Recipe: Balsamic roast pork tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is the one cut of meat that every member of my family will eat most of the time. So when it goes on sale at the grocery store, I stock up and stick the extra in the freezer.

I usually roast the tenderloin after sprinkling a few herbs or spices on top, but I wanted to do something a little bit different when I had one tenderloin thawing in the refrigerator a week ago.

It calls for fresh rosemary and thyme, which I have growing in the yard despite my best efforts to completely ignore them. I was out of balsamic vinegar so I substituted the vinegar and some of the olive oil with a fat free balsamic vinaigrette from Trader Joe's plus about a tablespoon of olive oil. I did cut this recipe in half since I didn't have as much pork as it called for.

The recipe doesn't take long to prepare. I found it easy to do on a weekday night, especially with the quick cook time. I'll definitely be making this again.

4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped and finely chopped

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Trim silver skin or connective tissue off tenderloins with a very sharp thin knife. (I don't usually do this).

Place tenderloins on a cookie sheet with a rim. I line the cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with non-stick spray. Coat tenderloins in a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, rubbing vinegar into meat. Drizzle tenderloins with extra-virgin olive oil, just enough to coat.

Cut small slits into meat and stick in chunks of cracked garlic cloves. Combine steak seasoning blend or coarse salt and pepper with rosemary and thyme and rub meat with blend. (I went with a salt-free steak seasoning since I find that pork tenderloin can be a bit salty on its own). Roast in oven 20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.