Friday, April 25, 2008

pork tenderloin with honey-mustard sauce and wilted garlic spinach

i had this tenderloin and didn't have anything yummy to stuff it with, so i just seared it made a mustard pan sauce. then i looked for some kind of roughage in the fridge and found only a bag of baby spinach. ta-da! dinner is complete.

to sear: heat heavy straight-sided pan (that has a lid) on medium-low heat for 5 minutes. turn heat to high one minute before putting in the meat and turn on the fan. coat the meat with vegetable oil NOT olive oil. (pouring it in the pan will cause excess smoke and scorching) and place in the pan, reduce heat to medium-high. don't try to move it, wait at least two minutes before turning, until it has a nice brown crust on it. repeat on all sides. reduce heat to med-low and put the lid on. let it cook for 20-25 minutes, until the internal temp is 160 degrees. remove from the pan and cover with foil. if the bottom of the pan looks black and burned, clean it out a bit before making the pan sauce.

honey-mustard pan sauce:
from bobby flay

2 shallots or 1 small onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to season

heat 1 tablespoon oil in the pan and add the shallots, cook until soft, 2 to 3 minutes. add the stock and lemon juice and cook, stirring and scraping up the bits on the bottom of the pan, until reduced to 1 cup. whisk in the mustard and honey and cook for 2 minutes. add the parsley and season with salt and pepper. (i only had spicy dijon mustard and it was so tasty with it - henry even liked it)

wilted spinach with garlic:
1 bag baby spinach
1 or 2 cloves garlic - thinly sliced
1 - 2 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup water

heat the oil in a large pan (that has a lid - you can reuse the sauce pan after pouring out the liquid) and add garlic. fry just until it begins to brown. add the water and spinach, cover with the lid. let it steam about 3 minutes then remove the lid to let any excess water evaporate and the oil coats the greens and they look shiny. season with salt and pepper.


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