Pork Tenderloin Agrodolce

I think Agrodolce sauce might be the new chimichurri of 2010. I’ve seen this sauce three times in three separate magazines and when I saw Cooking Light had a Pork Tenderloin Agrodolce I was like, “FINE I WILL TRY IT.” Well, good for us that I gave in because this rocked.

Pork Tenderloin Agrodolce (Photo by Johnny Valiant)

I did some light digging and Agrodolce is a traditional sour and sweet (agro and dolce) Italian sauce. This one uses the salty bite of green olives, mixed with balsamic vinegar, dried sweet cherries, thyme, chicken broth, garlic, and one of my all-time favorites, the sweet-tasting cippolini onion.

Wow lambs, wow. This recipe was easy – besides the waiting time because your house smells insane while the sauce cooks – and very elegant when served. This recipe is in their holiday cookbook section and I could see this being a super hit and something quite different to bring to the table.

I served with these Italian Smashed Potatoes from Every Day with Rachael Ray and voila! an Italian-inspired meal that had us saying “molto buona!”

Are you mocking me?

Imagine this…a “mock” hollandaise sauce from the one, the only Cooking Light. Now you know that I know that Cooking Light can make some seriously good sauces that skimp on fat, calories, and artery clogging ingredients, but even I was a little hesitant that this would turn out tasting like the real thing. David loves crab and he loves eggs Benedict with creamy hollandaise sauce so when I saw this Crab Eggs Benedict with said mock hollandaise sauce, I thought “meh, sure, we’ll see Cooking Light, we. will. see.”

And yes, Cooking Light definitely proved to me (once again) that they can bring their A-game while saving me the extra poundage on my hips. The hollandaise sauce with its mix of canola mayonnaise, reduced-fat buttermilk, Dijon mustard and lemon juice/rind was so simple to put together and was YUMMY. Combined with my favorite – poached eggs, sprouted-grain English muffins, chives and of course fresh lump crabmeat it was an absolutely perfect Sunday morning breakfast. I served with side salad of spinach and grapefruit…easy breezy!  I would definitely try this if you’ve got someone in your house who adores crab as much as we do, it’s an excellent spin on traditional eggs Benedict.

Our finished Crab Eggs Benedict (photo: ME! via Hypstamatic app for the iPhone)

Ratatouille and Goat Cheese Subs with a Side of ACL

I earmarked these subs a while ago in the September issue of Food & Wine because I adore Ratatouille (sans eggplant) and I love the idea of this timeless dish combined with tangy goat cheese all on toasty bread. More on the recipe’s creator Chef Matt Neal in Food & Wine:

Matt Neal had never made ratatouille before he opened Neal’s Deli. He took the recipe from his father, the legendary Southern chef Bill Neal, and used it as the basis for his own version. Neal cooks the key ingredients—eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and onion—separately. “That way, I can make sure each vegetable cooks exactly how I want it; plus they won’t steam in a big group all together,” he says. “Customers request this sandwich all summer long, but we wait until the ingredients are available at the farmers’ market before we serve it.”

Ratatouille and Goat Cheese Subs (Photo: John Kernick)

I omitted the eggplant because we both think it’s disgusting – yes disgusting and it’s quite nice to have someone share that same disgust with you since so many people love eggplant. Otherwise, I followed the recipe’s instructions to the letter and it went by much, much quicker than I thought given you have to cook all of the vegetables individually.

I really can’t say much more about these except that they were absolutely delicious, full of flavor and as a bonus perfect for a meatless Monday meal. After ACL Festival weekend, this was a great transition dish to move back into a healthy diet.

As a sidenote, ACL? Wow. I had an absolute BLAST. While Muse was mind-blowingly good my choice for best show was definitely Deadmau5. Lambs, he was a super poodle, put on a fantastic show and the crowd was waaaaay into it. I highly recommend checking him out if you haven’t yet. Oh, and The National, one of my all-time favorites, was exactly how I thought they would be…absolutely incredible. Thank goodness I finally got to see them live!