Do you ever have the desire to make something special for supper, yet don’t want to put much effort into it? Maybe it’s a Wednesday evening at home, or a “stay at home” order that makes family time even more precious. Either way, this is the perfect dish — perfectly easy, wonderfully beautiful, spectacularly delicious.
Last summer we spent two rest-filled (yet adventurous!) weeks on a small island in the Baltic Sea in the north of Sweden.
We enjoyed the loveliness of nature, long-time friends and fellowship, and excellent food. Each evening we had “knytkalas”, or basically a potluck supper. Everyone prepared and brought part of the meal, and we squeezed around the table for lots of laughs in the stunning light of evening. (It never gets dark that far north in the summer.)
This bacon-wrapped bit of pork wonderful-ness was served several times during those weeks of relaxation and refreshment.
Pork tenderloin is almost always reasonably priced at our local grocery. The small ones make a perfect meal for 3 of us, while the larger tenderloins can feed a small army, or leave you with leftovers for seriously yummy meals later in the week, like this easy pork carbonara. Whichever size you choose, slicing the tenderloin open and unrolling it gives you the opportunity to fill it with crumbled bleu or gorgonzola cheese.
Then you roll the pork as tightly as possible. Wrap it with strips of bacon (use regular bacon — not thick-cut from the butcher). Then squeeze it all together. Not joking here! Get out a little aggression and SQUEEZE so it all holds together. Put it on a foil-lined pan.
Some people are lucky enough to have a grill or smoker. I just use the oven for this. Timing is going to be different, depending on what size tenderloin you are making, but plan on 15 minutes per pound before checking with a meat thermometer. You want to remove the pork from the oven when it reaches 140 or 145 degrees. Give it a few minutes to sit before cutting into all the incredible cheese-y pork-i-ness.
Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin
Description
Easy. Fancy. Easy. Delicious. And fun!
(bet you thought I was going to say “easy” again, right?)
Ingredients
Pork tenderloin
Bleu cheese crumbles (or gorgonzola)
Bacon
Instructions
With a sharp knife, slice the tenderloin horizontally (with blade parallel to cutting board). Don’t cut all the way through to the back side, but cut to the ends. Open the pork up so it lays flat. At that back “seam”, gently slice again so you can unroll the tenderloin. Sprinkle with cheese crumbles and press them into the pork. Roll the meat up again.
Wrap the tenderloin with strips of bacon, squeezing gently so that everything holds together. Place in foil-lined pan and bake for 15 minutes per pound. Then check with a meat thermometer — about 145 degrees is what you want. Remove from oven and allow to sit at least 5 minutes before slicing.
Notes
Thick-cut bacon doesn’t have time to get crispy while holding all that pork together. Use regular bacon for best results.
Since the oven is going to be on, why not bake or roast potatoes at the same time? And extra points for roasting several heads of garlic. Look at you being efficient!
