Island Pork Tenderloin

My Dad's birthday was a few weeks ago, so Josh and I had my parents (and nieces) up for dinner last weekend. I had seen this recipe come across my reader, and immediately knew that I wanted to make it. This pork tenderloin was very flavorful, and I really enjoyed the spicy-sweet taste. I served it with red skin potatoes, butternut squash, green beans, and rolls. I decided to put the potatoes around the pork in a baking dish to cook, but I would not do that next time - they picked up too much of the sweet flavor from the brown sugar topping, and I think it caused my pork to cook slowly. Other than that, this meal was a success!

Island Pork Tenderloin
as seen on Pennies on a Platter

For Spice Rub:

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 pork tenderloins (2 1/4 – 2 1/2 pound total) trimmed

2 tablespoons olive oil

For Glaze:

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

1 tablespoon Tabasco

DIRECTIONS:

1. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Coat pork with spice rub.

2. Heat oil in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until just beginning to smoke. Brown pork, turning occasionally, about 4 minutes total. Remove from heat; leave pork in skillet. (I removed mine to a glass baking dish, which worked out just fine.)

3. Stir together brown sugar, garlic and Tabasco in a small bowl. Pat the mixture on top of the tenderloins.

4. Place the skillet (or baking dish) in the oven at 350 degrees F. Roast until thermometer inserted diagonally into the center of each tenderloin registers 140 degrees, about 20 minutes (mine took about 40 minutes - but my baking dish was very full with the pork and potatoes). Let pork stand, loosely covered with foil for 10 minutes.

REVIEW:

The pork was very good - moist and flavorful. Next time I would use a little less of the brown sugar topping (I had 2.5 lbs of pork) - I just thought it was a little too much. I did really enjoy how it crisped up while baking - it added a nice texture to the succulent pork. This would also be a nice dish to entertain with - pork tenderloin can be very reasonably priced when on sale, and it makes for some very fancy dinners (I've seen lots of recipes with cranberries & pork for the holidays as well).

Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

I had some pork tenderloin in the freezer, and I came across this on Taste & See. This is a very simple way to prepare the tenderloin, and it is very flavorful!

Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin
from Cooking Light Magazine, March 09; serves 4 (3 oz each)

1 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground red pepper (I used cayenne)
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
2 tsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine first 9 ingredients; rub over pork. Let stand 30 minutes. Heat oil in a medium ovenproof skilled over medium-high heat. Add pork to pan; cook 4 minutes, browning on all sides.
3. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160, turning after 10 minutes. (our took closer to 45 minutes....) Let stand 10 minutes. Cut pork crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices.

Nutritional Info: 166 calories; 6.3g fat; 24g protein; 2.1g carbs; 0.5g fiber; 74mg cholesterol; 1.7mg Iron; 500mg sodium; 13mg calcium.

REVIEW:
Very moist and flavorful. When served with a veggie, this makes for a great low-cal, low-fat dinner that is high in protein.

3-Packet Pot Roast

I had a chuck roast in the fridge to use up, and Josh requested a crock pot roast. I didn't have any of the regular veggies I toss in the crockpot (celery, carrots, onions, potatoes) so I was on the search for something different. I found this recipe from the crockpot lady, and served the roast with some corn and herb toast.3-Packet Pot Roast in the Crockpot
serves 4-6, depending on roast size

~3 lb chuck roast
1 packet ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix
1 packet Italian salad dressing mix
1/2 packet Grill Mates peppercorn and garlic seasoning (the original recipe calls for a whole packet, but the pepper taste is just too strong!)
1 to 2 cups of water
(you could toss in some of the veggies I mentioned earlier if you wanted)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place the roast in the crockpot.
2. Mix all the seasonings together in a bowl and pour on top of the meat. Flip the meat over a few times to coat it with the seasoning.
3. Add 1-2 cups of water, until the meat is almost covered.
4. Turn on low and cook for 8 hours, or on high for 4-5.
5. Dinner is served! Josh wanted gravy with ours, so I had him whisk in some flour to the juices left in the crock pot after removing the meat. He probably whisked in ~1/4 cup of flour, turned the crock on high, and the gravy just thickened right up.REVIEW:
You really only need 1/2 of a packet of the peppercorn seasoning. We used a whole packet, and the pepper taste was very strong, especially in the gravy. Other than that, this was a very tasty meal! The roast was so tender, just how we like it. It was also easy, Josh actually put it together while I was at work. All day long he commented how good it smelled!

Garlic and Herb Pot Poast

A while back, I tried to cook a beef eye roast and wasn't really happy with it. It tasted fine, but I decided I wouldn't buy that cut of meat again. You'll never guess what I found in my freezer... apparently it was on sale some other time (January according to the date I wrote on the bag) and I stashed it away. I figured this time we would try it in the crock pot. This roast came out quite moist, but I would still recommend a different cut of beef with it.

Garlic and Herb Pot Roast
serves 4-6

~3 lb roast
2 packets onion soup mix (I used the Lipton Herb and Garlic Onion Soup mix, it comes 2 packets to a box)
3 stalks celery, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 small white onions, quartered
1/2 cup carrot pieces (I cut bagged carrot sticks in half)
3 small red potatoes, quartered
4 cloves garlic peeled
1/2 c. beef broth
1/2 c. waterNote: if you have a bigger crock pot, you can up the veggies to help fill the space. I love the veggies, but I am space limited with my 4 (or maybe 5?) qt. crock. Skip in veggies you don't like. I add the potatoes to satisfy my hubby ;)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Put veggies and garlic in crock pot. Set cut of beef on top of veggies. Sprinkle seasoning packet over beef and veggies. Pour beef broth and water over everything.
2. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove the veggies and beef from the broth. Slice and serve. You could use the broth to make a gravy, but I didn't.
REVIEW:
The flavors were good and the meat was moist, but not as tender as I like. I think this is more due to the cut of meat than the recipe though. Just don't use an eye roast!

Eye of Round Roast

I bought an eye-of-round roast because it was on sale. I did some research and found out its a pretty tough cut of meat, but you could cook it with either dry or moist methods. I found this recipe on allrecipes, and the reviews said it came out very tender. I thought this was just 'eh'. I'll look up a crock pot recipe for next time.

High-temperature Eye of Round Roast

1 eye of round roast, about 3 lbs (I think our was closer to 2, and made ~4 servings)

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 500 deg F.

2. Season the roast with salt and pepper and place in a roasting pan or baking dish. Do not cover or add water.
3. Place the roast in the preheated oven, reduce the temp to 475 deg F. Roast for 7 min per pound (we roasted for about 17 min), then turn off your oven (Yes, turn it OFF).
4. Now let the roast sit on the hot oven for about 2 1/2 hours. DO NOT open the oven door during this time! (Trust me, your roast will cook. Ours got a little too done for Josh's liking, so I would say 2 hours for a smaller roast would be enough.)
5. Remove the roast from the oven, the internal temp should be about 145 deg. Carve into slices and serve. I served with asparagus and seasoned toast.

REVIEW:
Josh didn't mind this, but I thought it was too tough. I was probably the cut of meat and not the recipe though. If I ever accidentally buy this again (I have a tendency to pick up whats on sale), I'll look for a "moist" method recipe to use.