Every couple of years a new miracle fruit comes onto the scene. I would say Acai is the current darling, but it was not too long ago that pomegranates had the halo on.
I consider myself as having a rather broad experience with food. While not venturing into the truly unusual (from a midwestern US point of view), I feel that I have a good catalog of food that I have tried. One of the most common foods I really have not had much experience with is pomegranates. I’ve had dark chocolate pomegranate bits, which are made with pomegranate juice, but I have not really played with the fruit. No self-respecting food blogger can go very long with this hole in his resume, so I sought out an interesting way to use it. I found that in a Mustard pomegranate Pork Tenderloin.
I can tell you that pomegranates are not easily found in Cleveland in March. I looked in my grocery store and several farm markets, but to no avail. Luckily, I just needed some juice and seeds and not a whole fruit. The juice is no problem. POM has made it ubiquitous. Every juice aisle and produce section in America carries it. To get the seeds I needed to search a little more. I eventually found a package of the seeds in the produce section of a higher end grocery.
The dish was very straight-forward. Keep an eye on the sauce, as it reduced more quickly than I was expecting. Because of that, I didn’t have much to baste with, so I saved it all for the end. The dish was good, but probably won’t make the rotation very often. I served it with a few chunks of fresh tomato, and a variation on an old low carb standby. Cauliflower mashed potatoes are fairly common in the low carb circles, and I love the added blue cheese flavor.
Mustard Pomegranate Pork Tenderloin
Prep Time: 15 Min | Cook Time: 40 Min | Servings: 4 servings | Difficulty: easy
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup pomegranate juice
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 dash cayenne pepper
- 1 (1 1/2 pound) pork tenderloin
- 4 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
Directions:
In a clean jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine pomegranate juice, orange juice, mustard, honey, garlic, orange zest, and cayenne pepper. Tighten lid, and shake until everything is mixed well. Pour over pork tenderloin in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal bag, and refrigerate for at least one hour and up to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Remove tenderloin from marinade, reserving the marinade. Place meat in roasting pan, and arrange pan on center rack in oven.
Pour marinade into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and reduce volume by half. Remove from heat. Place 1/2 of liquid in a cup for basting, and reserve to use as a sauce.
Roast tenderloin in oven for 30 to 40 minutes, basting lightly with reduced marinade until internal temperature is 155 degrees F (68 degrees C) when measured in the thickest part of the tenderloin. Remove tenderloin from oven, cover with foil, and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing. Serve each portion with reserved sauce drizzled over top, and a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds.
Nutritional Info:
Amount Per Serving Calories: 208 | Total Fat: 4.1g | Cholesterol: 74mg Powered by ESHA Nutrient Database
Mashed Blue Cauliflower
Ingredients:
- 1/2 head cauliflower
- 1 cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1/8 cup half and half (can use cream or milk if desired)
Directions:
Dice the cauliflower. Place diced cauliflower into a steamer and steam for 5 minutes or until very soft. Place cauliflower into food processor and blend until smooth, adding half and half and blue cheese. Process until the consistency of mashed potatoes. Serve with a few crumbles of blue cheese on top.
