Do you have a word you just don’t like? I don’t particularly like the word crevice. My sister-in-law Angel’s pet peeve is the word pet peeve. My co-worker Erin despises the word pork and she says when you combine pork with loin it just makes it worse. She would prefer I call this dish Tenderloin with onion pepper jelly glaze. Unfortunately for Erin I have to identify the kind of tenderloin I am cooking. I don’t think the onion pepper jelly glaze would be as delicious with beef tenderloin, not to mention your grocery bill would make a serious jump if it required beef tenderloin. So Erin, pork loin is in this post a total of 18 times suck it up and try to enjoy!
Pork loin can be a tricky cut of meat, it is very dependent on preparation and seasoning. This particular recipe will give your pork loin a perfect balance of a rich and savory with a deliciously sweet glaze.
The glaze is definitely the star of the show in my opinion. My mother-in-law is the master when it comes to making jelly. She is kind of like Bubba on Forest Gump except instead of shrimp she makes jelly: blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, wild plum, muscadine, scuppernong, and the list goes on… Well over the summer I asked her to teach me to make pepper jelly. She had never made it but we went to work with home grown peppers and boy did it come out delicious! I tried my hand at it again over the holidays and I think I can call myself the mini-master of pepper jelly. Although I am not so great at other jellies. I managed to screw up an entire batch of orange marmalade (another story for a different day).
If you don’t have homemade pepper jelly it will be just as fantastic with store bought. I recommend the Tabasco brand or any other brand that isn’t dyed bright red or green (that stuff is SCARY). I hope you and your family enjoy this recipe.
Butter and olive oil are the first players. They are going to give you that yummy crust on your pork loin.
Once your butter and olive oil are hot put your seasoned pork loin in the dutch oven (or anotheroven safe dish). Once every side is brown, including the ends you will cover your pot and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes to finish cooking.
Onions and garlic are your first players in your glaze…mmmmmm, look at that out of focus garlic.
ooooo and some out of focus pepper jelly, this is your other player in the sauce.
Once your pork loin has reached an internal temperature of 160° take it out of the oven and let her rest while you make your sauce. This will allow all the juices to calm so they won’t leave the pork loin when you slice her up.
In the same pot you cooked your pork loin you will add your onions and garlic to get nice and brown with all the flavor left over from the pork loin. Then add your pepper jelly which is going to give it beautiful color and sweetness.
Dump the hot glaze over your well rested pork loin.
Slice the pork loin and eat her up…You won’t be sorry
Recipe: Pork Loin with Onion Pepper Jelly Glaze
Feeds 4
2 tbps Butter
1 tbps Olive Oil
1 Pork Loin
salt and pepper to taste
cajun seasoning (I used Tony Chachere’s)
2 sm-med onions diced
3 cloves of garlic minced
2/3 c Pepper Jelly (homemade or store bought)
1. Preheat oven to 400º
2. In a dutch oven combine butter and olive oil on medium high heat.
3. Season pork loin with salt, pepper and cajun seasoning
4. Place meat in dutch oven and brown each side of the pork loin
5. Cover dutch overn and place in 400º oven for 25-30 minutes until the pork loin reaches an internal temperature of 160º. Remove from oven and place your perfectly crusted pork loin on a board to rest while you make your glaze.
6. Place your dutch oven on the stove on medium heat and throw in your diced onions and minced garlic. Make sure to scrape the pot to get all the delicious bits of from the pork loin. Once your onions and garlic are nice and brown stir in your pepper jelly. It should only take a couple of minutes for the pepper jelly to loosen and become more like a sauce.
7. Pour pepper jelly and onion glaze over rested pork loin, slice and enjoy!!
