Recipe: Balsamic & Garlic Pork Tenderloin

I have challenged myself with the task of trying one new recipe a week for every week of the new year, and so far it is moving along nicely. I have to admit that coming up with the time to choose a worthy new recipe, purchase the ingredients that I don't already have, prepare it and cook it, is harder than I thought it would be. But I am determined to keep this going! Not only because I don't want to fail at the one and only "resolution" I made this year, but because I LOVE food and I really enjoy cooking. I think it's important not to fall into the rut of eating the same old, same old all the time. When able, I will credit whatever blog, site, or cookbook that I adapted the recipe from. This one originally came from Kitchen Confidante. That blog is chock full of wonderful recipes and other food-related posts so I suggest you check it out! I followed the recipe pretty closely with just a few minor modifications.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin, or two 3/4 lb loins
• 4-5 garlic cloves, finely minced or crushed & roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons oil for cooking 

Mix together the garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a small bowl. The original recipe describes the result as a paste, but mine was much runnier than that. More like a marinade.

Place your tenderloins in a dish and brush on the marinade generously. I cut a few slits in my tenderloin and made sure to get plenty of marinade inside there too. Then, I ended up pouring the entire mixture over the tenderloins and massaged it in using my fingers for a minute or so.

 

I recently read an article that described common cooking mistakes. One of them was not allowing your meat to reach room temperature before cooking. So, remembering that, I left my covered tenderloins to marinate on the counter for about 2 hours before cooking. This will also allow it to really soak up the flavors of the marinade and makes for an incredibly moist tenderloin. 

Preheat your oven to 400°. Heat the cooking oil in a saute pan over med-high heat. Move the tenderloins to the skillet and cook in the oil until browned on all sides, about 4-5min. total.

 

Place tenderloins in a baking dish and pour any leftover marinade on top. Bake in the preheated oven until cooked through, about 30-35min. Let rest several minutes before slicing.

Serve and enjoy! This is easy and DELICIOUS.

 

**October 17, 2013 EDIT: The photo above is the original photo taken for this recipe. I made this again tonight for dinner and it was even better than last time! I made a few very slight tweaks the recipe which are reflected above, as well as a couple of new photos.