Friday, February 11, 2011

New recipe/meal you'll like!

This one is relatively easy, but tasty none the less!  Make it for your special someone.

Breaded Pork Tenderloins with Gnocchi and White Wine Shallot Cream Sauce
You'll need:
- One pork tenderloin
     - Get one fresh from the butcher's meat case.  Avoid Hormel's "Always Tender" and read the package labels on other brands; avoid the injection solutions.  Go with "natural" pork, it's MUCH better!
- Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (Progresso works well)
- 1-2 eggs, beaten
- One large shallot (use one large bulb for every two people)
- Butter as needed
- Cooking oil (you'll want about 1/4" in the skillet)
- A little flour
- White Wine for cooking (have up to a cup on hand)
- Heavy cream
- Salt/pepper/desired seasonings
- One package gnocchi

Directions for pork:
- Heat oil in skillet (cast iron is preferred) over medium heat (I like canola, just don't use olive oil, it sucks for frying like this)
- Cut tenderloin into medallions, butterfly them and pound flat and thin with a meat mallet
- Bathe in beaten eggs, coat thoroughly
- Press in bread crumbs until well coated - surface should basically be dry to the touch
- Test the oil with a bit of bread crumb to make sure it's hot enough
- Put in oil, cooking until the under surface is a yummy looking golden brown
- Turn once during cooking, browning the other side (do NOT crowd the skillet with cutlets, cook a couple at a time, no more!)
- Place on paper towel to drain (you may heat the oven to "warm" or not over 200 degrees, to place tenderloin cutlets in to keep them warm while draining and while you cook the rest of them; if the oven is too hot, you'll dry them out!)

Sauce:
- Finely chop shallot, season with salt and pepper if desired, and fry in butter over medium heat
     - Melt enough butter to cover the bottom of a small saucepan
- When shallots are just starting to brown, add a little flour and stir well with a wire wisk
- When flour turns brown, de-glaze with some white wine, maybe a couple inches off the bottom of the pan
- Continue to wisk, blending the flour into the wine, and cook the wine down to about half it's original volume
-Keep wisking, and slowly add the heavy cream, turning the heat down to avoid boiling the cream
- The sauce should be thick enough to cover the tines of a fork when lowered into it.  It will smell so good your mouth will begin to water!

Follow the directions on the gnocchi package to cook them.  It should take no longer than five minutes in boiling water.

Serve everything hot on the plate at the same time, drizzle sauce over pork (it should be very crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, delicious!) and gnocchi and enjoy!

This meal is fun to cook with others, due to its ease.  It can be prepared in a short amount of time.
Serve with a fresh green salad.  This meal is very filling, I don't recommend serving with bread.  Just the meat, gnocchi, and salad are fine.

Pair with a lager or white, dry wine.

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