Puerto Rican Pork

Thought I’d post a recipe as a companion to my post today over at The Ladies of Loserville.  Overall, I’ve had a good first week back on the wagon, and this was one of my old favorites that I remembered and cooked up.  You can debate it’s ethnic authenticity, but it’s how my Puerto Rican father-in-law told me how to make the weeknight version, so I’m going to go with it.  So, here you have it: Puerto Rican Pork with Rice and Beans.

Pork

You can use a number of different cuts, but I just go with the easy and quick pork tenderloin (make sure you don’t accidentally pick up one of the ones that comes pre-marinated!).  Season on all sides with salt and pepper, and then positively douse the thing in garlic powder.  Seriously, don’t be shy.  Coat it with garlic powder. Lots of it. Then cover or put in a ziploc bag for anywhere from 6 to 24 hours.

At dinnertime, preheat the oven to 350° and spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.  Put the pork in the dish, and cook until the internal temperature is 160° (maybe 45 minutes? depends on the size of the cut).  Let it rest a few minutes before you slice it.

Rice & Beans

Pink beans are the preferred ones, here.  And if you can find it, the Goya Pink Beans in Sauce (Rosadas Guisadas) are the best.  Otherwise just plain canned pink beans.  Crack open that can, put it in a saucepan over low heat, and add a couple of big heaping spoonfuls of Sofrito sauce (which you can also find in a glass jar in the section of the supermarket with all the other Goya stuff).  Heat it up, and you’re good to go.  Serve over white rice, I prefer medium grain rice with just a touch of olive oil added to the cooking water, along with a generous amount of salt & pepper.

Seriously, this couldn’t be easier for a weeknight.  Just prepare the meat either that morning or even the night before, and then all you have to do is throw it in the oven, heat up the beans, and make some rice.  Hell, if you have a rice cooker with a timer, you can even do that ahead of time!

From a “diet” standpoint, I love that this is not only quite tasty and easy, but I make it exactly the same way whether I’m counting calories or not.  I don’t like to go nuts with recipe trickery in the name of lowering calories, and this one is exactly as-is. For the point-counters out there, this is a 9 point meal.  3 ounces of meat is 3 points, 1 cup of white rice is 4, and 1/2 cup of beans is 2.  Yum!