Well some of my readers have sworn off pork because of the swine flu.....come on, pick up a paper....swine flu is an airborne virus that you contract the same way as regular flu! The good news is most of the general public must be thinking the same way because when shopping this week I found pork tenderloin marked down to $2.30 each....usually $8.99!
We grabbed two (one for the freezer) and decided to do it up a healthy new way. Here it goes:
Ingredients
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut crosswise into 8 pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground fennel
Cooking spray
1/4 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
1/4 cup chopped pitted green olives or onion-stuffed green olives
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
Preparation
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Press pork pieces into 1/2-inch-thick medallions. Combine salt, pepper, and fennel; rub evenly over pork. Add pork to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until done.
While pork cooks, combine olives and remaining ingredients. Serve olive mixture over pork.
Yield
4 servings (serving size: 2 pork medallions and 2 tablespoons olive mixture)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 163(33% from fat); FAT 6g (sat 1.6g,mono 3.2g,poly 0.7g); PROTEIN 24.3g; CHOLESTEROL 74mg; CALCIUM 31mg; SODIUM 590mg; FIBER 0.7g; IRON 2.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 2.2g
Thoughts: Different way to cook it for me as we cut it into 8 pieces and cooked in a frying pan....not the grill or oven as I am accustomed. You spoon the olive mixture over the medallions at the table. Quick, easy, and a bit salty as prepared. I also cooked some brown rice on the side for a carb and loved the pork with the rice because it completely evened out the saltiness. Rice = saltiness gone:) Lindsey ate it sans rice so it can be done but not for me. Easy to make and new fresh taste. Will make again.
Roasted Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Once again we decided to play with some tomatoes. A bit different this time though. I took 6 ripe tomatoes and cut them in half. Then I tossed them in EVOO. Next I placed them seed side up in a 13x9 and roasted them for 3 hours at 275 degrees.
Roasting will cook them down a little and add a sweetness to them. We took them out of the oven and brought them to room temperature.
Then into a bowl, added some mozz, balsamic, sea salt, pepper. Done! Yum! (Coulda used some fresh basil )
NFL: 2026 Pro Bowl games wide receivers
4 hours ago
As many years as I have been cooking, I've never used ground fennel. Does it have a distinct flavor? As for the saltiness of the pork dish, you could always cut it back to 1/4 teaspoon salt. When you say press the pork to 1/2 inch thick...is that while it is in the pan? Wouldn't that remove the juices and make it tough? Lots of questions, I know, but I'm a detail person. I'll give it a try as soon as the swine are fit for consumption!
ReplyDeleteIt's almost time to pick our own tomatoes here in Florida so I'll definitely make your roasted tomatoes dish soon.
ReplyDeleteFennel is awesome! Have only used it twice but the smell it has in meat that is cooking is really good. I don't have a spice grounder so I chopped it.
ReplyDeleteAs for the pressing part, I didn't do it. Probably would have made it cook quicker.....ours took longer than 4 minutes per side.
PS- You can't get swine flu from eating pork.
Looks pretty good. I definitely would have needed the brown rice. Love the tomato thing. That's my fave, with basil of course. I'm planting tomatoes this year and I'm so excited about it!!
ReplyDeleteI didn't get an update when you wrote this blog and I thought I signed up for it. Huh.