Bacon Wrapped Red Pepper and Mozza Stuffed Pork

This past week has been crazy busy. We had over 50 cm of snow fall and as a wife of a husband who is a snow plow driver, it was a little hectic!

My husband doesn't need a holiday to shower me with love or flowers. He does it every day. I did, however, have a nice surprise planned for him for Valentine's Day. Mother Nature had other plans! After days and nights of being in the truck, and a celebration of our son's 21st birthday, I finally was able to cook a nice romantic dinner for 2 on Friday night. I didn't think to take step by step photos but hope to remember to do so the next time around. This will be made again! We both loved it!

Oh, if you don't already do this, please please read over this recipe a couple of times from start to finish before you proceed! It is easy to miss a step. 😉

For the Pork:

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup finely diced roasted red peppers *you can find this in a jar or make you're own*

2 Tbsp finely minced red onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large or 2 small pork tenderloins

salt

pepper

1 350g package of your favorite bacon

*You will need some cooking twine

For the Tomato Cream Sauce:

1 cup crushed tomatoes

2 Tbsp sundried tomato pesto

1 Tbsp freeze dried basil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup heavy cream (18% or 35% will work)

salt and pepper

Side dishes:

1 bunch of asparagu

1 large sweet potato

- Preheat oven to 400F

- Line baking pan with foil

- With a sharp knife, remove any silver skin and fat from the tenderloins. Carefully butterfly your tenderloins. Pound them out with a heavy rolling pin or meat mallet. I used 2 small ones together.

- sprinkle with salt and pepper. **Check out this video on how to do this!**

- set the tenderloin aside and lay out your strips of bacon. Place flattened tenderloins on top of bacon.

- get some cooking twine ready now. **About 9 minutes in, this video shows you how**

- Ok, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with your cheese, then peppers, then onions and garlic.

- Carefully roll up your tenderloin, leaving the bacon behind for now. After you have it rolled, now, carefully wrap your bacon around the roast.

- Now, tie some twine around it to hold it all together. Do this as you wish, or refer to the video link I posted!

- Place in your lined pan and place in your preheated oven, middle rack, for about 30 minutes.

- Now, get that Tomato cream sauce going.

- In a small pot, add a dash of EVOO. On low heat, add garlic. Stir for a few minutes then add crushed tomatoes and roasted red pepper pesto. Bring to simmer. Add basil and salt and pepper. Taste. Adjust seasonings if you aren't satisfied. Cover and simmer until ready to serve.

- Get your sweet potatoes peeled and in a pot and on to simmer. When done, mash with a little real butter and salt and pepper.

- Check doneness with the resistance touch or with a meat thermometer. You don't want to over cook this beautiful thing so pull from the oven at about 165F.

- Pop oven on broil and move up your rack 1 spot. Carefully turn roast over and broil till bacon is crispy then back over again and crisp the top. Remove from oven.

- Tent with foil and let rest 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving.

- While you let this rest, clean up some asparagus, add to a hot frying pan with some EVOO and a splash of good balsamic vinegar. Salt and Pepper. Toss around for about 5 minutes over medium heat.