If you’re from the south and don’t know, that little bugger is a groundhog, who, according to New England tradition, didn’t see his shadow on Feb. 2, and announced Spring would be EARLY. Well, clearly, that hasn’t happened. I don’t know what the %!&?! was going on yesterday on my commute home from work, but suddenly I’m in a white-out and I’m shifting the Jeep into 4-wheel drive and gunning it to avoid a car spinning out in the lane next to me.
SO OVER this weather!! Well, since a 2-week beach vacation isn’t an option right now, the intention is to make home a cozy, warm, happy place to be. It’s a fire-in-the-fireplace kind of evening, and dinner will be warm, creative and delicious.
We have a 16 oz. pork tenderloin in the refrigerator, and nothing tastes better with pork than fruit. We could whip up some quick homemade applesauce, but tonight’s storm calls for something a little more inventive, to cheer us up. Ever roasted a plum?
We gave the pork tenderloin a spicy rub of 1 Tbsp each of: cayenne, garlic powder and paprika. We let it sit on the counter for about 40 minutes to come to room temp before putting in a 400º oven for 30 minutes.
Then cut 4 plums in half lengthwise, pitted them, and popped them in a baking dish and slid them into the oven with the roast.
After 30 minutes, we set the roast on the counter to rest for 10-15 minutes, covered. Spooned 1 tsp crumbled blue cheese on top of each plum, and covered the baking dish to let the blue cheese melt.
Then quick sautéed some baby spinach in 1 tsp garlic EVOO, and dinner was ready! Quick squeeze of fresh lemon juice on the spinach for a subtle tang! Heaven!
Can’t describe how amazing this was. Sweet, spicy, savory, sour and a lil’ salty (the blue cheese) all at once. This is definitely a make-again dinner, and SO easy!!
*In order to lower the sodium, (this was sort-of a splurge on blue cheese,) substitute goat cheese for the blue, reduce the amount of blue, or eliminate the cheese all together.
Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Plums
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork tenderloin
- 4 medium plums
- 1 Tbsp granulated garlic
- 2 tsp chipotle pepper seasoning
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 4 tsp crumbled blue cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º.
- Trim all visible fat from tenderloin, including silver skin.
- Combine garlic, chipotle pepper and paprika seasonings in a small bowl. Mix well. Dry the tenderloin with a paper towel. Coat all sides of the pork with the spice rub.
- Place tenderloin in a roasting pan or on a sheet pan. Add plums to pan with cut side facing up. Roast for 30 minutes, uncovered.
- Remove pan from oven, tent loosely with foil, and rest the pork for 15 minutes.
- Slice pork. Plate pork slices and 2 plum halves per plate. Add a little blue cheese to to the center of each plum.
Oh I just won a some pork tenderloins at meat raffle!! This is a must do recipe! Thank you as always I can’t wait to try !