Pork, the Other White Meat

I have a profound love of homecured bacon, homecured sausages, roasted pig head, and pork spareribs... it might be a borderline unhealthy love of pork products.  Just because I ordered a bacon omelet with double bacon and bacon on the side does not mean that I have a problem.  Right.  Anyway, I realized the other day that while I love pork, I rarely actually make it at home, reserving it for special occasions or trips to a BBQ shack in West Virginia or Kentucky.  So I decided I would try to make a healthier dinner using pork as the centerpiece the other night and used my Special Man Friend as a guinea pig.  The verdict was that the Chipotle Crusted Pork Tenderloin served with baked sweet potato fries and Broccoli Slaw was a hit.  Learning from the Cuban feast overindulgence, we sadly only took seconds of the broccoli slaw (and compensated for it by eating a couple newly delivered Girl Scout cookies). 

Pork tenderloin, when cooked properly, is an amazingly tender and juicy cut of meat, and relatively lean.  My favorite way to cook meat to use a covered cast iron skillet with high heat with a blackening season of some sort.  It guarantees a wonderful crust and a little mini oven of joy to get the inside perfectly cooked.  Pork tenderloin is no exception.  I decided to depart from my traditional blackening seasoning (equal parts powdered onion, powdered garlic, cayenne, paprika, white pepper, black pepper, and seasoned salt), and went for a spicy-sweet seasoning to create the Chiptole Crusted Pork Tenderloin.  Simply combine:

• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons chipotle chile powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 3 tablespoons loosely packed brown sugar

Then cover a small pork tenderloin (mine was about 3/4 of a pound) with the mixture and dump it into a ziploc bag with the extra seasoning.  I let it sit in the fridge for about an hour, and then took the tenderloin out about an hour before I wanted to start cooking to let it come to room temperature for more even cooking.  Heat a cast iron skillet with a lid over medium high heat, make sure your stove fan is on and windows are open, and then put the tenderloin in and quickly cover.  About every 2-3 minutes, turn the tenderloin so that all sides get charred.  Check the internal temperature to make sure it reaches 155 F before letting the meat rest.  If the outside is charred to your liking but the internal temperature is not ideal, finish off a 350 F oven.  Let the tenderloin rest for at least 10 minutes and then slice in 1/4-1/2 inch slices.

I have to admit that I sort of cheated on the Broccoli Slaw.  I wanted something veggie laden that I could make ahead and didn't feel like checking what ingredients I had when I was at Whole Paycheck.  So I bought the Bolthouse Farms yogurt based coleslaw dressing to toss with my baby broccoli (1 small bunch, florets only), shredded carrot (1 carrot), thinly sliced purple cabbage (2-3 cups), sweet onion (1/4 medium onion), dried cranberries (1 handfull), and shredded granny smith apple (1 apple).  The Bolthouse Farms coleslaw dressing is a creamy semi sweet dressing, so I added some tang with a dollap of Miracle Whip and about 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.  Once I had tossed everything together, I stuck it in the fridge for about 2 hours before it was served and it was the perfect complement.