What’s Cookin’, Good Lookin’?

***knock knock***  This thing on?  Anybody still out there?  I know!  I left you high and dry!  I’ve been holding onto this fantastic little morsel for several MONTHS now while I’ve been doing my day job which has been crazy-busy!  I have wanted to share this with you guys for so long and haven’t had two spare seconds to get it all together for you.  I meant to give it to you for Easter.  Then I meant to give it to you for Mother’s day.  And now, well, now you’ll have it for whatever day you wanna rock someone’s face off!!!  Because trust me here!  Someone is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO getting their face rocked off with this delectable little dish!  Just check this out!

There was no way to adequately name this recipe.  Honey Peppered-Bacon Pork Tenderloin on a bed of carrots, red onions and garlic cloves slow-simmered in Pinot Grigio…………So I just stopped at Honey Peppered-Bacon Pork Tenderloin.  The real name should be:  ”OH MY GOSH, I THINK I JUST WET MY PANTS THIS PORK LOIN IS SO FLIPPIN’, FLAPPIN’ FANTASTIC!“…………or something pretty similar anyway.”  I had a pork loin that I wanted to do something a little different with.  I didn’t want to grill it.  I didn’t want to cut it into chops and fry them.  So I decided to give it a rub down in some Wildtree Garlic Galore seasoning blend, then wrap it in peppered bacon an drizzle honey all over it.  And well, it’s just about the best pork loin I’ve ever put in my mouth!!!!  It was simply to die for!

So let’s make it!  Here’s what you’ll need:

A pork loin, of course!  :)  Honey, peppered bacon, Wildtree Garlic Galore seasoning blend, whole garlic cloves, a red onion or two, carrots and………….

Some Pinot Grigio wine……….I forgot to put it in the photo above.  Whoops!  Sorry!  I promise I wasn’t off drinking the stuff somewhere!  LOL  Now here’s what the “real” chefs will tell you about cooking with wine.  Always pick a wine to cook with that you’d want to drink.  If it’s not good for drinking, it’s not good for cooking.  Well, here’s the problem with that……I’ve never met a bottle of wine yet that I’d want to drink.  I just don’t like it.  Tried it.  Can’t make myself like it to drink.  But I DO love to cook with it.  So I can’t tell you if this particular wine was good for drinking or not.  But I CAN tell you it was dadgum FINE for cooking with!

So let’s get started.  You’ll need to peel the carrots or have your ankle-biters do that.  That’s a great job for ankle-biters!  If you want to use baby carrots so  you don’t have to peel them, feel free.  I just really prefer the whole carrot and peeling it.  And if you really don’t want to, you don’t absolutely have to peel your carrots.  There’s nothing wrong with eating the part you peel off.  Most folks just prefer peeled carrots.  It’s up to you!  To peel……or not to peel…….that is the question………Amy’s question…….not Shakespeare’s.  I don’t think he cared all that much about peeling carrots.

Peel the red onion or onions.

Now cut it into quarters and then into fairly large chunks.  And cut your peeled carrots into 1 1/2″-2″ long pieces.

Like this……….But leave the garlic cloves whole.  If you have never eaten a cooked whole garlic clove, you are missing out!  They become so sweet once they’re cooked!

Now drop them over into your crockpot.  Make sure they are all mixed up so the onions aren’t on one end, carrots in the middle and garlic on the other end.  You’ll want to really stir them around!

Sprinkle the veggies generously with Wildtree Garlic Galore seasoning blend.  Could you substitute something else here?  Well, yeah, I suppose you could.  Do I recommend it?  No, I don’t.  Other spice blends won’t give you the punch of flavor you get from Wildtree blends.  And they’ll be filled with sodium out the wazoo, additives, preservatives, dyes, MSG and probably a whole lot more stuff you can’t pronounce and didn’t even realize was edible……..and probably ISN’T supposed to be edible, but it got put in there anyway!

