Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Broadening My Horizons

I decided to step outside of my comfort zone a little bit for dinner yesterday. I'm all for trying new things and experiencing new flavors. So while walking through the produce section at the grocery store the other day, I decided to buy some asparagus and incorporate it into a meal. So when I decided to prepare some roasted pork tenderloin (thanks to being inspired by the Food Network over the weekend) and mashed potatoes, I knew that the asparagus would be a perfect compliment! So, here's how it turned out. =)


Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus

I'm not a huge fan of pork roast, so I've never thought about cooking roasted pork. But thanks to watching the Food Network most of the day on Saturday, I was inspired by this quick and easy approach to roasting pork tenderloin.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin (with Apple Cider Reduction)

Ingredients
1 lb. pork tenderloin (cut in half crosswise)
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
1 and 1/2 cup apple cider
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions
1. Heat oven to 500 degrees F and arrange rack in the upper third.
2. Pat pork tenderloins dry with paper towels, brush with oil, and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
4. Add 2 pieces of pork tenderloin and cook until brown on all sides, turning occasionally, about 4 minutes.
5. Place pork on baking sheet and place in oven and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the middle of the tenderloin registers 145 to 150 degrees F, about 15 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, place pan over high heat, add cider and vinegar and stir, scraping up any browned bits. Cook until mixture is reduced by 2/3, about 8 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to medium, stir in maple syrup and remove from heat until pork is cooked.
8. When pork is ready, remove to a cutting board to rest about 5 minutes.
9. Warm sauce over medium-high heat, add pork and any accumulated juices and spoon sauce over meat to completely coat. When pork is warm, return pork to cutting board and slice thinly. Serve with pan sauce spooned over.

Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients
1 bunch of asparagus spears
1 tbsp. EVOO
Salt and pepper

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F and arrange rack in the upper third.
2. Trim the bottom 2 inches of the asparagus spears and arrange on a baking sheet.
3. Drizzle with EVOO and season with salt and pepper.
4. Toss the spears with your hand to fully coat them with the EVOO and salt and pepper.
5. Cook asparagus until tender, but not overly cooked (about 10-12 minutes).

2 comments:

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

Yummmmm.... that looks so fancy.

Courtney @ I CAN DO THIS said...

Wow Dolli! That looks amazing!