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Experimented with my first serious dry spice rub last night, using it to flavour a couple of pork tenderloin that I seared and then roasted. Served up with thyme-pepper roast potatoes and sauted kale, it was a really fantastic meal.

Chocolate-chipotle roast pork

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp unsweeted cocoa powder
• 1 tsp chipotle pepper powder
• 1 tsp regular chili powder
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 2 medium pork tenderloin

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Mix cocoa, chipotle, chili, pepper, and garlic powder. Cut each tenderloin in half (through the width, not lengthwise) then coat liberally with the spice mixture — get as much on there as possible.
3. Heat canola oil in an oven-proof skillet (I always use a cast-iron pan for this sort of thing) over med-high to high heat. When hot, sear the pork for 2 mins per side.
4. Put the skillet in the oven and roast for roughly 10 mins. Remove from oven, put pork on a plate to rest for 10 mins, tented with foil.
5. At this point you can make a quick pan sauce if you like — I did a quick deglazing of the pan with sherry, reducing for a couple of mins, then stirring in a bit of butter at the end.

The kale was dead simple — I just washed, destemmed, and chopped a bunch of kale then set in a covered skillet to steam for 15-20 mins or so with a bit of olive oil, seasoning with salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice when it was done. Today we get leftover pork sandwiches for lunch.