’t use the green part, or ammi just over cooking it?
Thanks!
SueAnn
No, the green part shouldn’t make it bitter, it’s more likely overcooking.
I must have done something wrong, and I'm so frustrated because it sounded so good. My yummy crust turned out really bitter. I'm wondering if maybe I had bad rosemary?
Clearly, I made this after Valentines Day, but it was FANTASTIC! My husband couldn't stop saying how moist and flavorful it was. I discovered my meat thermometer didn't work, so I kept it in for 30 minutes and that was perfect. Thanks for another great one!