garin's pork tenderloin by tvol, on FlickrA nice pork tenderloin is as easy to cook as a plain ol’ pot roast, but  leaner (and therefore lower in calories, fat, all that bad stuff), and much more impressive to whoever’s sitting down at the supper table! Thrifty, too — it’s boneless and has very little fat, so there’s no waste.

Plus, they often come in pairs, or are large enough to cut in half and treat as two pieces of meaty deliciousness. Pick up your tenderloin up on sale for about the same price as a modest cut of beef, roast both pieces, serve one for supper and freeze the other to slice-and-zap for an fast supper on a busy night.

How to cook pork tenderloin — the lazy way.

Pre-heat the oven to, oh, 325 °F and put a roasting rack in a shallow pan. Dust the tenderloin with seasoned flour, if you like. The pork should roast for about 40 minutes to an hour at the most, depending on its size — to 170° inside temperature, I think they recommend.

Last night, I put in a little crushed rosemary and mustard (powdered, not prepared), and loosened the pan scrapings after cooking with a splash of apple cider, to make a bit of a sauce.

While the meat is roasting, you might as well use the oven to cook rice to go with it.

1 cup of ordinary “no-name” long-grain or brown rice takes 2 cups of boiling water, and maybe a dash of salt — I just stir that together in my 1.5 quart vintage Corningware casserole dish — and bake it (covered!) for 40 or 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare whatever you planned on having for veggies….

By the time the pork tenderloin is all roasty and tasty, the rice will be ready for your supper too!

Now, what could be easier than that?

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