this past weekend, i cooked a pork tenderloin and a pineapple casserole. for whatever reason, i didn't get around to typing it up for documentation purposes on sunday night. and i was too busy hiding under blankets on my futon for the rest of the week. it was cold! but now, on the first day of spring, it is sufficiently mild that i don't have to huddle under covers for warmth.
but yes...when i went to the store in search of a suitable cut of meat for use with a spice rub packet i bought in brevard, i didn't find any beef roasts that looked even halfway decent. so i settled on a whole pork tenderloin. it looked good, anyway.
before i go on, i got the spice rub at a little shop called spice it to a tea! it's a neat little shop in downtown brevard, and they have all sorts of spices, flavored salts, flavored sugars, olive oils and vinegars. to say the least, it smells nice inside. this particular roast rub packet contains sea salt, mustard seed, garlic, anise seed, black pepper, onion, fennel seed, coriander, sage, thyme, and rosemary. quite a bit going on, but again...it smelled nice when i bought it.
preparing and cooking my meal probably took upwards of two hours. and in total, i expect the pork to last about six brian-sized servings. the pineapple casserole lasted a little less. and just so you know, the pork was NOT as red as the picture below makes it appear...try as i might, i couldn't get the camera to show the true color of the meat. it was sufficiently cooked, but the light just wasn't cooperating with me. proof: i'm alive and did not suffer from food poisoning!
ingredients (pork):
- pork tenderloin (about three pounds)
- spice rub packet (one ounce)
- olive oil
- apple cider vinegar
preparation:
to start with, i lined a 9" x 13" pan with aluminum foil (for easier cleanup) and placed the tenderloin inside. i then made a paste with the spice rub, a little olive oil, and a little apple cider vinegar, which i applied to the entire pork. it mostly stayed on the top, but there was enough to apply some to the edges, as well. the pork went back in the refrigerator while i started preparation of the pineapple.
ingredients (pineapple):
- 3/4 stick margarine (melted)
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 can (20 ounces) of crushed pineapple
preparation:
grease a dish with the margarine. i typically use a round pyrex dish and use the microwave to melt the margarine in it, and that seems to work. mix in the flour, sugar, and eggs, and stir well. once all the flour and sugar lumps are smoothed out, stir in the pineapple. for the heck of it, i sprinkled in a little cinnamon this time, too; i've never done that before, but i thought i'd see what happened.
cooking/timing:
heat the oven to 350°F and bake the pineapple casserole for about an hour. the custardy mixture should be set (stick a fork or toothpick in, and it shouldn't jiggle around all that much). this was the first time i've cooked the casserole in this oven, so it took a little longer than normal for me (about an hour and 10 minutes). personally, i prefer the pineapple casserole if it's cooled for a little bit before serving. and i certainly don't reheat it the next day...cold from the refrigerator is the way to go!
i put the pork in the oven (also at 350°F) when there was about 20 minutes left on the casserole timer. total cooking time was about 40 minutes. take the meat out of the oven and let it rest a few minutes before cutting.
verdict:
the cinnamon looked a little weird in the pineapple, and i think it may be because the top of the casserole didn't brown nearly as much as i normally expect. possibly my oven runs a little cool, or possibly having the pork cooking simultaneously stole some heat from the pineapple dish. regardless of appearances, though, the pineapple was (as always) delicious. still, i don't think the cinnamon really added much, so i may not bother with it in the future.
the pork was an interesting experiment. that first day (last sunday), the spice didn't seem like it worked with the pork harmoniously. although the pork was tender and was well-seasoned, some of the flavors were slightly out of whack. after being in the refrigerator overnight and being reheated, though, the flavors seemed to have melded a little better. still, though, i don't know that i'd use this particular spice rub with pork again; it seems like it might work better with beef. also, i'm not really sure i like the occasional crunches of anise seasoning...licorice flavor just seems odd with meat.
overall, i was relatively pleased with it. especially when serving the dishes with some steamed broccoli. yum!
