I am half Italian, so I grew up using tomato sauce in a lot of meals – we always had tomatoes available at home. What we didn’t use straight from the garden, we would can and/or freeze whole to be used later.
My love of all things tomatoes started when I was a little girl – we always had a garden from as far back as I could remember… and my fondest memories used to be going out the garden on a warm summer day and picking a fresh, warm from the sun tomato – washing it off with the hose, slicing it and sprinkling with a touch of salt. Man, they were so good! It was a little bit of heaven.
Unfortunately, I have not done that for years as we don’t always get the abundance of tomato crops that we used to. Hoping to have a bumper crop this year, but I’m not holding my breath as the weather hasn’t cooperated that well this year so far :/
I like tomato sauce on more than just pizza and pasta – I like to add it to a lot of my chicken dishes, some of my beef dishes and pork dishes as well. I have also been known to add it to some of my fish dishes too. The acidity of the tomatoes tenderizes the meat and along with slow cooking leaves the meat moist and tender. The tomatoes [sauce] also add a lovely flavour and mixed with some herbs and garlic make for a savoury meat dish. .
This is a very very simple recipe but it adds a really nice flavor to the pork as well as making it a nice and tender, I call it Italian pork
I generally use a pork tenderloin for this but I have been in the past used pork chops as well just have to adjust the cooking time.
Italian pork
- One pork tenderloin approximately 1-11/2 lbs.
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1tsp basil Rosemary and thyme
- 1 cup of favorite tomato sauce
Place a piece of foil over a cookie sheet – make sure that ends extend enough it can be folded over onto tenderloin
Place tenderloin in center of foil and add garlic powder and herbs all over -turn to make sure that the bottom is also covered nicely
Pour the cup of tomato sauce over the tenderloin
fold the the foil around and over the tenderloin tented slightly and put into 375 degree oven for approx 35-40 min depending on preference of doneness.
Or place on BBQ over med, indirect heat for approx 30 min. make sure it reaches an internal temp of 170 deg
Remove from heat when done, slice and place onto plate, spooning sauce from the foil over top of slices. Serve with favourite vegetables and enjoy!
Sounds great and very easy to make! Thanks for the recipe I am going to try it out!
I love pork tenderloin and make mine with a similar rub.