memoirs of a palate

THE OTHER WHITE MEAT




I need to start by saying last night's meal was unfortunate for one big reason - hormel meat. I'm sure you're saying, "Well of course it was." If I were you and I was reading this, that's what I would say. But when we got to the store and the only thing available was the pre-marinated pork tenderloin, I tuned out my internal warning system and went ahead with the purchase defiantly. Stupid. Because the meal was pretty sound ... we just had one inferior ingredient.

Anyway, for our little Saturday evening dinner, we had pork tenderloin two ways. First take:
- pork tenderloin
- sautéed onions
- sautéed serrano pepper
- chipotle paste
- sour cream
- olive oil
- balsamic reduction

And the second try featured:
- pork tenderloin
- sautéed spinach
- garlic
- shallots
- pine nuts
- gorgonzola
- sour cream
- olive oil
- salt

Other than the previously mentioned mediocre pork, both dishes came out very well. The chipotle cream version was a bit too spicy and not quite as thick as I would have liked. A little longer on the stove would have helped ... and a teaspoon of the chipotle paste would have been fine.

The second option didn't seem to have any problems. The gorgonzola cream was used minimally (huge, because any type of creamy sauce typically freaks me out). The shallots and garlic in the spinach were strong enough to compete with the cream and each bite had lots of great flavor.

So it was a good meal ... that could have been great if we had better pork! With the world as my witness, I shall never make the same mistake again.