To pork. To pork!
I had one of those moments where I was frantically searching the top of the dinner table for anything to sop up the sauce from my creamy honey dijon garlic thyme pork... but no bread, so I had to settle for spooning the excess sauce onto new potatoes and edamame. At least it was mannered; my other option was to slurp.
There is a reason pork is a noun AND a verb. To pork. I was baited by the verb via my frantic sauce moment, caught in a bonafide feeding frenzy. You know you are porking when: you are eating rapidly while eying the last portion in the dish, and/or you eat because it tastes good and ignore the bursting belly below, and/or you temporarily dip into a zone where you become one with the flavors of the food, and stay there a little too long. Been there, done that, guilty as charged.
Excuses front and center: THIS pork recipe is why people write cookbooks. It is SO embarrassingly easy, and SO easy to multiply from serving 4 to serving 12, and SO melt in your mouth good. Besides, it is good protein, the kids loved it and it goes so nicely with an array of vegetables. Plus you can skip dessert: this pork will satiate any need for sweet, rich, moist and saucy. What more can I say? To pork!
Honey Garlic Pork One 1 lb. pork tenderloin, cavity cut lengthwise 4-5 sprigs of thyme 4-5 cloves garlic, crushed with skins on Kosher salt & coarse pepper 2 T olive oil
Sauce 1/3 cup honey 1/3 cup butter, melted 1/3 cup heavy cream 2 T dijon or grainy mustard 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1 tsp curry powder
Heat oven to 400; open pork cavity and fill with all of the thyme and garlic. Salt and pepper the outside of the pork, secure with twine. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high, brown all sides of pork, 1 minute per side (I count four sides). Place in baking dish (9x13 is good for 1-2 loins, space apart if using 2; any baking dish works as long as the loin fits). Blend all sauce ingredients, pour over pork and place in oven. Bake 20-25 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 140. Baste 2-3 times. Remove from oven, let meat rest for 10 minutes under aluminum foil tent. Cut twine, remove thyme stems and garlic and throw away. Slice and serve.
Notes Recipe serves 4. Add a 1 lb. pork tenderloin per 3-4 people. Recipe has enough sauce to serve up to 8. If serving more than 8, increase sauce recipe/ingredients accordingly. Feel free to use a 2-3 lb pork tenderloin; for every 1 lb. of tenderloin add 15-20 minutes in oven (or until center reaches 140 degrees). Use kitchen twine to tie pork, I tried a long skewer which was a fancy idea until I had to remove it (the pork won). To avoid unpleasant slurping, serve bread to sop up sauce.
