Marinated Pork Tenderloin

This dish makes a nice presentation for a dinner party or the holidays. For an informal meal serve it with baked beans and a green salad. For more elegant occasions, serve with red cabbage and steamed and quartered red, Yukon Gold or other small gourmet potatoes.

Mix in a bowl each of the following:

Ingredients
2 tablespoons Celery Seed
2 tablespoons Mild paprika
2 tablespoons Course black pepper
2 tablespoons Granulated garlic or garlic powder
2 tablespoons Oregano
Dried orange or lemon peel (optional)
1 tablespoon course salt (optional)
¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions
Rinse and pat dry one pork tenderloin (1 ½ to 2 pounds).

Rub the pork tenderloin with olive oil and then rub in the mixed herbs and spices. Put the pork in a glass bowl and cover or place it in a zip-lock type of plastic bag. Refrigerate for at least four to six hours.

Heat your oven to 325 degrees. Slow cook the pork for an hour to an hour and a half. Slice thinly. Leftover pork is great in sandwiches on potato or rye bread with mayonnaise and sweet pickles.

And speaking of pickles, in a future edition of “ America’s Heartland” we’ll go inside the Sechler’s Pickle plant in St. Joe, Indiana. Most of us think of pickles as just…pickles. Nothing special. Not so with Sechler’s. These are some of the best if not the best pickles we’ve ever had. The company specializes in sweet pickles and isn’t afraid to roll out some with unusual but winning flavors like orange pickles, raisin pickles, and hot varieties made with jalapenos. If you’re fortunate enough to live in a region where Sechler’s Pickles are available, snap ‘em up.