Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin

We were on a pork tenderloin kick around here last week. P-Daddy has proclaimed it his favorite cut and type of meat ever, in all its immeasurable variations. And immeasurable they are. The immeasurableness outweighs my appetite for pork, I can tell you.

I bought a big famille pack of three loins and flexed my creative muscle to keep each appearance interesting.

{via Pinterest, mydesignhearth.com}

We had it three ways: my favorite and easy as can be leeks with pork served with mashed potatoes and green beans, coated in mustard, garlic studded and grilled with more green beans (they can't get enough, seriously) and herby pasta slick with olive oil and finally last night's balsamic glazed, slow-cooked loin with black beans and rice.
Gosh, do I want some chicken!

To the balsamic glazed variety of pork tenderloin. I found a recipe on Pinterest (of course I did) and it struck my fancy. I think most people would use a regular old pork roast but it worked with the loin cut rather nicely. It's a slow cooker recipe but I don't have a slow cooker with a French plug so I cooked it for a real long time on a very low heat in the oven. It turned out beautifully. And the house smelled so good too. It made me hungry for my dinner as I sat at my table clicking away on the computer.

Maybe you'd like to try it for your mid-week dinner.
I'm sure you can't have too many recipes for pork tenderloin, can you?

Slow Cooked Pork Tenderloin with a Balsamic Glaze

1 famille-sized pork tenderloin, 2 lbs. if you need exacts
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper, freshly cracked
1 garlic clove, smooshed and roughly chopped
water, to cover if you're cooking it in the oven
if you're doing this in the slow cooker, aka crock pot, use 1/2 cup

If you're using a dutch oven dish and cooking the pork in the oven like I did then follow these instructions:
Pat your tenderloin dry and trim any excess fat.
Mix the herbes, garlic s&p together and then rub all over the meat. This makes the meat happy.
Turn the oven on to 140C/275F and put the lid of your dutch oven or pot in there to get warm.
Heat a tiny bit of olive oil in the bottom of the dutch oven and brown all sides of the meat.
Pour in the water just to cover. The slow-cooker doesn't need as much water, note above.
Take the lid out of the warm oven, careful, it's hot! and put it on the pork filled pot.
Put the whole thing, lid on, in the oven for 3-4 hours. Check it after 3 but the longer it stews away at that heat the softer the meat will become.

When it's done, shred it with two forks and put back in to keep warm while you make the balsamic glaze.

Balsamic Glaze

My guys don't like things too sweet mixed up with their savory so I always use less sugar than is called for in any recipe like this.

1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch or confusingly, corn flour here in Europe
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Put all of that in a small saucepan, stir the cornstarch in and bring to the boil. Reduce the mixture and let it simmer, stirring until thickened.

When the kids have washed their hands and set the table, remove the shredded pork from the excess water and serve it on a platter. Drizzle it artfully with the balsamic glaze. Your family will mmmmm and tell you to put it in your recipe book. I actually got a pretty, little spiral bound one covered in cherries for my birthday. Ma Fille presented it to me saying, 'You can put all the recipes we like in here and then share them on your blog.'

{merci, Ma Fille}

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Thanks Mel!
The original glaze recipe calls for 1/2 cup sugar. Mel used sage instead of herbes de Provence for her rub but I was all out of sage and herbes de Provence are kind of a staple around here. I'm sure sage would be tasty.