Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Caper Sauce

This is one of those dishes that's so easy to prepare and tastes like it required some culinary training to get it to taste so good.  The simplicity of this recipe makes it great; no fussy, hard to find ingredients and simple preparation.

To illustrate how easy and fool-proof this recipe is to prepare, I'll tell you about the very first time I made it. I made this dish for the first time many years ago for an old boyfriend (pre-husband). Anxious to cook and ready to impress my new boyfriend, I broke the golden rule of entertaining...which is, 'Never make a new dish for the first time for company'. Experimenting with a new recipe is never a good idea when entertaining others, especially a new boyfriend you're trying to impress by cooking for him. With that being said, I broke this rule because it was one of my Mom's recipes. She'd recommended I try it and as a general rule, my Mom's recipes are always good even if you've never made it before.(Provided you don't burn it or use the wrong ingredients.) Anyhow, I plowed forward and made the dish. I was nervous about how it would taste, since I myself had never tasted it before. We sat down and we took our first bites...and oh my....it was so incredible! The boyfriend sighed and mmm'ed in agreement that it was, in fact, delicious! Big relief! He went on and on about how good it was and finished the whole pan with seconds and thirds.
Anyway...the point of this walk down memory lane is that although I served a dish I'd never prepared before, the dish was utterly delicious. Not because I had intense hope that the dish would be awesome or even because of my cooking ability. Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Caper Sauce was incredible because this recipe uses great ingredients and has easy, simple preparation which makes it fool-proof and delicious the first time and every time. This is one of my favorite dishes and I've made it many many times over the last 10 years since my maiden voyage and it's always delicious. Hope you give it a try.

   
Just a note about this picture above. I love the rustic feel and look of the rough chopped shallots and the graininess of the whole-grain mustard, it makes me feel comforted just looking at it and imagining the taste of it. The best of both worlds is a dish that can be elegant and light but also rustic and satisfying. I made this dish last week and served it with some roasted asparagus with garlic. Something light for Spring but still satisfying and delicious. Imagine this dish on a cold Winter night served with garlic mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, a bottle of wine and big loaf of crusty bread to soak up the delicious pan sauce. Can you imagine it? Give it a whirl and wait for the compliments to rain down on you. :)

Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Caper Sauce (recipe from my Mom's book)
Serves 4

1 lb. pork tenderloin, silver skin removed and cut into 1" thick rounds
2 T butter
1/3 cup shallots, chopped
1 can chicken broth
4 T whipping cream
2 T rinsed and drained capers
2 T course-grained Dijon Mustard
salt and pepper (to taste)

Place pork rounds on a layer of plastic wrap and cover with another layer of plastic wrap and lightly pound pork rounds to approximately 1/2" thickness. Lightly salt and pepper and set aside.

Melt butter in skillet over medium high heat. Add pork to skillet and saute until brown and almost cooked through about two minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Add shallots to skillet and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken broth and cream and heat scraping up bits. Continue to reduce until sauce thickens to coat spoon. (~5-8 minutes)
Note: This sauce will not be a thick sauce as there is no thickening agent added. Heating and reducing the liquid concentrates the flavors and thickens the sauce.
Add mustard and capers. Return pork to sauce. Simmer for about 2 minutes more until pork is heated through. Salt and pepper to taste and serve. 

Quick Pickled Jalapenos and Radishes

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. 
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, 
Where's the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?

I say that nursery rhyme in my head every time I think of pickled peppers. If only I could remember most other things that well and for as long. Anyway, I stumbled on a pound of Jalapeno peppers for a $1 yesterday and wanted to attempt to make some pickled jalapeno peppers. I thought it would be fun to top some burgers or hot dogs with these little babies for a Memorial Day BBQ.  

I searched the Internet for 'pickled jalapenos' and this super quick and easy recipe popped up from allrecipes.com  I also had some radishes in my fridge and decided to add these too and see how they turned out. I told myself that if they were good enough, I would blog about them. They turned out great and they were super delicious and very spicy! But I like spicy. 

The video on allrecipes.com suggested to rinse your cut jalapenos in cool water to help remove some of the seeds to help lower the heat.  If you didn't know already, the hottest parts of peppers, comes from the seeds and the ribs holding the seeds. So if you are wanting to reduce the hotness of peppers in this and other preparations, do remove the ribs and seeds. (I skipped this step in my preparation of this recipe)

I like this recipe because it's easy and it's intended to make a small amount to be used in a short amount of time. You can prepare and serve them in a matter of hours rather than in days as in traditional canning methods for pickling vegetables. Store them in your refrigerator for up to three months*. (*I'd previously stated that you could only store these in your fridge for about a week, but I have since been doing more research on quick pickling and these pickles will keep in your refrigerator for up to three months.) 

