The night I reviewed Lava Noshery, one of the dishes included blood orange slices. I've always loved the sweet, thin-skinned, red-fleshed blood orange as a garnish, in salads or part of a marinade, and seeing it again reminded me of one of my favorite recipes -- Tenderloin of Pork with Blood Oranges and Dark Rum -- from one of my favorite cookbooks, "Olive Oil -- From Tree to Table" by Peggy Knickerbocker (Chronicle Books, 1997).
Blood oranges are not a common grocery-store item, but Petty's Fine Food almost always has them when they are available. Other stores might also. You can substitute navel or valencia oranges in this recipe, but it loses some of the glamor.
TENDERLOIN OF PORK WITH BLOOD ORANGES AND DARK RUM
2 blood oranges
3 large cloves garlic
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary, or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 tablespoons dark rum
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pork tenderloin, about 3/4 pounds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1. Grate the zest from the oranges, then squeeze out the juice. You should have 1/2 cup juice. Set aside 1 tablespoon of the zest. Place the remaining zest, all of the juice, the garlic, rosemary, rum, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large bowl. Stir well. Add the pork, turn to coat evenly, cover and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature or up to 2 hours in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a heavy ovenproof skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat. Remove the tenderloin from the marinade, scraping off most of the juice mixture; reserve the juice mixture for later use. Add the tenderloin to the skillet and brown well on all sides
3. Pour the reserved juice mixture over the browned meat and transfer to the oven (if you don't have an oven-safe skillet, use a baking dish). Roast for 12 minutes. Turn over the pork and continue to roast for 5 to 10 minutes longer. Cut into the meat; it should be barely pink. Cook a few minutes longer if you prefer it well done.
4. Slice the pork into thin pieces and arrange on a warmed platter. Season with salt and pepper. Scatter the remaining orange zest over the sliced meat. Spoon some of the pan juices over the meat and serve the remainder in a bowl alongside.
Serves 2 to 4.
