Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon-BBQ Sauce

There are only four more days until Christmas.  Are you prepared yet?

Don't let the short list of ingredients fool you - this sauce packs in a ton of flavor!  This is one of my absolute favorite recipes.

This entire week has been pretty stressful for me.  We had a Christmas party at a ski lodge overnight, my daughter had her Christmas play at school and she also had her Christmas class party that I helped out with so far.  The rest of my week consists of making a gingerbread house with my daughter, baking cookies for Santa, participating in a food drive, attending our church's Christmas Eve service, baking a dessert for a Christmas dinner at my mother's house and making some kind of side dish (not sure what to make yet) to a Christmas Eve party.  Whew!  I get tired just thinking about it!  Don't get me wrong -- I absolutely love the holidays but, secretly, I really enjoy when it's all over and I can just relax!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pork tenderloin 
• 3 tbsp olive oil 
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper

Bourbon-BBQ sauce:

• Reserved pan drippings
• 2 tbsp bourbon 
• 2 tbsp soy sauce 
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1/4 c brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  

Sprinkle and massage a generous amount of kosher salt and pepper all over the pork.  Heat olive oil in an oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat.  Sear the pork on all sides until deep brown.  

Transfer the skillet to the oven.  roast until a thermometer reads 140 degrees, about 25 minutes (depending on the size of your tenderloin).  Turn the tenderloin over once halfway through cooking.  Remove the pork from the oven and wrap it in tin foil.  Allow it to rest for 15 minutes.  Reserve the pan drippings.

Meanwhile, make the sauce.  Using the same skillet, place it over medium-high heat on the stove top.  Deglaze with the bourbon, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Whisk in the soy sauce, ketchup and brown sugar.  Bring the sauce to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2 minutes.  

Slice the pork and pour the sauce over all.  

Enjoy!