Braised Pork and Red Cabbage

This is a great, one-pot dish that takes very little effort to prepare and comes out tasting delicious!

Ingredients:

2-lb. pork tenderloin
7-8 cloves of garlic, peeled
Salt & pepper to taste

6 strips of bacon, chopped
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 tart apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup chopped celery
1-2 lb. head of red cabbage, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 T. sugar or Splenda
1 t. marjoram
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Cut 7-8 slits, about an inch apart, into the pork tenderloin.  Place the garlic cloves in these slits.  Salt and pepper the pork and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until the fat begins to render out and the bacon is browning.

Move aside the bacon and brown the tenderloin.  Brown on all sides and remove from the pan.

You can take this opportunity to chop up your other ingredients.

Add in the onion and cook until they begin to caramelize.

Once done, throw in the other ingredients and stir around.  Cook until the cabbage starts to wilt.  Place the pork on top of the cabbage mixture and put the lid on the Dutch oven.

I took the opportunity to deglaze the pan with the vinegar.

Put this in the preheated oven and bake for an hour, or until the cabbage is tender and the pork is cooked through.

You may have a bit too much liquid still in the pan.  If so, place it on a burner over high heat until it boils off.

Remember to taste your cabbage and adjust any flavors to your taste.

Slice up your pork and serve!