It's been quite awhile since I last participated in an Is My Blog Burning (IMBB) event but the intrigue of creating a meal from scratch in 30 minutes really appealed to my crazy lifestyle these days.
Tuesday through Thursday I teach a kids cooking class until 6:30. By the time my class is cleaned, everything put away and I get home it is about 7:30.
I will admit to opting for the truly banal some nights, but most weeks I try to plan ahead for the week on Sunday. I will thaw things out of the freezer, keep a well stocked pantry and write down a few ideas for things I can make on short notice. First it keeps the spending down by not buying take-out or stopping at Whole Foods for the quick but expensive piece of $17.00 per pound tuna steak and second it keeps me looking for new dishes to create.
Last weekend husband and I had thawed out the chest freezer in the garage. When everything was placed back in I realised that we were out of pork tenderloin. I consider that a crime in this house as it is one of the quickest and most adaptable cuts of meat to cook. I had to stop in to Costco to pick some items for a catering event and I picked up one of their packages of tenderloins. These are not marinated, all natural, non injected tenderloins. The cryo package you see above contains 2 tenderloins. We only use one and will freeze the other. At Costco they come 2 packs of two tenderloins each. My package was $15.14, that works out to $3.75 per meal. Not too shabby. The bundle of asparagus above was also a Costco grab. I think it was under $5.00 and we used half of it for dinner and the other half will get used up tonight.
Shall we begin?
A package of baby red potatoes was washed, dumped in a pan and water was added.
Some salt was added to the water and I popped a lid on, slightly ajar. It hit the front right burner and went on. In a small pan I melted butter and using scissors I snipped in a bunch of fresh chives. This went on burner 2.
The grill was warmed up and the oven turned on to 350 with the convection fan on. I snapped the asparagus at their natural point and discarded the woody stems.
They then went on a sheet pan. I put a bit of extra virgin oil on the bottom, tossed on the asparagus, drizzled on a bit more oil. Smeared them around the pan, lined them up and sprinkled them with Fleur de Sel salt and cracked black pepper.
The pork was cleaned up of any prevalent silver skin and fat.
I then butterflied it so that it would cook quicker and more evenly as one end always tapers to a thin point.
Then in another small pan I tossed in a few tablespoons of hot red pepper jelly and a few glugs of molasses with a teaspoon of butter. I heated this until everything melted nicely. mmm Spicy and sweet a favourite combo of mine.
I brushed this on one side of the pork and then sprinkled on a spice mix that I make up and always have a jar of it on-hand in my cupboard. It's a mix of onion and garlic powder, thyme, oregano, cayenne, black pepper, salt and paprika.
Once the grill was ready and the oven heated, the asparagus went in to the oven and the pork went on the grill. I brushed the other side of the pork with the pepper molasses jelly and sprinkled on more of the spice mix.
When the potatoes were finished I drained them, tossed them back in the pan and dumped on the chive butter, the cover went back on and these would hold until we were ready to eat. Any potatoes we don't eat tonight will go in the fridge with he leftover chive butter. Another night I will cut them and saute them until they are brown with the rest of the chive butter.
After about 7 to 8 minutes I opened the oven and shook the asparagus spears around. Back in to the oven they went. The pork was flipped and more of the pepper jelly glaze was put on the other side. 5 - 7 minutes later I pulled out the nicely roasted asparagus, I drizzled on a bit more extra virgin and squeezed on a half of a lemon.
Husband set the table and the plates were warmed. Hot plates/Hot Food:Cold Plates/Cold Food.
After about 15 - 17 minutes total cooking time the pork was cooked to 135 to 140 degrees internal temp. I removed it to the cutting board to rest. After everything else was plated the pork had rested and I carved it on a slight angle into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices.
I drizzled a bit more of the pepper molasses jelly on the pork slices and voila(!) dinner in 30 minutes.
Good Food Fast!!
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