Pork Tenderloin in Chili-Tomato Sauce

Michael has been working really hard on a new re-design for the blog. He's giving it a complete make-over and he's almost done! I hope everyone likes the new look when we publish it - it'll have more features and pages as well as a search bar and index. Be on the look-out!

This is the pork that we served with our roasted acorn squash the other day. The recipe is super involved - it took probably nearly 1.5-2 hours. It was pretty good (and healthy), but definitely not worth all of the work. We had high hopes for this recipe, but I'd say we probably won't be making this one again. We couldn't find ancho chiles, so used a combo of 4 red chiles and 4 jalapenos. Well, with that sad, here is the post! :) Recipe from Whole Foods, serves 6-8.

Ingredients

• 8 ancho chiles, seeded, stemmed and roughly chopped 

• 4 cloves garlic
  
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar 

• 1 cup crushed tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted 

• 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
  
• 
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, divided 

• 2 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut in half
• 
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided 

• Salt and pepper to taste 

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 

• 1 dried bay leaf

Directions

1. Combine chiles, garlic and 1 cup water in a small pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 2 minutes.
   
2. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon of the cooking water, and transfer chiles and garlic to a blender. Add brown sugar, tomatoes, onions, 2 cups of the broth and 1 tablespoon of the reserved cooking water and puree. Set aside. 


3. Rub tenderloins with 1/2 tablespoon of the oil and season liberally with salt and pepper on all sides. Mix cumin, cinnamon and oregano together and season the pork with this mixture on all sides.
   
4. Heat the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add one pork tenderloin and cook until golden brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Remove and repeat with remaining tenderloin. Set both aside. 


5. Transfer puree to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add remaining 2 cups broth, bay leaf and salt and pepper. Return tenderloins to the pot and spoon the sauce over them. Cook over medium low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 160°F.
   
6. Season with salt and pepper. Remove and discard bay leaf. Remove pork from pot and slice on the bias as thinly as possible. Arrange slices on a platter and spoon sauce over the top.