Here is a picture of my breakfast this morning using the peppers I pickled. Pretty perfect. The radishes were terrific too, surprisingly delicate and flavorful, you pick up the notes of oregano well in the radishes. Pickled radishes are my new favorite discovery and I plan on pickling them again so I can experiment with dishes to incorporate these bad boys. :) 

Quick Pickled Jalapenos and Radishes (recipe from allrecipes.com)
(Makes 2- 8oz jars)


3/4 cup water
3/4 cup vinegar
3 T granulated sugar
1 T kosher salt (I used canning salt)
1 clove garlic (I used 2 garlic cloves)
1/2 t Mexican oregano
10 large Jalapenos, sliced into rings
5 radishes, sliced into rounds (I added radishes to the mix as well)

Add water, vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic and oregano in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add Jalapenos and radishes to pot with vinegar mixture and remove from heat. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes.

Use tongs to transfer peppers and radishes into 2-8oz jars. Top off each jar with remaining vinegar mixture. Place lids tightly and refrigerate.

These are only quick pickled peppers and radishes and can be used immediately and/or stored in your refrigerator for up to three months. Enjoy!

Penne with Roasted Asparagus and Balsamic Butter

I made this dish a few weeks ago and feel silly that it has taken me so long to write about it. With my husband and kids at a cub scouts camp-out today, I raced to my computer to write. But now, after the week I've had, I'm glad I was delayed in writing this one. Now it seems like the perfect comforting dish to blog about and to make again this weekend to ease my weary soul. 

My week was full of kids activities and play dates and cub scout camp-out planning and PTA this and that. Underneath all the 'doing' this week, I'm exhausted from worry for my 13 year old dog, Lucy. She got hit by a car last Friday night and had me on the worry train all week. No broken bones or internal bleeding which was a miracle in itself. A bruised liver and an abrasion over her left eye was what she was left with, which has been incredibly painful for her. So, it has been a week already and she is steadily improving. She's still in pain but seems to be resuming her old routines; eating, drinking, pooping and sleeping more comfortably. 
The first few nights she was home with us, I slept on the couch with her next to me on the floor because she was having such difficulty getting up, labored breathing, pain, etc so I was awake often those nights. I know I was worried and half expecting the worst outcome. So now that she seems to be on track and on the road to recovery, I can breathe a little easier. And I've even slept through the night in my own bed. My heart is a little lighter but I still feel drained by the whole ordeal. So what better way to be gentle with yourself, and ease the anxiety after experiencing a week of helpless worry. Pasta!  Specifically, Penne Pasta with Roasted Asparagus and Balsamic Butter.

This recipe from foodandwine.com is super simple and utterly delicious. The balsamic vinegar is simmered and reduced to about 3 tablespoons which mellows it out so beautifully. You are left with decidedly balsamic flavor but without the pungent notes you get from vinegar. Then add some sugar and a 1/2 cup of real butter and a ton of roasted Asparagus...oh Man...the perfect dish. The recipe on the link also suggests some variations of this using roasted broccoli instead of or in addition to the asparagus. Luckily, I have both asparagus and broccoli on hand, so I'll give it a try and make a Asparagus and broccoli version of this tomorrow night. Enjoy!

Penne with Roasted Asparagus and Balsamic Butter (recipe from  foodandwine.com)

1 lb asparagus ( I used 2 lbs of asparagus)
1 T olive oil
2 t salt
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup plus 2 T Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 t brown sugar
1 lb Penne Pasta
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Snap tough ends off the asparagus and discard them. Cut spears into 1-inch pieces. Put the asparagus on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil and 1/4 t each of the salt and pepper. Roast until tender, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the vinegar in a small saucepan. Simmer until only 3 T remain. Stir in the brown sugar and the remaining 1/4 tsp pepper.  Remove from heat.

Cook Penne in a large pot of boiling, salted water until just done, about 13 minutes. (or check time on box, I had to cook mine a little bit longer.) drain pasta and toss with the butter, vinegar, Asparagus, Parmesan and remaining salt. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese.

Cereal Bars

Cleaning out my pantry last week, I came across a nearly full box of cereal that had been left open and forgotten in the back, so the puffs were kind of stale. Still edible but not as crispy as they should have been. I was on the fence whether or not to toss them and tried to think of how I could use them in their stale state. I could make bread crumbs out of them for coating chicken or fish, I thought. But how much breadcrumbs do I really need? A whole box of cereal will surely make a ton of crumbs that I most likely won't use since I don't fry food often enough to use them all. Much to the dismay of my oldest son who loves fried foods. So it pained me to even think of throwing them away, since it's wasted food.
However, I then moved to my baking cupboard and found an opened bag of extra large JUMBO marshmallows that my boys had begged me to get for them. The marshmallows are nearly the size of baseballs they are so huge. Needless to say, they ate two each and lost interest. So there they sat discarded and alone for who knows how long. They were so sticky that there was no way of pulling them apart from each other. I was just going to throw them away as well, until I thought about Rice Crispy treats or rather, Kix Crispy treats. Light bulb-on! It's not a new idea but it solved my dilemma of "to toss" or "not to toss".
I pilfered my kids remaining Easter candy, grabbed some Reese Pieces, some peanuts and decided to make these Cereal Bars. I know you are probably thinking but all these ingredients are stale and old, why bother? Well, my answer, why not? Once you melt the marshmallows with butter they are perfectly fine, adding the cereal and the other ingredients turns it into candy basically leaving the cereal bars perfectly yummy!  Enjoy!

