Pork Tenderloin with Apple-Blueberry Chutney

After a very stressful last couple of months, my wife and I decided to take a mini-vacation to Pensacola, Florida with weekend to see our son and daughter-in-law. Then this uninvited guest announced he was coming as well. His name hurricane Isaac. Ok maybe we will change our plans.
In the mean time we decided Atlanta would be an alternate vacation spot. We can stay with my little sister and there will certainly be things to do. What Isaac has decided to curve east after coming ashore and Atlanta is going to get up to 8 inches of rain.
Friday after work we go to get in the car and hear a loud popping sound. The car will not start. The car was towed to the dealer. They called Saturday to say that the temperature sensor was bad and it thinks the car was overheating and shuts down.
Well before going on vacation I should update the maps on my GPS. Ok the GPS won't install the new maps. Email Garmin support. After three days they have me send them files from my GPS as I have apparently discovered a glitch in their GPS that won't let certain models be updated. Glad I paid for that lifetime of updates. Actually they are working with it and trying to get it to update without me returning the unit.
Maybe we should stay home and work.

Pork Tenderloin with Apple-Blueberry Chutney
Apple-Blueberry Chutney
1apple, seeded and cored and cut into small pieces
1 pint blueberries
1/4 cup orange juice or lemon juice
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Put everything in a pan over medium heat. Cook until fruit is soft and liquids have almost evaporated. You will have a very thick fruit with a thick sticky sauce. If you serve over mixed greens like I did you can leave some of the liquid and drizzle over the greens like a salad dressing.

Pork Tenderloin
1 pork tenderloin
olive oil, just enough to cove meat
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat a grill to medium.
Drizzle olive oil on tenderloin. Sprinkle salt and pepper on pork tenderloin. These are the pork tenderloins that come 2 to a pack and are long and skinny. I have mentioned these before and someone always confuses them with a pork loin which is much larger like a roast. Place tenderloin on grill and close the lid. Cook for 8 minutes. Flip the tenderloin over close the lid and cook for 6 minutes. Turn grill off and leave tenderloin on the grill for 6 minutes with lid closed. This will give you slightly pink and very juicy tenderloin. You may have to adjust the cook time a little based on your grill.

I served this on a bed of mixed greens with a few pecans thrown on top of the greens. Then I sliced the tenderloin at an angle to give me long skinny slices. Then topped the pork slices with chutney.

Chop Suey

My family has made chop suey for years, in fact it was my parents traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Perhaps it was my dad's tribute to Christmas Story and how they go out for Chinese food when the next door neighbor's dogs eat their turkey. But I doubt it, more than likely it was because you can make a huge pot of chop suey for very little cost.

I took my family recipe added more vegetables and cut a lot of sodium out of the recipe. In fact I took the recipe down from 1 bottle to 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Changed the meat from a pork roast to a pork tenderloin.

Chop Suey doesn't photograph well because the soy sauce turns everything a washed out brown color, so sorry about the photos. Out of curiosity can you notice anything different about the photos?

Chop Suey
1 tbs canola oil
1 pork tenderloin, sliced in to medallions and each medallion cut into 1/4
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely diced
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
4 oz white mushrooms,  cut into quarters
1 can bamboo shoots, drained and rinsed
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed
1 can bean sprouts, drained and rinsed
chicken stock, enough to cover meat and veggies by 1/2 inch
1 tbs Soy Sauce

In a large pot heat the oil over medium heat. When oil is hot add the onion, celery, pepper and mushrooms. Cook until onions start to soften and become translucent. Add the pork and brown it. Add the remaining ingredients. Cook until meat and veggies are cooked through. About 1/2 hour. Serve over rice.

Tantalizing Tower of Taste

This dish has sweet and heat and a tower of potato and meat. Chinese 5 spice, chipotle powder, maple syrup, pork and sweet potatoes all combined.

5 Spice Pork with Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

For the potatoes:
2 tsp canola oil
1 tsp chipotle powder
1 sweet potato, cut into coins about 1/8" thick Mine weighed about 3/4 lb

For Pork Tenderloin:
1 tsp canola oil
2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice powder
1 pork tenderloin (1 tenderloin from a package of 2) cut into 1/2" coins

For the Sauce:
1 tbs of Maple Syrup
1 tsp of chicken stock
5 spice powder or chipotle powder, depending on whether you want a spicy or sweet sauce Add the amount to your liking

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl place potatoes, oil and chipotle powder toss until well coated. Then spread potatoes on a cookie sheet and place in oven, It should take about 45 minutes for them to get firm and brown on the edges. They will crisp up a little after they are removed from oven.

Place pork coins in bowl with oil and 5 Spice powder, toss until evenly coated. Place them in a saute pan and cook for about 3 minutes per side or until they reach reach the doneness you like.

While pork is cooking place maple syrup and broth in pan with chipotle or 5 Spice powder and simmer until sauce has reduced.

To assemble lay down a sweet potato chip then a pork coin and drizzle with sauce. Keep doing this until you reach your desired height.

I made brown rice and added chopped mushrooms and herbs to surround the base of the Tantalizing Tower of Taste.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

I remember talking to a guy in an Italian cooking class who told me his mom used to make tenderloin stuffed with prosciutto and parmesan cheese. I decided to try and recreate this dish, only making it a little healthier. I switched to pork tenderloin and cut the amount of parmesan in 1/2. I should have left the cheese with the original amount as 1/4 cup for pound tenderloin was not enough, in fact it seemed to disappear completely. When it was time to add the prosciutto, I was out, so I substituted thin slices of ham. Pork Tenderloins usually come 2 to a package, I just used one of these as it was enough for my wife and I. I served roasted veggies with this so I tossed potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onion and garlic cloves with salt, pepper and olive oil and spread out on the bottom of the roasting pan.

Roast Pork Tenderloin

1 pork tenderloin, around 1 pound, butterflied so it opens flat

1/2 cup o parmesan cheese, grated

2-3 slices of prosciutto, to cover the butterflied pork tenderloin

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs Italian dried herb mixture (if you don't have mix basil, oregano, marjoram, hot pepper flakes)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Take the butterflied tenderloin and lay the pieces of prosciutto on it. Then cover the prosciutto with the grated parmesan cheese. Roll this up tightly, I didn't tie this but you could. Rub the olive oil over the tenderloin and then cover with the dried herbs. I laid the the tenderloin on top of the vegetables I was roasting. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and put it in the oven. Uncover the pan after 20 minutes. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes until tenderloin is at desired doneness.