The planned dinner tonight was a pork tenderloin. Planned, as in I took a pork tenderloin out of the freezer. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but then, that’s not unusual. I tend to kinda wing things, ya know?!?
After bacon, the tenderloin is pretty much the workhorse of the pig family. They’re totally versatile – you can do absolutely anything to them. It’s why I don’t worry about what I’m going to do – almost anything works and I have two full canisters of propane. If all else fails, grill it!
I came walking in after an early day at work, and Victor smiled and opened the ‘fridge. Sitting on a plate was that pork tenderloin – cut, pounded, stuffed, rolled, and tied – with a basting of the French dressing I made the other night! Be still my beating heart!
Victor made a stuffing of:
- pancetta
- bread
- onion
- carrots
- mushrooms
- garlic
- raisins
- green onion
- grated cheese
- salt & pepper
and then spread that on the pounded tenderloin. Atop that, he added:
- roasted long hot peppers
- shredded asiago, pepatto, and provolone cheeses.
He rolled it and tied it and basted it with the French dressing. I baked it off in a 400°F oven, basting it every 15 minutes with more dressing.
Along side the tenderloin were roasted red potatoes with parmesan cheese, garlic, and French herbs. Roasted in the same oven for about 35 minutes.
Dinner was perfect – and the best part was all I had to do was cut up a couple of potatoes and make Nonna baked fish. An easy meal, indeed!
And really really good.