Recipe Critique: Rosemary Encrusted Pork Loin

Sunday night's dinner this past weekend was a new recipe Buppy and I tried called Rosemary Encrusted Pork Tenderloin. I found the recipe on Le Petit Pierogi and decided it was worth a try. Her photos made it look very appealing, and we have a rosemary plant that is completely weighed down with too many leaves. It was time to put it to good use. Originally we were going to use the recipe I blogged about here for Menu Plan Monday for a roasted pork loin that was somewhat similar but had a few key differences. Not to say that we won't try the roasted pork loin recipe sometime in the future, but I can easily say I'm very happy we used the one we did.

It's funny, but for awhile now I've thought that I didn't really like rosemary. Buppy is a huge fan and he's asked me at least 20 times since we've been together if I like it. He seems to forget he's already asked and that I've told him I'm not a huge fan. That, or he hopes I'll change my answer. Well honey, you're in luck!

About a year or so ago (give or take), Buppy decided I should try a rosemary and red wine marinated steak. They're a favorite of his. I obliged, thinking it wouldn't be too bad. It's wasn't, but the steak was a little old, a little over cooked (sorry Buppy, but I still love you!) and just not my thing. What I've come to realize with our recent kitchen trials is that it's not that I don't care for rosemary, it's that I don't care for the overpowering flavor of red wine or balsamic vinegar. Don't get me wrong, I'm not grouping them together to say they're one in the same, but they both can easily overpower dishes and make me think I don't like other ingredients when I actually might.

So back to the rosemary encrusted pork tenderloin.

Rosemary Encrusted Pork Loin
Adapted from Le Petit Pierogi

Pork loin (ours was about 1 1/2 lbs.)
Fresh rosemary (maybe 1 tsp.)
Rubbed sage (maybe 1/2 tsp.)
Minced garlic (maybe 1 tsp.)
Salt & pepper (enough to taste)
Olive oil (enough to make a paste when mixed with other ingredients)

Mix the oil and spices (herbs, whatever) together, then rub it all over the outside of the pork. Cook it in the rotisserie as per rotisserie instructions for pork loin. Viola!

To be honest, I was cooking praline apple bread and zucchini pizza casserole as Buppy made this for dinner, so I'm really just guessing at how much of each herb he used. Use whatever suits your taste and looks about right, ok? Or use the original recipe from Le Petit Pierogi! Our piece of pork was loin and just happened to be in the fridge (not tenderloin as the original recipe called for.) We had to substitute fresh rosemary for the dried and rubbed sage for the fresh. It was kind of backwards from her recipe actually. We didn't inject it as the recipe suggested since she made it clear that skipping this step wouldn't result in disaster. The simple mixture of rosemary, sage, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil rubbed on the pork turned out so flavorful; I thought it would be good but I was surprised at just how good it really was! And cooking it in the rotisserie made the outside wonderfully crispy, just the way we like!

This recipe is definitely a keeper in our book. And I'm so happy I found Le Petit Pierogi's blog; she has so many recipes I can't wait to try!