Easy Mustard Glazed Pork Loin with Summer Peach Ratatouille

This delicious mustard glazed pork loin recipe is one of the easiest, elegant summer meals you can make. A healthy, low stress dish, it’s the kind of dinner impressive enough to serve on a special occasion or romantic date night at home yet easy enough to throw together for a satisfying weeknight meal.

The ratatouille recipe can also be served on its own, for a Meatless Monday dinner or a vegetarian lunch loaded with summer fruits and vegetables.

How to make a great mustard glaze for pork tenderloin

To maximize flavor, the pork is rubbed with a flavorful mixture of sweet and salty ingredients. If you’re wondering why we go through the step of glazing pork, there are two reasons:

1. Glazing gives the pork loin, which is relatively mild meat, added flavor.
2. Because the glazing mixture is also used for a marinade, it helps keep the pork moist during cooking.

While many glazes for pork tenderloin call for honey or sugar, this recipe adds sweetness with peach jam. This echoes the peach flavor in the ratatouille and really helps to pull all the flavors of the dish together.

The pork loin glaze also needs something salt to both help brine the pork and accentuate the sweetness. In this case, we use mustard.

What kind of mustard should you use for the pork loin glaze?

Any type of mustard can be used in a mustard glaze but specifically for this pork recipe, I use Dijon mustard for the right balance of salt and spice.

Dijon is a classic mustard style originating from the town of Dijon in France’s Burgundy region, (the same region that makes some of the world’s greatest wines). It has a more complex and pungent flavor than yellow mustard because it is made with brown and black mustard seeds blended with white wine.

There are many good brands of Dijon mustard but this is a Dijon mustard I highly recommend.

Incidentally, did you know that mustard is considered an aphrodisiac food? It’s thought to be such a potent aphrodisiac that Monks were once banned from eating it because it might provoke lustful thoughts!

Tips on cooking pork tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is one of the best meat choices for a healthy meal. Unfortunately, it has a reputation as hard to cook. Don’t believe it! With a few tips, you’ll soon realize this is one of the easiest meat choices you could make.

Note that this recipe calls for a pork tenderloin, not the thicker pork loin, which can come bone-in or boneless. (Tenderloin is a quicker-cooking cut of meat, great for fast and easy recipes.)

Pork tenderloin is high in protein and relatively low in saturated fat, making it a favorite meat choice of doctors and nutritionists. Incidentally, it is also a source of zinc and selenium, two nutrients essential to maintaining sexual health.

Tenderloins are generally small, sold in 1 to 1 1/2 lb packages. This works well for our purposes. You’ll have dinner for two with just enough leftovers for another meal. (This recipe can easily be doubled if you’re cooking for more people.) You can double the recipe and cook two tenderloins if you want to serve a crowd.

Equipment needed to cook a perfect pork tenderloin

The only tricky thing about roasting a pork loin is ensuring that you don’t overcook it.

For this, you’ll need a meat thermometer. When the thermometer registers 140-145 degrees, it is important to not only remove the meat from the oven but to transfer it to a serving platter or cutting board to rest.

The glazed pork tenderloin will continue to cook while it rests and if you don’t remove it from the pan, it will overcook.

How to make peach ratatouille

Instead of tomatoes, my untraditional version of a southern French casserole incorporates ripe, peak-of-season yellow peaches to make a peach ratatouille.

Did you know that peaches are held in regard as aphrodisiac by cultures around the world? The baby-fuzzed peach, with its almost obscene cleft, has some surprising things in common with tomato, the fruit that typically stars in ratatouille.

For one, both of these juicy fruits are historically aphrodisiacs. (And yes, in case you’re still debating, tomato is botanically a fruit. But it is also acceptable to call it a vegetable.) Both fruits are higher in acidity than their sweet flavor indicates. And this is the main reason why I think peach makes a great substitute for tomato in this vegetable dish.

The addition of peaches also adds a faint tartness and tang to the summer vegetable casserole. Combine with crumbled goat cheese, peaches bring a uniquely delicious sweetness to the traditional vegetable dish.

