spice up your life.adobo-rubbed pork tenderloin w. glazed carrots & rosemary-chili fingerling potatoes

I had a random inspiration to cook pork tenderloin when shopping at the market the other day. I’ve eaten a lot of chicken lately, so I thought this would be a nice change.

I wanted to work with ingredients already in the pantry, so I created a simple rub for the meat. I found a few recipes online and altered the seasonings to my liking. Although I have an embarrassingly low spice tolerance, I made sure to add a generous amount of chili powder to the rub, so the meat wouldn’t be lacking in flavor.

The slightly charred exterior of the meat from pan-searing juxtaposed the succulent and tender interior. I made some glazed carrots and fingerling potatoes, which I sprinkled with rosemary and chili powder, to compliment the meat.

Leftovers were aplenty–I’ve brought the meal to work for lunch the past two days. Yum!

Adobo-rubbed pork tenderloin recipe:

3 tbsp. paprika

1 tbsp. black pepper

1 tbsp. salt

1 tbsp. chili powder

2 tbsp. brown sugar

24 oz. pork tenderloin

Olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Trim silver off of both pork tenderloins. In a small bowl, mix paprika, black pepper, salt, chili powder and brown sugar.

Thoroughly rub both sides of pork tenderloin pieces with dry rub. Preheat skillet or indoor grill pan over medium-high heat and add a bit of olive oil so the spices don’t burn. Pan-sear pieces until golden brown on both sides. Transfer tenderloin pieces to cookie sheet and place in oven. Cook until done, about 6 to 8 minutes for each inch of thickness–about 25-30 minutes total.

Fingerling potatoes recipe:

8-10 fingerling, or small, potatoes

1 tbsp. olive oil, plus more if necessary

1/2 – 1 tsp. rosemary, sprinkled evenly among potatoes

1 tsp. chili powder, sprinkled evenly among potatoes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse potatoes, dry, then place on cookie sheet. Coat potatoes evenly with olive oil, then sprinkle seasonings on both sides of potatoes. Bake potatoes 15-20 minutes, or until fork pierces the potatoes easily.

Glazed carrots recipe:

5-6 carrots, stems removed

3 tbsp. butter or margarine

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Wash carrots to remove dirt. Cut off tips of the carrots. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots and season with salt and pepper. Toss with tongs until evenly coated and sizzling, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium or medium-low and cook until carrots are tender, about 10 minutes.