Maple Mustard Pork Tenderloin with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I found these recipes separately. I was really just after a simple recipe for pork tenderloin. I found this Maple Mustard one on About.com. Easy. Then I realized I had these two sweet potatoes that needed to be used, but I only had about 30 minutes until I wanted everything on the table. Baking them in any way was out, so I quickly searched for a mashed sweet potato recipe, figuring it was faster to boil them than bake. I found one on MarthaStewart.com. And it is even easier than boiling...it steams them so you don't have to mess with dumping out boiling water while trying not to lose any bits of potato down the drain. Priceless.

I wouldn't change anything about the pork recipe, except I ended up having a bunch of glaze left over. I think it would have covered two tenderloins. I used one of the tenderloins from Costco...I didn't realize two came in the package, and since I wasn't sure how far the glaze would go, I only baked one. I could have easily done both of them.

With the sweet potatoes, I followed the recipe exactly, but I think you could cut the milk mixture, even by half. The sweet potatoes ended up beautifully creamy and rich, but I just kept thinking about how fattening they were with all that butter and half & half. I think you could reduce the amount of liquid between a 3/4 and 1/2 of the amount. It just depends on how creamy (and fattening) you want them.

Mustard Pork Tenderloin
1 to 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin (I think mine was about 2 pounds)
salt and pepper
1 to 2 TBS olive oil (enough to coat the skillet)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
3 TBS Dijon mustard

1. Line a baking dish (or cookie sheet) with foil and spray with cooking spray. Heat oven to 350.
2. Wash pork, trim excess fat and silver skin, and season with salt and pepper.
3. In large heavy skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add pork and sear on all sides.
4. Combine syrup and mustard in small bowl and whisk until smooth.
5. Place pork in baking dish and roast for 12 minutes. Brush generously with about half of the mustard mixture and roast for about 5 minutes more, or until the pork reaches about 155 degrees.
6. Heat remaining sauce in microwave to boil.
7. Let pork rest for about 5 minutes, then slice and drizzle with remaining sauce.

This easily served 3 adults and one child.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed in about 1 inch cubes
1/2 cup half and half
3 TBS butter
2 TBS brown sugar

1. Steam potatoes in steam basket for about 15 minutes, or until tender.
2. In separate saucepan, combine half and half, butter and brown sugar. Heat on low until melted, stirring often.
3. When potatoes are done, mash with either a masher or in a mixer (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer). Add milk mixture and mash until just mixed. Season with salt and pepper.

I would say this makes about 4 serving.

Pesto Pork Chops

Last week I found myself with an abundance of fresh basil leaves. I didn't complain-I LOVE tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella with a touch of oil olive. But those few leaves I used everyday were not going to get me through the bunch of basil before it went bad. I needed something else for the basil.

I had found a pesto recipe that J really likes a month or so ago, so I made that again. The trouble was, I didn't want it with pasta again, and we had just had pizza, so I didn't want to make that. I had thin cut pork chops thawed, but the idea of pesto with pork chops didn't sound fabulous.

As always, I looked to the Internet first. I searched "pesto pork" and sure enough, there were hundreds of recipes out there. So, I decided to take a risk. I pan cooked the pork chops in a bit of olive oil, and when they were just about done, I spooned pesto on each one, covered it, lowered the heat, and cooked it for another 5 minutes or so.

They were delicious. And the summer squash with caramelized Walla Walla onions I served with them paired well. (Of course, I did also have tomato, basil and mozzarella as another side dish, because really...I can never get enough.)

One note of caution...as always with pork chops, it's easy to over cook them. One of mine was thicker than the other two, so it was perfect and the thinner ones were a tad on the dry side. Still good, but could have been a bit more moist.

Here's the pesto recipe I used:

2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, minced

In food processor, pulse together basil and nuts 3 or 4 times quickly. Add garlic and pulse again. While processor is on, pour in olive oil. Add Parmesan cheese and mix until blended.

Disappointing Crock Pot Recipe

I've been trying to find good crock pot recipes that do not include cream of mushroom soup (or chicken, or celery) in their list of ingredients. I found a crock pot recipe for Soy Ginger Chicken one of my old editions of Everyday Food. I was so excited to try it! It looked very promising-lots of fresh ginger and garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, fresh cilantro, and a touch of balsamic vinegar. Rich dark meat simmering for hours in the tasty marinade...

Yea, not so much. It was bland. And not interesting. And boring. And any other adjective you can come up for "not worth making this again."

But the combination of ingredients has such potential. I will eventually try again (because I'm a sucker like that). Next time I think I'll cook it for less time and add some chili garlic and more sugar. And no carrots.

I'll let you know what I come up with.

Chicken with Lemon and Mustard Sauce

I'll try almost anything that has mustard in it. I adore mustard. We have at least five different kinds on the door of our fridge...

This dish comes from the Everyday Food magazine (sorry, I don't know the publication month). It's one of the ones I tore out and stuck to my bulletin board. It is supposed to be served with seared radicchio, but I didn't have radicchio, and that didn't sound so fabulous to me anyway. Later I realized I could have served it over seared romaine, which I did have. Too late. I'll record what I did, then add what I think could have happened with the romaine for future reference.

2 TBS all purpose flour
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds chicken cutlets (I used 1 lb of breasts and cut them into strips)
1 TBS olive oil
2 TBS dijon mustard (I used Grey Poupon)
2 TBS capers, drained and rinsed
2 TBS fresh lemon juice (I used 1 TBS fresh and 1 TBS bottled)
2 TBS butter, cold, cubed

1. Season flour with salt and pepper (either in shallow bowl or plastic bag. I use left over produce bags). Dredge chicken in flour mixture, shaking off excess flour.

2. In large skillet (I used my cast iron pan), heat oil over medium-high heat. Add half the cutlets; cook until lightly browned and cooked through. Transfer chicken to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Cook remaining cutlets and add to plate. Set aside.

3. Add 3/4 cup water to skillet; boil over medium-high until liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and whisk in mustard, capers, lemon juice, and any accumulated juices on the plate from the chicken. Add butter and whisk until creamy, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Serve chicken drizzled with sauce.

The sauce was a nicely tangy. It was plenty for one pound of chicken, but I would have wanted more if I served it with rice or over the seared lettuce.

The girls didn't like the sauce, but because you drizzled it on, I had some plain chicken left for them. They gladly ate that.

I learned that you should keep the sauce warm if you are not serving it right away. It was still tasty, but not as wonderful as if it had still been warm.

So, my thought with the lettuce-I think you could sear romaine heads that have been cut in half lengthwise. You'd want one half per serving, so 2 heads of romaine should be good for this amount of food.

This dish would serve 4 with no leftovers.

I would make this again, possibly trying to serve it over the romaine.