Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin With Vegetables And Apple Butter Gravy…

I’ve been offline for a little bit. I was having technology issues and found out that my trusted Mac has now become so old that it cannot support html 5 which is the platform now used by WordPress. Oh well… but I’ve developed some work arounds and should be fine now.

Summer is in full swing, and that includes those warm summer temperatures. During Summer I like to grill but not every day. But what do you do when it is so hot and you don’t want to heat up the house when making dinner? That’s when I rely on my trusty slow cooker. You can have a great meal and never create more heat in the house.

I am a big fan of pork loin. Like beef tenderloin, it is the the most tender, flavorful and versatile cut of pork. Cooking it in the slow cooker is so easy, but you need to pay attention not to overcook it. So let’s talk pork loin with vegetables and apple butter gravy…

Lesson Learned 1 – Brown the pork and potatoes before putting them into the slow cooker: The slow cooker cooks food but doesn’t create crust or color. If that is not a big deal for you than you can skip this step. But I’ve always espoused that you eat with your eyes first and so I like to provide that extra step to make the meal even more pleasurable.

I put a little canola oil in a cast iron skillet and browned the pork loin – about 4-5 minutes on each side. Doing that gives it a nice brown crust as you can see from the picture above. I also brown the potatoes a little. I don’t brown the carrots. I don’t think that’s really necessary. The potatoes also take about 4-5 minutes per side and I usually do two sides just enough to give it great color.

Lesson Learned 2 – Cut your carrots small or use baby carrots: This recipe will only cook for 6 hours on low so you need to consider how tender you want your carrots. If you want them crisp tender you can cut them in larger pieces. If you want them fork tender you will need to cut the pieces small or use baby carrots. I like to use the larger sized carrots and I buy only what I need for the recipe, about 3 carrots. If the carrot has a thick base, I cut it into a log and then I cut the log in half down the middle. That way I minimize the thickness and the carrots come out fork tender. When you come down to it, it all depends on how you like your carrots.

Lesson Learned 3 – Do not cook this for more than 6 hours on low: That is plenty of time to cook the pork loin without drying it out. And the sauce made with apple butter is a great accompaniment to the pork.

This is a great meal that is easy to prepare and will not heat up your kitchen on these warm Summer days. Try this recipe and let me know what you think.

Slow Cooker Pork Loin With Vegetables And Apple Butter Gravy

Servings: 4
Time: 6 Hours
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2- 2 pounds pork loin

4 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced into chunks

3 large carrots, cut into small chunks (you can use baby carrots as well)

I medium size yellow onion, peeled and cut into large chunks

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 9.5 ounce jar of apple butter

1/3 cup dijon mustard (you can mix dijon with seeded mustard)

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce

1 cup beef broth

1-2 Tbs. canola oil

Non-stick cooking spray

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Heat a large cast iron skillet. Add 1 Tbs canola oil. Salt and pepper the pork loin and put that side down in the hot skillet. Salt and pepper the other side of the pork loin. Let the pork loin sear for 4-5 minutes. Turn it over and sear it on the other side. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Check to see if the skillet needs more oil and add it if it does. Place potatoes in the pan being careful not to crowd them. Let them sear for 5 minutes and flip them to another side. Let them sear for an additional 5 minutes and remove them from the pan.

Spray the crock of the slow cooker with non-stick spray. Add the onions, potatoes and carrots into the crock. Place the pork loin on top of the vegetables.

In a small bowl whisk to together the garlic, apple butter, mustard, soy sauce and beef broth. Pour the mixture over the pork and vegetables.

Cook on low for six hours. Remove the pork and vegetables from the crock. Slice the pork and plate it with the vegetables. Taste the gravy in the crock and add more salt and pepper if needed. Pour the gravy over the pork.