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Up until I made this I’d never cooked pork myself. It seemed too intimidating to me with it’s tendency to dry out and although it makes no sense I always felt guilty for the pigs. Yes, I know beef comes from cows and chickens are well, chickens, but after hearing how intelligent pigs are I’ve had extra trouble with them. Since my bout in veganism I’ve been much more hesitant with all meat, but pork especially.
Anyhow, I got a hankering to make something really fancy and found a stuffed pork tenderloin recipe. It looked easy as pie and it really was – I just wish mine looked as lovely as the pictures from Cooking Light! There was nothing pretty about it but it tasted amazing; we really couldn’t taste the fig but the blue cheese complimented the pork well. I served it with some honey glazed root veggies and it was a winner!
Ingredients:
- 1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin;
- 2/3 cup dried figs, chopped;
- ¾ cup crumbled blue cheese;
- ½ tsp salt;
- 1 tsp black pepper;
- cooking spray;
- 2-3 tbsp apricot preserves.
Recipe Directions
- Preheat oven to 450°. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with foil and spray foil with cooking spray.
- Slice tenderloin in half longways and lay it out flat (make sure not to cut through to other side!). Cover pork with plastic wrap and pound until ½-inch thick (I used a cast-iron skillet, a meat mallet would do the trick as well). Sprinkle figs and blue cheese over pork then roll up lenthwise, securing with twine every 2 inches. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and place on cookie sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes, then brush apricot preserves over pork. Bake for another 5-10 minutes, until meat thermometer registers 160° and meat is slightly pink. Let stand for 10 minutes and cut pork into thin slices. Enjoy!
