Tasty Pork Tenderloin

Sometimes you want that barbecue flavor in the winter, and waiting until summer is just not an option!  This tenderloin recipe always ends up juicy and with my special “spruced up” barbecue sauce you just might think it’s July.

Ingredients:

• 1 Pound pork tenderloin
• 1 Jar of your favorite bbq sauce (My choice: Diana Sauce)
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tsp Dried Thyme
• 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 Tsp Onion Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Celery Seed
• 1 Tsp Salt/Pepper

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with tin foil (makes for an easy clean up!) and place your tenderloin in the center.   Sprinkle the thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, celery seed and salt/pepper all over the meat, and then drizzle on the olive oil.  Rub everything in for a good 1-2 minutes to really tenderize the meat.  Put in the oven for 1 hour.

At the 1 hour mark, take the tenderloin out of the oven and slather it with your favorite bbq sauce.  See the bottom of this post for my “Spruced Up” bbq sauce, which really gives the pork extra flavor!

Turn the oven up to 325 and continue to cook for another 20 minutes.  Once the 20 minutes is up, take the pork out and add one more layer of bbq sauce.  Put back in the oven for another 20 minutes.  Make sure to check the center of the meat with a meat thermometer (should read 165 F).

Take the pork out of the oven and let sit for at least 10 minutes before slicing.   Serves 4 (or 2 very very hungry people!)

Now, if you’re feeling adventerous you can spruce up your bbq sauce, and it really does kick things up a notch (as Emeril would say!).   Get a small sauce pan out and fry up 1 slice of bacon.  What we want out of this is the fat from the bacon, so feel free to eat the bacon slice you just cooked up!

Once you are left with the bacon fat in the bottom of the pan, turn the heat on really low and add in your bbq sauce with the following ingredients:

• 1 Tsp Fresh thyme
• 1 Clove of garlic (chopped up or grated)
• 1 Tsp Onion powder
• 1 Tsp Mustard powder
• 1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Tsp Ketchup

Mix everything together and cook just until it starts to simmer, and remove from heat.  These few steps really will make this dish special, and feel free to change up the spices depending on your favorites.

Suggested Sides:

Roasted Potatoes: slather with olive oil and your favorite seasonings and roast at 375 for 40 minutes, turning once at 20 minutes.

Asparagus and Carrots:  Slice carrots lengthwise to resemble the same shape as the asparagus.  Slice up 1/2 of a medium red onion, and crush up 3 cloves of garlic.  Start frying the red onion and garlic in 1tsp of oil and 1 tsp of butter.  Once the onions are translucent add the asparagus and carrots.  Stir often, and cook for roughly 10 minutes.   Remember: smaller vegetables = smaller cooking time, so if you’re in a hurry slice up the vegetables smaller!)  This goes the same for potatoes as well.