Richly satisfying food doesn’t need to involve loads of fat or hours of work.

This tasty recipe for roasted pork coaxes out the flavor of the meat with just a touch of oil, garlic and fennel seed, and half an hour in the oven lets it cook perfectly. Each serving has only about 5 grams of fat.

This tasty recipe for Roasted Pork Tenderloin lets the flavor of the meat come through by adding just a touch of garlic and fennel seed and cooking it for 30 minutes in the oven. It's a dish that's good enough for company or for a relaxed summer evening dinner with friends. The recipe and photo are from Betty Crocker's Entertaining

It’s a simple dish that’s good enough for company, fine for a relaxed summer evening dinner with friends. That’s the context in which it’s envisioned in Betty Crocker’s “Entertaining Basics” (Wiley, 2001, $24.95), which is a mine of information on scene-setting and planning, as well as recipes, for times when you have guests.

The pork could be accompanied by couscous and green beans. Your choice of dessert could be fruit, sorbet or ice cream. If you wish, give your guests a refreshing welcome with citrus spritzers (recipe follows).

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

(Bake 30 minutes, rest about 15 minutes)

Cooking spray to grease rack

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon olive or vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed (see note)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 pork tenderloins (about 3/4 pound each)

Equipment needed: shallow roasting pan (about 13 inches by 9 inches) and rack; meat thermometer.

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray the roasting pan rack with cooking spray.

Peel and finely chop the garlic. Mix the garlic, oil, salt, fennel and pepper in a small bowl until a paste forms. Rub the paste on the pork.

	For an alcoholic version of this refresher, use 1 chilled bottle (750 milliliter) of champagne or dry white wine instead of the sparkling water. Add a special touch with minted ice cubes, made by freezing fresh mint leaves in ice-cube trays.

Place pork on the rack in the roasting pan. Insert the meat thermometer so the tip is in the thickest part of the pork.

Bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes or until thermometer reads 155 degrees and pork is slightly pink when you cut into the center. Cover pork loosely with a tent of aluminum foil and let stand 10 to 15 minutes or until thermometer reads 160 degrees. Cut pork crosswise into thin slices.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 140 calories, 5 g total fat (2 g saturated fat), 65 mg cholesterol, 240 mg sodium, 0 g carbohydrate, 24 g protein.

Note: You can substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crumbled, for the fennel seed, if you wish.

Citrus Spritzers

2 cups cold water

6-ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

3/4 cup frozen (thawed) grapefruit juice concentrate (from 12-ounce can)

1 bottle (1 liter) sparkling water, chilled

Ice

Orange slices, if desired

Fresh mint leaves, if desired

Mix the cold water, orange juice concentrate, grapefruit juice concentrate and sparkling water in the pitcher.

Serve the spritzers over ice. Garnish each with an orange slice and mint leaf, if desired.

Makes 8 servings (about 3/4 cup each).

Nutrition information per serving: 80 calories, 0 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 19 g carbohydrates, 0 g dietary fiber, 1 g protein.