Brown Sugar Spiced Pork Loin

Google Reader has become my addiction. It is the home to all of my beloved blogs that I follow religiously. From food to interior design to DC-related blogs. Just today blogging had a high rate of return by informing me (okay, a friend who then told me) that a place down the street from my office was giving away free crepes for their grand opening. The place was called Muncheez Mania, cheesy name but I wasn't about to turn down free crepes. I got a nutella crepe, which would have been near perfect except that they threw in corn flakes which were stale. It ended up having a strange, chewy consistency. BUT it was free, so no one was too upset. 

Another instance of blogs brightening my day was when I stumbled upon the recipe I made for dinner tonight: Brown Sugar Spiced Pork Loin. It was actually a lot easier to make than I thought. The combination of a spice rub + brown sugar glaze was ridiculously delicious and made the house (err, apartment) smell glorious. I served it with garlic mashed potatoes, balsamic broccoli and mango slices. Per Evan's request, this one will be added to the rotation. 

Brown Sugar Spiced Pork Loin

Rub Ingredients:
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 pork tenderloins (2 1/2 lb. total), each tenderloin cut into two chunks
2 tablespoons olive oil

Glaze ingredients:
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic (about 6-8 cloves)
1 tablespoon tabasco sauce

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and cinnamon, then coat the pork with the spice rub. Heat the oil in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet that is ovenproof (I used my cast iron skillet) over medium high heat until the oil is hot and rippling. Brown the pork, turning, about 4 minutes total. Leave pork in the skillet. If you don’t have an ovenproof skillet, brown the pork in a skillet and transfer it to a foil-lined baking pan (like a 9X13-inch). I’ve done both and either method works great.

Stir together the brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco and pat on top of each tenderloin. Roast in the middle of the oven until a thermometer inserted diagonally in center of each tenderloin registers 140, about 25 minutes. Let pork stand in the skillet at room temperature for 10 minutes. The temperature will rise to about 155 while standing. Slice on the diagonal and serve, spooning the sauce from the skillet on top of the pork.

Recipe & picture credit: My Kitchen Cafe