Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin Bites + Small Plate Giveaway

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is the second of three Sponsored posts written by me on behalf of the National Pork Board. They recently conducted a survey to identify food trends that are appealing to American cooks this holiday season. They found six recurring themes for their 2011 Pork's Perfect Paring's guide and asked cookbook author Jill Silverman Hough to develop a pork recipe to go with each of them. They also asked some members of the blogging community to provide recipes and holiday ideas for each of the themes they were highlighting. I focused my attention on the Smitten with Small Plates category and for the next two days I'll be featuring pork dishes that work well as appetizers or small plate meals.

I think you'll all enjoy the recipes I'm featuring and the National Pork Board has a Small Plates gift set waiting for one of you. The gift set includes: $25 worth of pork coupons; Jill Silverman Hough cookbooks, including 100 Perfect Pairings: Main Dishes to Enjoy with the Wines You Love and 100 Perfect Pairings: Small Plates to Enjoy with the Wines You Love; an instant-read digital thermometer; tapas-style small plates and decorative skewers for holiday appetizers. If you'd like a chance to win, simply comment on one, or all three, of the recipes that are part of this promotion. Everyone can enter up to three entries to the drawing. The winner, chosen by a random number drawing, will be announced on Saturday, December 17th. Good luck! While I have received a similar gift package, the opinions in this post are 100% mine.

Small families have long appreciated the ease with which pork tenderloin moves from the refrigerator to the table. While it packs a protein punch, it is low in fat and calories and makes for healthy, as well as fast and delicious, family meals. It's amazingly versatile and lends itself to many types of cuisines. That versatility is one of the reasons I knew it would be perfect for the small plate dishes I wanted to prepare for this Pork Board promotion. The recipe I'm featuring today is enormously flavorful. Cubes of tenderloin are dipped in a maple mustard sauce and then wrapped in a limp, but cooked, bacon before being charbroiled. All elements of the dish can be made well in advance of serving, so this is an easy appetizer to prepare for entertaining. Tenderloins vary in weight, so I can't give you truly exact quantities for the ingredients used in the recipe and you'll have to be a bit flexible. You should be able to get 24 1-inch cubes from a 12-ounce tenderloin. You will need half a slice of bacon for each cube you plan to serve. This is another appetizer that is very easy to make and I think those of you who try these pork and bacon bites will love them. Here's the recipe.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin Bites with Maple-Mustard Dipping Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:

Maple Mustard Sauce

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/4 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

Pork Tenderloin Bites

12 to 18 pieces thick cut maple smoked bacon

1 (12 to 16-oz.) pork tenderloin

Salt and pepper

24 to 36 toothpicks soaked in water for 30 minutes

Directions:

1) Preheat oven broiler.

2) Combine maple syrup and mustard in a small bowl. Mix well. Pour 1/4 cup of syrup mixture into a separate small bowl. Set aside. Add sour cream or yogurt to original mixture. Set aside.

3) Cut bacon slices in half. Cook just until limp. Bacon should be pliable but cooked. Drain on paper toweling.

4) Trim pork tenderloin and remove silver skin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cut tenderloin into 1-inch cubes. Dip cubes in maple-mustard mixture. Wrap each cube with bacon and secure with a toothpick.

5) Broil 5-inches from broiler element for 6 to 7 minutes, basting with maple-mustard sauce and turning once. Serve immediately with dipping sauce. Yield: 24 to 36 pork tenderloin bites.

Cook's Note. I used hollowed lime halves to hold individual portions of dipping sauce. Any small dish can be used.