Thursday, September 27, 2007

You gotta have a gimmick
--Chipotle Pork Medallions


Chipotle Pork Medallions
The Spaghetti Sauce Gourmet Copyright 2006

1 pork tenderloin (about 1 ½ pounds)
1 tablespoon ground chipotle chile
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup chicken broth
1 ½ cups refrigerated or jarred tomato sauce with garlic and onion

Slice the pork crosswise into ¼-inch thick medallions. Dust all over with the chipotle chile.

Heat the oil in a large over medium-heat. Add the pork (in batches, if necessary) and cook, turning once, until the pork is no longer pink, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the pork to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm.

Add the broth to the pan and boil, scraping the pan bottom. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the sauce and any pork juices from the platter. Simmer for 5 minutes. Serve over the pork.
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This is one of those cookbooks with a gimmick. Every recipe uses some sort of jarred spaghetti sauce, alfredo sauce, pesto sauce, and cheese sauce. From scratch recipes are also given as alternative to the jarred sauces.

Even the cover is a gimmick - it was designed to look like a real jar of sauce (sort of) with a plastic area filled with a goo that looks like spaghetti sauce. Only trouble was, the goo leaked or dried up which is probably why I found this book in Ollie's Bargain Outlet.

I have to say, that for a book with a gimmick, there are some good looking recipes in this book. They're well presented with plenty of photos. Other shortcuts are offered but are easily bypassed if you desire (recipes call for prechopped onion, jarred garlic, etc).

This recipe appealed to me because I had a jar of ground chipotle chile that I was itching to use and most recipes call for canned chipotle. This was pretty good but the seasoning from the jarred sauce was a bit overpowering. This might have been better with a plain tomato sauce or seasoned tomato sauce (canned), not a jarred pasta sauce. I ended up adding quite a bit of the chipotle powder to increase the smokiness so it was quite hot yet strangely addictive. That's the draw of chipotle though, isn't it?

The sauce worked okay with the pork but I sort of felt like it wasn't the best match for the sauce. I might have preferred this with chicken.

Blast From The Past: Maple Walnut Cupcakes from September 2006. I meant to post those as the Blast From The Past on the first day of fall but I forgot.

Question of the Day: Do you like spicy hot foods?

7 comments:

ThursdayNext said...

Yes, I do...but it depends on the spice. I like spices like Harissa which are overall in the mouth - some spices just hit one spot and I dont love that. :)

Anonymous said...

Only if it's mildly hot. (I'm kind of a sissy in that regard.)

Jan

Annie said...

I do a little, but I can't eat a lot of it because of my acid reflux. :(

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

That looks delicious and very comforting! I love spicy food, but I hate it if it's too hot and you can't taste what you are eating...

. . . said...

i'm trying to learn to like more spicy foods. but i have just never understood why eating should ever be painful.
ha ha

Carla said...

I love going down the book aisles in Ollie's, but I have to be careful I don't go crazy lol

I love spicy food!! Even if my eyes are watering and my mouth is on fire, I keep on eating.

Karen said...

I love spicy food, but I cannot stomach curry. I have tried several different kinds of curry and none of them sit well with me. And it is sad too because I love India food in general.

On a side note, I wish I could send my boyfriend to your house for dinner every night. He would be on cloud nine because the man loves pork...and you seem to cook pork a lot. Growing up we would have pork chops or a stuffed pork roast once every 2 months or so, so it just has never been something I think of making frequently. Since reading your blog, I have gotten some good ideas though. Thanks.