I hope you are having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!
I want to share a recipe with you that is perfect for any entertaining you may be doing this long weekend. Although I know Memorial Day is synonymous with backyard grilling, I prefer to slow
cook my roasts or ribs all day long and spend the "extra" time I have enjoying my day off and my guests.
You will love this tenderloin -- it's moist, tender, and packed with lots of flavor. I used Sambal Oelek for the chili pepper sauce, but you can substitute that easily with the mini-recipe included below.
The Ingredients
serves 4 (can easily be doubled or tripled!)
2 pounds pork tenderloin,
quartered
2 tablespoons all-natural maple syrup
1 tablespoon prepared chili pepper sauce (sambal oelek)
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Homemade "cheater" sambal oelek:
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon chopped garlic cloves (approximately 2 cloves)
1 teaspoon distilled white
vinegar
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Put the pork into the insert, and add the maple syrup, chili sauce, five-spice powder, salt, and pepper. Stir well to disperse the spices. Toss in the green onions. Cover, and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours, or until the pork has reached desired tenderness.
The Verdict
This moist, sweet pork has a tiny bit of lingering heat from the chili pepper
sauce. Pork tenderloin has a tendency to dry out, but cooking in the slow cooker really traps in valuable steam. If you find that your cooker releases a lot of steam while cooking, you can wrap the pork in a piece of aluminum foil to keep it nice and juicy.
