Breaded Pork Tenderloin & Bacon Brussels

 We love a good pork tenderloin in the H house. I typically brine my tenderloin for 5-6 hours in a water, salt and seasoning mix. I generally will use paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder and oregano. I put the mixture into a galloon ziplock bag and place the meat in there with it and let it sit. The always leaves us with juicy, tender meat. 

For this dinner I combined some panko breadcrumbs and Italian bread crumbs together. I melted 2 tabs of butter in a pan and tossed the bread crumb mixture in. I cooked it enough to toast, but not burn, the crumbs. I removed the pork from the brine and allowed the access liquid to drip back off into the bag. After spreading the breadcrumbs out on a serving dish, I rolled the pork into the bread crumbs, applying some pressure and coating the pork evenly. The pork was then placed on a lined cookie sheet with a rack on top. These cooked in the oven for 375 for 1 hr, checking the temperature towards the end. We like our pork a bit more on the rare side so I make sure it's around 145 degrees. Let that baby rest for 10-15 min and she's ready to go.

As a side dish for this dinner I made bacon Brussels. I had already prepped my Brussels on grocery day, halving them and putting them in my storage container. I chopped up 1/2 lb of bacon and fried it in a pan. The next step really depends on how much of a time crunch I'm in.. for example, today I was in a rush to get the veggies done so I used a separate pan to sautee the Brussels (toss the Brussels in with a little bit of avacado or EVOO and sautee until they have a nice toasted edge). However, if I have a bit of time to kill I will just wait until the bacon is done, remove it from the pan and cook the Brussels in the leftover bacon grease. Either way, once the Brussels are soft, I throw in about 1/2-1 cup of heavy whipping cream (really depends on how many Brussels I have going), and let them simmer for a few min. Once the cream is starting to thicken, I add a handful of parm cheese and add the bacon as well as a tab or two of butter. Let this all cook down for about 8-10 min and it should be a thick, creamy consistency. We top this with some more shredded parm once it is plated.