Saturday Dinner: Only Three Spices

Oh, hi there! Sorry I've neglected this blog a bit, but I'll make it up eventually. Hopefully with this set of recipes here, if you can even call things "recipes" when they involve only three spices total, among four dishes. But trust me: this stuff was good. Like, SERIOUSLY GOOD. We have ZERO leftovers (except Shae's plate, because this is one of those days where she won't eat anything that doesn't involve nuggets and/or peanut butter).

Why we liked this dinner -- it's simple, pretty easy, and perfect for a cold and snowy night. It's comfort food, but not heavy; it's really more of the kind of stuff that my great-grandmother would have made. It was almost like a holiday dinner, without the aggravation of a holiday. So, without further ado, here are what basically amounts to the instructions for our roast pork loin with three vegetables:

• Arrange racks in over to accommodate two casserole dishes and two baking sheets. Preheat to 375°F.
  
• Season an "always tender" pork tenderloin (between 1½-2 lbs.) with kosher salt and pepper. Arrange in a covered roasting pan and set aside.
• Cut 1½ lbs. fingerling potatoes in half on the bias (diagonally). Toss with 1½ Tbsp. olive oil to coat well. Season with kosher salt, pepper, and rosemary to taste. Arrange in a single layer in a shallow covered baking dish and set aside.
• Rinse and pat dry 1½ lbs. fresh Brussels sprouts. Cut off the very ends and remove any yellow or over-tough leaves. Toss with 1½ Tbsp. olive oil to coat well. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet.*
• Put the covered pork loin, the covered potatoes, and the sprouts in the oven all the same time. Do not disturb for 15 minutes. Have a drink. Write a couple Christmas cards. Relax.
• After 15 minutes, cut 1 lb. baby carrots (minus whatever couple you needed to feed to your toddler to get her out of the kitchen for five minutes so you could swing that big Cutco chef's knife around) in half lengthwise. Toss with 1 Tbsp. olive oil to coat well. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet.
• 20 minutes after the meat, potatoes, and sprouts have been put in the oven, put the carrots in there too. While your head is in the oven, give the potatoes and sprouts a shake, just to keep them from sticking. Continue cooking for another 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes, take the covers off the meat and the potatoes. Remove the carrots and sprouts from the oven. Continue cooking the meat and potatoes for another 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes, remove the meat and potatoes. Slice the loin into medallions. Plate the vegetables. Serve. Enjoy.

Try this, and let me know what you think! Like I said, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

* If you live in a house like I do where you're the only one who eats Brussels sprouts, you can cut the ingredients by ⅓ and use a toaster-oven-sized pan, but the cook time remains the same.