Pour about 1-1 1/2 cups of Pinot Grigio over the veggies.  According to Wine Intro:  ”Most pinot grigio wines are created in Italy. The Italian version of pinot grigio is typically dry (not sweet) and light, with a mineral taste to it. Californian variants of pinot grigio tend to be richer in flavor, but still have the mineral taste. Often, they finish with a lemony or citrusy flavor.”  I just know that this particular wine imparts a fantastic flavor to the veggies!  But now, let’s work on the star of this show!

Sprinkle the Wildtree Garlic Galore all over the pork loin.  Make sure you get both ends and all the way around.

Like this!  You really want to coat it!  Then we’re going to seal all that flavor in.

Start by laying the strips of peppered bacon across the pork loin.  Make sure to tuck them under the bottom.

It will look like this when you’re finished laying the bacon across.  It’s ready to go in the crockpot now.

Carefully place the loin on top of the vegetables in the crockpot.  You could certainly do this in the oven as well.  But this is something that would be a very easy prep the night before.  You could prepare it all, slide the crock into the fridge, pull it out the next morning and turn the crockpot on.  Dinner’s done when you get home and you’re a ROCK STAR with this meal!

And as if pig on pig wasn’t fantastic enough, you’re going to make it even BETTER now!  Drizzle honey over the top of the bacon.

Just look at all that honey!  Oh man!  You can’t imagine how good this thing smells!

Now put the lid on, turn that sucker on and forget about it if you can!  If you’re going to be staying in the same house with it while it cooks, you absolutely will NOT be able to forget about it because the aroma of it cooking is going to drive you insane!  But if you’re like me, just knowing you have this thing  cooking while you’re gone is going to STILL drive you insane!

And in a few hours, you’ll have this:

OH MY SWEET MOTHER OF PEARL!  I wish I could put a feature on here where you could smell this!  You’d be falling out of your chair about right now!  All that’s left to do now is slice it and put it on a plate!

A little something like this!  It became fast friends with some Springs Smashed Spuds on my plate!

Honey Peppered-Bacon Pork Tenderloin

*  1 pork tenderloin

*  1 pkg. peppered bacon

*  1/2 cup honey

*  1/4 cup Wildtree Garlic Galore seasoning blend

*  1-2# carrots, peeled and cut into pieces

*  1-2 red onions, peeled and cut into chunks

*  10-20 fresh garlic cloves, peeled

*  1-1 1/2 cups Pinot Grigio wine

Peel carrots and onions.  Cut into large chunks.  Mix vegetables with whole garlic cloves and place in the bottom of crockpot.  Sprinkle generously with Wildtree Garlic Galore seasoning blend.  Pour wine over vegetables.  Sprinkle pork loin generously with Wildtree Garlic Galore seasoning blend.  Lay strips of bacon across the pork loin, tucking each piece under the bottom.  Carefully place loin on top of vegetables in the crockpot.  Drizzle honey over the bacon.  Turn crockpot on high for a quicker cook or on low if you need it to simmer slowly all day long.  Allow loin to set for a few minutes on your cutting board before attempting to slice.  Slice pork loin and serve hot.

I served this with Springs Smashed Spuds and good ole Southern-style green beans with chunks of ham and onion simmered low and slow all day long until those green beans were good and dead!  ;)  It would also be fantastic served with Twice-Baked Potatoes, Au Gratin Potatoes, Hashbrown Casserole,……well, most ANY kind of potato really!  It would also be great with Long-Grain and Wild Rice, Macaroni and Cheese, Stuffing, a big salad, DIRT………..it would be good no matter how you served it or what you served it with!  I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and my Phat Babysitter/AB2’s 2nd grade teacher/mama of my precious God-Daughter did!

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to share this or ANY recipe with you!  I have LOTS of recipes photographed and hope to get to share those with you soon!  Much love to you all!  I sure have missed you!!!!

And if you’re interested in the Wildtree Garlic Galore seasoning blend or anything else from Wildtree, you can go here to order and just browse around:  www.amys-whatscookin-goodlookin.mywildtree.com

Filed under: Main Dishes, Meal Ideas, Pork, Recipes