Cereal Bars
Makes 2 dozen

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 bag of JUMBO marshmallows
1 1/2 quarts of cereal (a little less than a full box of Kix)
1/2 cup peanuts
3/4 cup Reese's Pieces
1/2 cup of frosted flakes

Here is a look at this super sticky mess of marshmallows, I literally had to peel away the plastic and drop it in the pot as one solid lump. Not pretty, but it will be. 

 Melt 1/2 cup butter in large pot and then add bag of marshmallows.

 Heat on med heat and stir periodically until marshmallows begin to melt.

 Continue heating until smooth. Much prettier now. :)

I also grabbed the remaining bit of Frosted flakes (not pictured) and added them to the mix too.

Add cereal and peanuts and stir until well coated.  Then gently add Reese's Pieces and stir until just mixed. Too much mixing will break and melt the candy, so just add them in slowly without a lot of rough mixing.

Spread out on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and use a spatula sprayed with cooking spray to smooth out cereal.

Pop into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes until cooled and then cut into squares and eat. Store these in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. :)

Green Goddess Primavera Salad

Nothing better than a great salad! I love salads and all vegetables, well except eggplant, can't get my taste buds around that one. So the other night when I decided to make a salad to go with some grilled herb chicken I pulled out what I had from the fridge. As I looked at all the veggies on my counter, I noticed they were all green. Spinach, baby butter lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers...Huh? How can I top all this green? That made me think of Green Goddess Dressing. I pulled out my Penzey's Spices, Green Goddess Dressing Base. 
I like to call attention to certain products I like, not because I'm getting paid for it, but because they are so good and I think everyone should know about it and try it. And Penzey's Green Goddess Dressing is just that good. If you are not familiar with Penzey's, it is a Catalog/Internet/Retail store for all things herbs/spices/dressings and mixes for basically anything. You can find them at www.penzeys.com. However, here in Southern California we are lucky enough to also have 2 retail stores close by in Torrance and Santa Monica. It's so amazing to step over the threshold of that store. For someone who likes to cook, it's heaven. The sight of all those glass bottles of spices and sauces and bags of rubs, the smell of spices in the air...Aah!  The curry section alone puts me in a creative mind swirl. It's super fun to browse and dream up delicious meals to incorporate some amazing spices. You just have to see it to believe it. So this is what you can do. If you're planning a summer vacation and can't decide where to go, look at the Penzey's site and see where their retails stores are located and plan accordingly. Ha! Wouldn't the kids just love that? :)
I do realize that I've referred you to go buy something in order to make this salad but you don't have to. I've also included one of my Mom's recipes for Green Goddess dressing so you don't have to use Penzey's but it really is a great Green Goddess dressing and I recommend you try it. Or for simplicity, you can purchase a bottled dressing from your local market and pour it over a bowl of all green spring veggies! Enjoy!

Green Goddess Primavera Salad

Serves 4-6

1 cup baby spinach
1 head baby butter lettuce
4-5 large Brussels sprouts, leaves separated
1/2 cup asparagus, blanched and cut into small spears
1 cup broccoli, steamed and chopped
1 Persian cucumber, sliced and halved
feta cheese
chopped almonds

Wash and spin spinach leaves
Wash and spin baby butter lettuce. 
Separate leaves of Brussels sprouts, wash and spin. 
Blanch asparagus. I like to blanch my asparagus to brighten the color and crisp them up. Heat pot of water to boiling and toss cut asparagus into boiling water and cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.My asparagus were very thin so they were only heated for about 30 seconds. With a slotted spoon remove asparagus and place in an ice bath to stop cooking and cool completely. Remove from ice bath and drain excess water. 

Steam broccoli and immediately place in an ice bath to stop cooking and cool completely. 
Wash and slice cucumber.

Chop almonds and crumble feta cheese.

Toss all ingredients together and add Green Goddess Dressing. 

Penzeys' Green Goddess Dressing: (from label) Add 1 rounded T of Green Goddess Dressing Base in 2 T of water. Let stand for 5 minutes. Blend with 2/3 cup Mayonnaise or yogurt and 1 T vinegar. Refrigerate to cool and allow flavors to blend.

Green Goddess Dressing  (recipe from my Mom's Book)
2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 ripe avocado, mashed
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
3 T white wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
2 t. fresh tarragon, chopped (1 t dried tarragon)
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients in a blender. Store in air tight container and refrigerate until use. Shake well before serving.