Three new recipes. One great. One good. And one ok.

So, since this blog is called "What's Cooking?" I figured I should share some food stuff every once in a while.

Last week I was really stressed. I was at a photo shoot for three days and Don has some "stuff" going on at the store that has my stomach in knots. So what do I do when all this is happening? I cook. It takes my mind off my troubles. It gets me focused on something other than all my worries - for a little while anyway. And we get to eat some good chow! (Hopefully.)

I was in the mood for salads that could be served as an entree. A one dish kind of meal. So, I opened this cookbook and started looking at all the pretty pictures. I picked out three totally different salads, made my shopping list, went to the store, and was set for the week. It really was as easy as that.

Recipe #1  is Pork with Mustard Lime Vinaigrette, served with a Napa Valley Merlot.

Now in hindsight, I don't really recommend trying to cook meals at home after you've been at a photo shoot all day and are EXHAUSTED. Perhaps frozen pizza or burritos from High Tech Burrito would have been a better choice. But oh no, I don't do anything the easy way. That's too sensible and normal.

Me? I walk in the house and in a complete flurry whip out dinner. And whip the kitchen into a fricken disaster zone. Which I have to clean up, because no one else wants to enter the danger zone.

Anyhoo, on to the first recipe. It was easy and pretty good. It's the "good" recipe that is in the title. The main meat is pork tenderloin, but it would work well with chicken or beef. If you like pork tenderloin you are in luck. Because you know how they always sell you two tenderloins in the package? We never eat two at one meal. So I always freeze the other. Well now you can grill both and SAVE the second one for this salad. It's genius my friend. Like two meals in one!

Pork With Mustard Lime Vinaigrette Recipe (Click photo to read recipe.)

The key to the salad dressing is this. Use really good olive oil. Not the kind you cook with. Something light and tasty. And the second thing is to incorporate the oil VERY, VERY slowly into the lime juice. I mean SLOWWWWWWWWLY. Like the smallest drops and drizzles. It will taste much, much better if the oil and lime juice can incorporate slowwwwly. TRUST me on this. I learned this at cooking school. (So I'm a pro now.) You do not want to make the chef wince. I saw this happen and it's NOT pretty.

I tossed the pork and dressing with mixed greens. It doesn't say that in the recipe. But it's a salad. Hellloooo?

So there you go. Oh, and bonus, it tastes great the next day as a light lunch. Woo hoo.

So remember earlier I mentioned there are two tenderloins in most packages? Here's what you do. Grill both. Two different seasonings. But you can handle it. And they both taste different. So it won't feel like you're having leftovers. Because you aren't!

Night #1 - Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Night #2 - Pork Tenderloin Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Here's the recipe for the first night. If any of you happen to have the FCA China Cookbook it's on page 188. If not, here you go.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin
1/4 cup Kentucky bourbon
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger, or powdered
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup oil

Mix all of this in a Ziplock. Add 1 or 2 tenderloins. Marinate all day, or overnight. Cook on hot grill 16 minutes. Baste and turn every 4 minutes. Take off grill. Let sit covered in foil 5 minutes. Slice in rounds. Serve with rice and a grilled veggie. The meat should be a teeny bit pink.


For the second tenderloin, smother it in Dijon mustard, salt and pepper and grill 16 minutes. Turning every 4 minutes. Refrigerate once cool for the next nights salad.

There you go. Let me know if you try it!