Pork Tenderloin With Caramelized Orange Peel And Turmeric

Prep time 10 min cook time 20 min

The caramelized orange peel spiced with turmeric transforms an otherwise bland tasting pork loin into something quite special.

Poor beleaguered pork tenderloin. Often thought of as bland, tasteless and discarded for more robust tastes, here is a healthy alternative to high fat proteins that with a little imagination can restore your faith in this forlorn cut of meat.

I started cooking pork loin filets very early on during my first marriage and I am proud to say I was the better cook then. It was the early 60’s in London at a time when England’s Julia Child, Elizabeth David was revolutionizing English cooking with radical new ideas like using fresh garlic, herbs and virgin olive oil ! A broiled loin with these simple fresh ingredients is still hard to beat.

I haven’t cook loin filets in a while but now that I am on healthier kick I looked for other simple recipes but found that most of them tried to overcome a pork loin’s subtle taste by throwing everything at it. Apples, pears, mushrooms, cloves, apricots, marmalade and even mango chutney in the hope that something might stick and bring it to life. I decided it deserved a little more respect than that and so created something different.

For the glaze I wanted something simple, sweet yet exotic and after a considerable amount of trial and error found that caramelizing orange peel spiced with turmeric gave me what I was looking for. The combination looks and tastes great. The bittersweet crunchy bits of turmeric flavored and caramelized peel blend well with the strong heady aroma of fresh thyme or oregano to give a refreshing lift without drowning the dish.

So next time you want a quick, tasty and low fat dinner. Try it.

What you need (for two)

Half a pork tenderloin (you can freeze the other half)
½ Tsp salt
½ Tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ Tsp crushed cardamom seeds (optional)
Peel of an orange cut into very thin strips
The juice of one orange
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup water
1Tsp powdered turmeric
2-3 Tbs fresh thyme or oregano for garnish

What to do

Preheat oven to 400F
Wash pork and cut away excess fat and silver skin. Season with the salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking pan.
In a small saucepan, add water and sugar and bring to a vigorous boil.
Add the orange strips and keep stirring until the mixture turns to the color of milk chocolate. (about 10 minutes)

Peel off rind and cut into 1/8" thin strips

Boil water, sugar and rind strips until caramelized.

Take off the fire and very carefully add a little water, enough to dilute the dark caramelized mixture. TAKE GREAT CARE. THE COLD WATER ON THE HOT SUGAR WILL START SPLATTERING WHEN YOU DO SO.
Stir in orange juice and turmeric and glaze the tenderloin with both the liquid and orange peels.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pork registers at least 145 F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the tenderloin.
Garnish with fresh thyme or coarsely chopped oregano.