Porchetta Style Pork Tenderloin

Porchetta Truck (note, they can sometimes be yellow trucks)

If food is king in Italy, porchetta may very well be an Earl (I had to give a Dukedom to pasta, or pizza). Porchetta is made by taking an entire pig (you now know why this recipe is for “porchetta style”), stuffing it with herbs, salt, garlic and spices and roasting it whole. The skin gets a beautiful crackle, and the fat is beautifully spiced and marbled throughout. The butcher, who is usually a big burly man with a big white moustache and round face, slices it up for you and will either put it on a bun (a porchetta panino) or on waxed paper if you just want the porchetta. He will ask you if you want “fegato” (fe-ga-toe), or liver pieces which you can say sì or no to and he will usually throw on some extra crackle, after the meat has been weighed.

Porchetta butcher – you thought I was kidding, didn’t you? (Yes, that is the pig’s head on the left.)

Since my oven can not accommodate an entire pig, I’ve taken the flavours of the porchetta and used them on pork tenderloins. You can also use this for a pork loin roast.

The pork can be seasoned the night before to save time, as the cooking time is pretty quick.

Why do I like pork tenderloin for this recipe?

• It is sold in a smaller sizes so it is good for one  two people.
• It is beautifully vacuum packed (and often goes on sale) so it is easy to throw in the freezer.
• It’s lean, so if you are watching your calories it gives you another option to chicken or fish.

Porchetta Style Pork Tenderloin:

Prep time: 15 minutes; Waiting time: 4 hours to overnight

Cooking time: 25 minutes + 10 minutes to rest

Serves: 4 (and leftovers)

What you need:

• 2 – 1 lb pork tenderloins (you can also only use 1 tenderloin if you are making this for 1 or 2 people)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp dried fennel
• 1 tbsp dried rosemary
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 1/2 – 1 tsp crushed red peppers (you can adjust the spicy level if you have “non spice lovers”)
• 2 tsp black peppercorns

What you do:

With a garlic press, crush the garlic in a bowl. Add the olive oil, stir. Set aside.

In a dry fry pan, on medium high, toast the fennel seeds and dried Rosemary , about 2 minutes, until slightly brown. They will start to give off a wonderful fragrance. When slightly cooled, put toasted fennel and rosemary in a spice grinder (I used my Magic Bullet) along with the salt, peppercorn and crushed red peppers. Grind. You will want the spices to be a little crunchy still.  If you don’t have a Bullet or spice grinder you can also use a mortar and pestle and get a good arm workout crushing it up

Toasting the fennel seeds and rosemary.

Ground spices and garlic/olive oil mixture.

Pat your tenderloins dry.

On a board spread out your Saran Wrap  I usually make a cross shape and sprinkle some of the spice mix on the Saran to help coat the bottom.

Rub the tenderloin with the garlic olive oil mixture and then coat with spice powder, making sure that the spice mix is on all sides.

Wrap tightly in the Saran and place in fridge 4 hours to overnight.

1/2 – 1 hour before you want to cook, take out of fridge to bring to room temperature. This is important  meat should always be cooked at room temperature and not out of the fridge. Preheat oven to 400 F.

When meat is room temperature, remove Saran, and place tenderloins on baking sheet and cook for approximately 25 minutes. Internal temperature should be 155 F. Remove from oven place on cutting board, tent with foil and let sit 10 minutes  this is also super important that you let you meat rest prior to cutting it.

Slice up the meat on the angle and serve.

Clockwise from top: garlic smashed fingerling potatoes, pancetta Brussels sprouts, porchetta style pork tenderloin.

Leftover pork can be wrapped in Saran, placed in a freezer bag and frozen for future meals.