Porchetta Seasoned Pork Tenderloin
Two weeks to go until we are supposed to close on our new house and the appraisal isn’t scheduled until next week which means we may not close on time and we need to close by the end of May. If we can’t, we then would be homeless and unable to close the new house until the first week in June due some odd circumstances happening right now. I guess we just say a little prayer and hold our breath in the rush-hour home buying traffic happening right now and hope it all works out as it’s out of our hands at this point. I HATE that feeling!!
Porchetta seasoned tenderloin is one of those things that can take my mind off of the current life stress as it’s flavor is AMAZING! Yes, I totally cheated and didn’t make the “real deal” porchetta as that involves a pork belly, seasoned, rolled up and tied with butcher’s twine and then slow roasted. This looks super pretty when you slice it but you can get the same flavorful punch and tender juiciness from a pork tenderloin in a significantly shorter amount of time and in a more appropriate serving size for an average family.
The seasoning blend in this porchetta seasoned tenderloin consists of fennel seeds, sage, rosemary, garlic and a bit of crushed red pepper. To get the most flavor, I pan roasted the fennel seeds and red pepper until they just started to brown and were very fragrant. After roasting the fennel and pepper, combine in a mortar and pestle and crush until fairly fine. You can add the sage and rosemary at this point as well to blend.
These spices are then drizzled with olive oil and combined with minced garlic to form a paste. Then give your tenderloin a good rub with the spice paste to coat it on all sides. Let it rest for 30 minutes, then sear it in a frying pan and grill over indirect heat. The best way to do this is to shift your charcoal to one side of the grill or to just light one burner on a gas grill to medium and grill the tenderloin on the opposite side until it reaches 145 degrees which should be about 40 minutes. Alternately, you can roast it in the oven at 325 degrees. After taking off the grill, let it rest for 5 minutes before serving. Slice into cute little discs and serve up some deliciousness!
- 1 pork tenderloin (whole, about 1-1.5 pounds, unbrined/unseasoned)
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 2 teaspoons sage
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- ½ teaspoon pink himalayan salt*
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- olive oil 1-2 tablespoons, or enough to form a thick paste when combined with spices
- Roast fennel seeds and red pepper in frying fan until just starting to brown and are very fragrant.
- Combine fennel and red pepper with all other dry spices in a mortar and pestle and crush until fairly fine.
- Add garlic and olive oil to spice mixture to form a thick paste.
- Rub spice mixture onto pork tenderloin on all sides and let sit 30 minutes.
- Preheat grill for indirect heat by turning one gas burner on to medium/medium high or placing charcoal all on one side of grill. Alternately, preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- While grill/oven is preheating, sear tenderloin in skillet on all sides.
- Place tenderloin on grill over indirect heat (the opposite side of the charcoal or gas burner that's lit) and grill turning occasionally until internal temp reaches 145 degrees, approx. 40 minutes.
- Take tenderloin off the heat and let rest on a plate 5 minutes before serving.
- To serve, slice into discs.
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