I love making and having pork tenderloin for a weeknight dinner. It’s quick, easy and healthy.

Kylie’s boyfriend, Jacob, brought us grapefruits and lemons from his paren’t fruit trees in their yard. I used one of the lemons as a garnish for my soup the other night and knew immediately I wanted to use the zest and juice of one of the grapefruits on a pork tenderloin.

I started with a 1-1/4 pound tenderloin. After placing the tenderloin in a dish to marinate, I zested two limes and one grapefruit over the meat. I then squeezed the juice of those limes and the grapefruit onto the top, bottom and sides of the tenderloin. For a spice mixture, in a small dish, I mixed kosher salt, pepper, dried basil, dried thyme, garlic powder and chili powder. I sprinkled the spice mix over the entire tenderloin and let it marinate in it’s dish in the refrigerator for an hour and a half. I brought the meat out of the refrigerator a half hour before I wanted to cook it, in order to bring it to room temperature.

In cooking the tenderloin, I started by heating 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. I browned the pork for a few minutes per side.

Once the pork was browned, I transferred the skillet into a preheated 375 degree oven and let it roast for 30 minutes. Check your pork with a meat thermometer at 25 minutes. You want it to read 145 degrees, and once it does, pull your tenderloin out and place it on a cutting board and tent it with foil to rest for 10 minutes.

After the ten minutes, I sliced the pork and served it over heated and wilted cruciferous greens that I buy at Trader Joe’s.

Ingredients

1-1/4 – 1-1/2 pound pork tenderloin

2 limes, zest and juice

1 grapefruit, zest and juice

1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix together salt, pepper, basil, thyme, chili powder and garlic powder. Set aside.
2. Place tenderloin in a shallow dish to marinate. Zest lime and grapefruit over tenderloin and then squeeze the juice of the limes and grapefruit over the pork.
3. Sprinkle spice mixture over entire tenderloin and let marinate 30 to 90 minutes in the refrigerator. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
5. Heat oil in a large skillet. Brown pork on both sides for 3-4 minutes per side.
6. Place skillet into preheated oven and cook for 25-35 minutes, until internal temperature reads 145 degrees.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris