On Sunday I cooked such a tasty meal that I wanted a food blog to be my last blog of this decade: bacon wrapped pork loin with a balsamic glaze and sauteed zucchini, squash, and onions. Tasty goodness.

Preheat oven to 375. I’m all about easy clean-up, as I have mentioned many times before…make it as easy as possible. A good chef cleans up as they go along. I cannot stress that enough. Line a sheet pan with foil. You need a drain apparatus for the bacon grease. You can use a roaster pan, but I used a wire rack. Wrap the pork loin with bacon and overlay each strip, and secure with a toothpick.

Cover with foil and put in oven for 30 minutes. You want to cover first to prevent the bacon cooking faster than the pork. While that’s in the oven, go ahead and slice your veggies. I did mine in about 1/2″ slices. I used a knife. I have an awesome mandolin, but I get nervous and always afraid I’ll slice my fingers off.

Place the sliced veggies in a heated skillet of olive oil. I cover and saute on low to medium heat. I like to cook it slow and turning veggies ever so often for even cooking.

After the pork loin has cooked for 30 minutes, remove foil and put in for 20 additional minutes uncovered. While that is finishing up in the oven, you want to start on the balsamic glaze. I give my former running partner all the credit for this amazing glaze recipe. She gave it to me many years ago and I have used in different ways. It’s a no fail recipe!

In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, and a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch. The cornstarch is your thickening agent. Heat on medium until it starts bubbling. The aroma is to die for! Once you are able to coat your spoon with the glaze, it is done! Turn the heat off and let it until pork is ready for painting.

When the timer goes off, pull out the pork loin, remove toothpicks, and paint that baby in all the glazy goodness. I douse it pretty heavy to use every bit of it.

Put back into oven for 5 minutes. Then change your oven setting to broil and place the loin on the top shelve to caramelize the glaze. This should only take about 3-5 minutes. You can eyeball it.

Remove from oven and let sit for about 10 minutes, allowing the flavors to absorb. To newer chefs: Never slice meat straight out of the oven as all of the juices will escape and you are left with a dry piece of meat.

Slice up and serve with your healthy sauteed veggies. It was a delicious meal. The pork loin was smaller and perfect amount for a tasty meal with my hunka hunka.

Cheers to more meals in 2020! Thank you for reading. I hope you all continue to follow my blogs into the new year and new decade.

Peace out, Trout!!