Make the ratatouille for a vegetarian meal

As I mentioned in my introduction, if you’re looking for a vegetarian meal, the peach ratatouille will stand on its own. You can serve it hot or at room temperature, as a light summer meal.

Why this is a recipe for a romantic dinner

Even though this dish is incredibly simple, not to mention healthy, it is still one I would consider as a great choice for date night. That’s because it’s loaded with aphrodisiac ingredients.

In addition to the peaches, goat cheese – all cheeses for that matter – offers some surprising benefits to sexual health. And then there’s the garlic. You might be surprised to learn that garlic is an aphrodisiac. But it has some evidence-based benefits to support sex drive and sexual health.

Additionally, the fresh herbs that season this dish, both basil and thyme, are historically aphrodisaic. (For this recipe, it is essential that you use fresh herbs, not dried.) And all of these ingredients combine to make a perfect accompaniment to the simplicity of roast pork loin.

And speaking of the pork loin, let’s not forget that the pork tenderloin glaze includes aphrodisiac peaches and mustard. And remember what I said about the aphrodisiac effects of mustard?

Pack the whole dish or even just the ratatouille on a picnic if you’re looking to seduce someone in the loving embrace of nature. (Check out my recommendations for the best picnic wines.)

Enjoy!

More great pork recipes

Bacon-Wrapped Pork with Apricot Compote

Pomegranate Roasted Pork with Quinoa

Easy Pork Stew with Tomatillo and Sweet Potato

Mustard Glazed Pork Loin Roast with Summer Peach Ratatouille

Print Recipe

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An easy and summer meal, this dish is a low-stress choice for a healthy date night dinner. The ratatouille is perfect on it's own as a vegetarian meal but really wakes up the flavor of a roast pork loin. 

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Cooking Style Vegetarian

Diet and Health healthy-ish

Seasonal summer

Ingredient peach, pork tenderloin

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Resting Time 30 mins

Total Time 1 hr 20 mins

Servings 4 servings

Author Amy Reiley

Ingredients

For the Peach Roasted Ratatouille

• 2 Japanese eggplant cut into cubes
• 2 medium zucchini cubed similarly to the eggplant
• 2 medium yellow peaches cubed
• 1 medium onion roughly chopped
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves roughly chopped
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• salt
• 1 oz chevre crumbled

For the Roasted Pork Loin

• 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1 tbsp peach jam
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp coconut oil*
• 1 pork loin approx. 1 ¼ lbs

Instructions

To Make the Ratatouille

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Add eggplant through zest to a 9x13 pan that has been coated with a non-stick spray. Season with salt as desired and toss then top with crumbled chevre.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until eggplant and zucchini are fork tender. Set aside while you prepare the pork.

To Roast the Pork Tenderloin

• In a small bowl, combine garlic through coconut oil. Rub half the mixture over pork loin, thoroughly coating all sides. Set aside for 30 minutes. (Reserve the rest of the mixture to brush on the meat later.)
• While pork is marinating, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Roast pork for 16 minutes, then pour the reserved mustard glaze over the meat.
• Return the pork to the oven to cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until the meat thermometer registers 140-145 degrees. (Depending on thickness, the pork may need to cook for an additional 2-5 minutes.)
• Transfer pork to a cutting borad and rest it for 10 minutes before carving.

Notes

Use any leftover ratatouille as a vegetarian lunch dish. It's great served either warm or cold. 

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Amy Reiley

An award-winning author of five aphrodisiac cookbooks with an MA in Gastronomy, Amy Reiley has spent the past 18 years studying the history and science behind aphrodisiac foods. She speaks on aphrodisiacs globally and has brought her knowledge of aphrodisiac foods to national television shows including The Today Show and CBS Early Show. Amy is also a freelance food, wine and health writer and wine competition judge. Her work has appeared in publications ranging from Variety to The Daily Meal. She is a former wine editor for Gayot.com and wine & spirits editor of Las Vegas magazine. Most importantly, Amy is a mother to 2 human children and 1 standard poodle.

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