Saturday, July 10, 2010

Pastrami Style Pork Tenderloin

It's 8am on Saturday morning, the whole family is still sleeping and I have a moment to myself. Mornings like this are beautiful, a real gift.

My parents are visiting this weekend to help us continue with the setting up of our new home. Things are going well, slow, since I refuse to sacrifice all the summer fun to the tyranny of opening box after box. The boxes aren't going anywhere, and since I am not interested in impressing anyone with my speed and dexterity of making our home look finished, the slow pace suits me just fine.

But with my parents here this weekend we have two extra sets of hands on deck to help, so last night I treated them to a great meal to help say "thanks" in advance for their sure-to-be awesome help. They both love pork, and while the Sweet Pea Family continues to eat very little meat, if I had to pick one meat that we favor, it would be pork. Why pork? Let's just say reasons why begin with bacon and end with barbecue.

I started mulling options for a pork tenderloin main dish and somehow fell upon the idea of doing a pastrami rub for the pork. SPH loves pastrami and I knew it would suit my parents well too. This rub I developed is lower in sodium than a traditional pastrami yet still tastes delicious.

Everyone in our family gobbled this up...

Pastrami Style Pork Tenderloin


1 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 - 1 pound pork tenderloins

With a mortar and pestle, spice grinder or in a heavy duty plastic bag with a mallet, smash the coriander seeds and peppercorns until they are just slightly broken. If some are still whole, that is fine.

In a shallow dish (to use for marinating), mix the coriander and peppercorns, salt, brown sugar, paprika and garlic powder. Mix well. Add the mustard and olive oil to make a thick paste or "wet rub" for the pork.

Add the pork and coat well with the spice mixture. Refrigerate for an hour of up to 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven or grill to 450 degrees. Cook the tenderloins for 25-35 minutes or until the pork reaches and internal temperature of 155 degrees.

Let the pork "rest" for about 10 minutes before thinly slicing.

Serve with baguette and mustard.

Serves 6.



SPC

2 comments:

Laura said...

This sounds awesome! Actually, I'm thinking of using this for my dinner tomorrow night, but would have to use a slow cooker. And I have 1 2 pound tenderloin. 6 hours on high?

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Fearless, that sounds pretty good to me...LOVE the idea to do it in the slow cooker!!