Perhaps because our moms were always cooking for families of six or more, neither my spouse nor I ever recall having pork tenderloin at home. Or in a restaurant other than as the ubiquitous midwestern breaded and fried huge sandwich filling.
Joy of Cooking had a great simple, non-breaded recipe for the 1-pound whole tenderloin that was a grocery special this week. Sliced lengthwise, almost through, flattened and tenderized/pounded with a meat mallet (nice for stress relief). Then spread with a mixture of equal parts diced apple and diced dried apricots that were boiled briefly in a bit of water to soften and seasoned with a dash of cinnamon sugar. Meat rolled, jellyroll style, wooden skewers to close edges, seasoned with salt & pepper, sprayed with veggie oil and baked in a greased roaster for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Served with baked sweet potato and steamed cauliflower with a cheese & mushroom sauce.
Quick and just right for 2 with one serving leftover for lunch tomorrow.
Variations listed include a bread stuffing or a sweet potato/ apple stuffing.
What else is in your list of meals that are quick for 1 - 2 , especially meals that seem too much bother for a crowd?
I'm not sure I'd call any meal 'quick' if I have to beat the meat first. Sounds wonderful though, Midwest.
I actually cooked an amazing pork tenderloin tonight that was incredibly tender and tasted awesome. I was doing some recipe searches on-line and found one that had a whole lot of thumbs-up beside it and it was way easier than what you just described.
I took one pork tenderloin and put it in a crock pot with 3 crushed cloves of garlic, 1/2 cup of red wine, 1 cup of water and 1 package of dry onion soup mix, plus 3 teaspoons of soya sauce and some freshly ground pepper. Set the crock pot on high for 30 minutes, then turned it down to low and 4 hours later... viola!
The pork was tender and juicy, and the 'jus' in the pot was fabulous.
marinate the loin in whatever you prefer for 3-4 hpours then cook it on an outside gas or charcoal grill. easy and reliable for great pork
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