Paleo Pork Wrapped Asparagus with Bacon Infused Spaghetti Squash
- 1–1.5lb pork tenderloin
- 1 bundle of asparagus
- 1–1.5lb spaghetti squash
- 6–8 slices of uncured bacon
- 3 tablespoons ground mustard (no sugar added, duh)
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1–2 tablespoons of your choice of fat: olive oil, coconut oil, bacon fat, etc.
- some butchers twine
First, time to cook up that spaghetti squash:
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Cut your spaghetti squash in half, lengthwise (don’t cut your fingers off, these guys can get a bit dangerous) then scoop out the seeds and stringy mess that fill the inside.
- Grab out a cookie sheet and place the spaghetti squash face down (inside towards the pan) on the sheet. You can line it with parchment paper if you want to have a quick clean up.
- Let cook for about 35-45 minutes depending on the size. To know if your spaghetti squash is cooked through and ready to eat, poke at the outside of the skin with your finger. If the squash has some give to it (you’ll dent it a bit) then it’s ready to come out!!
While your squash is cooking, start cutting your tenderloin open and getting the insides ready: To cut your pork correctly, check out the video below, the cook sports a wicked cool hat:
- Once you have opened up your pork, cut the pork loin into 4 equal parts, width wise. The four equal parts will be stuffed with the asparagus and mustard spread!! Woot!
- So let’s get the mustard spread ready. Grab a small bowl and add your mustard, garlic and onion powders, and paprika and mix well. Then add a tablespoon or so of the mixture to the INSIDE of each pork tenderloin slab. Be as generous as you’d like!
- Now we need to saute up the asparagus. Grab a large pan and put over medium-high heat, add your fat and minced garlic cloves (hello heavenly smell!!). Let the garlic cloves cook for less than a minute, then add your asparagus. Toss the asparagus around a bit to coat, then cover to let steam for 2-3 minutes. Once the asparagus is cooked just a bit, pull it out of the pan and set aside to put into your pork.
- Now stuff that pork!! You’ve put down the mustard spread, so all you have to do is add 5-6 spears (less or more depending on the size and thickness of the pork) and wrap the pork around the spears. Use 5-6 inches of twine to wrap around the middle of your pork and tie it off tight! Do this to all 4 parts of the tenderloin!
- After the pork is all bundled up, sprinkle with some salt and pepper on top then put the pork directly back into the hot large pan you cooked your asparagus in, and sear on all sides. The pork will become browned on the outside, but will obviously not be cooked through.
- Once the pork is done searing on all sides, add the cute little suckers to a 9 x 11 pan (or whatever fits them all) and add to your hot oven that has been cooking your spaghetti squash. Cook for about 20-30 minutes or until the center of the pork tenderloin measures 140 degrees.
Ok you’re almost done!! Just one more step for that fabulous bacon infused spaghetti squash:
- In the same pan you’ve used multiple times at this point, add your bacon over medium-high heat. Let cook on both sides until crispy.
- While the bacon is sizzling away, pull out your cooked spaghetti squash and use a fork to shred the crap out of that squash. Try pulling a pork the opposite way the strings run, they seem to come out a bit easier that way, at least for me. Add the strings to a large bowl.
- Once your bacon is done cooking, cut the pieces up and add to your bowl of spaghetti squash. Then add a bit of the bacon fat to the spaghetti squash as well. Top off with a pinch of salt and mix together thoroughly.