Recipes From Joy Bauer’s Health Library

Joy’s online plan is filled with recipes that are easy enough for a weeknight, yet elegant enough for a dinner party. This recipe for Orange Dijon Pork Tenderloin is a keeper!One difficulty with staying on a diet for more than a few weeks is figuring out how to handle dining out and entertaining. Eating in a restaurant has its challenges, for sure, but having folks over for dinner is just as tricky. You don’t want to put your friends and family on a diet, too, by serving something that’s clearly “dietetic.” On the other hand, you don’t want to sabotage yourself and all your hard work.

This recipe is a happy medium. It’s low in fat and high in flavor — a pork tenderloin that is roasted in the oven and finished with an easy sauce of orange juice, Dijon mustard, a dollop of honey, and some garlic powder that come together to make a memorable dish. Make some of Joy’s Brussels Sprouts With Lemon to go with the pork. Start the meal with a Skinny Dinner Salad with Maple-Dijon Dressing or some Skinny Vegetable Soup and wind up serving a Chocolate-Cherry Muffin for dessert — your guests will be so full that they won’t realize they’ve just eaten a perfect Step 2 meal!

Orange-Dijon Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

  • 6 ounces pork tenderloin
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoon orange juice
  • 2 teaspoon mustard, Dijon-style
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Season pork medallion with salt and pepper.

Preheat a sauté pan coated with nonstick cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add pork and brown all sides (2–3 minutes per side).

Transfer browned pork to ovenproof dish and roast for 15 minute in oven to finish cooking (internal temperature should be 160°F).

Meanwhile, prepare orange-Dijon sauce. In same sauté pan used to brown pork, whisk together the orange juice, mustard, honey, and garlic powder and place over medium heat. Simmer until the sauce thickens and reduces by about a third, 2–4 minutes.

Remove pork from oven and let rest 5 minutes. Slice pork across the grain, arrange on a plate, and drizzle with sauce before serving.