Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Strawberry Sauce

I just love lazy summer weekends, don't you? Friday night Liz and I ventured to Stillwater to see Meggie and watch Sister Hazel and the Gin Blossoms perform at Lumberjack Days. On Saturday we went for a brisk walk around Calhoun, stopped at Whole Foods and headed home to make a healthy lunch of brown rice with edamame and shrimp. In the afternoon I was able to spend some time with Rachel. We went for a walk around Uptown, stopping off at Lucia's Wine Bar where we each enjoyed an icy glass of White Sangria.

On Sunday I threw on my ipod and went for a long walk out near my apartment. I then went and vacuumed out the inside of my car (long overdue!), went grocery shopping and stopped at Jamba Juice. I tried a new smoothie, the Melon-ade Wave. It's a tangy mix of honeydew melon and lemonade with mango-passionfruit juice, very tasty. Then it was back home to begin preparing a fancy Sunday dinner.

I decided to make Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Strawberry Sauce, out of the June/July Rachael Ray magazine. To begin I needed to make the basic sweet strawberry sauce, which involves heating, cooling, blending and straining a mixture of fresh strawberries, brown sugar and the juice of 1 lemon. I stuck the finished, smooth, ruby red sauce in the fridge and got started on the pork. I had thawed 2 large pork tenderloins, removed all visible fat, cut them each in half, placed them in a large ziploc bag, poured in the prepared marinade and placed the bag in the fridge for an hour. The marinade consisted of the zest and juice of 2 limes, 1/4 cup whole grain mustard and a bit of EVOO (that's Rachael Ray code for Extra Virgin Olive Oil).

Towards the end of the hour, I began making the sauce. I heated a skillet and added 2 slices of chopped bacon, minced garlic, chopped onion, Worcestershire sauce, nutmeg, red pepper flakes and a cup of the previously-prepared strawberry sauce. Once it had thickened, I strained it into a small saucepan and kept it on very low heat. I washed the skillet, stuck it right back on the stove and heated some EVOO. I seared the meat on all sides and then stuck the whole skillet in the oven to finish cooking. In the meantime, I made parmesan risotto and steamed broccoli to have alongside the pork.

The end result was aesthetically pleasing, smelled amazing (Nicole said she could smell it in the hallway before she even got to our apartment!) and tasted divine. Nicole, Liz, Rick and I all agreed this was a winner.
I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing weekend!