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Citrusy Tex-Mex Pork Tenderloin

Citrusy Tex-Mex Pork Tenderloin

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with Spiced Veggie Jumble & Lime Crema

Yield: 2

Pork tenderloin seasoned with Southwest Spice Blend, seared, then roasted to perfection beside a colorful array of sweet potatoes, green bell pepper, and red onion. The pork is topped with a citrusy Tex-Mex sauce made with fresh orange and lime juice, and a drizzle of tangy lime crema.
Prep: 10 Cook: 35

  • 1sweet potato
  • 1lime
  • 3TBS sour cream
  • 1red onion
  • 1green bell pepper
  • 1orange
  • 1TBS southwest spice blend
  • 10oz pork tenderloin
  • 1oz Tex-Mex paste
  • salt & pepper
  • 2tsp cooking oil
  • 1TBS butter

Prep:

Adjust racks to top and middle positions and preheat oven to 425°F. Wash and dry produce.

Dice sweet potato into ½-inch pieces. Halve, peel, and slice onion into ½-inch thick wedges. Halve, core, and thinly slice bell pepper into strips. Zest and quarter lime. Halve orange.

Roast veggies:

Toss sweet potato, onion, and bell pepper on a baking sheet with a drizzle of oil, half the Southwest Spice Blend (you’ll use the rest in the next step), and a big pinch of salt and pepper.

Roast on top rack until browned and tender, 20-25 minutes.

Cook pork:

Meanwhile, pat pork dry with paper towels, season all over with remaining Southwest Spice Blend, salt, and pepper.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add pork and sear, turning occasionally, until browned all over, 4- to 8-minutes. Turn off heat, transfer pork to a second baking sheet. Wipe out pan.

Roast pork on middle rack until cooked through, 12-15 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board.

Make crema:

While pork and veggies roast, in a small bowl, combine sour cream, a squeeze of lime juice, and a pinch of lime zest.

Add water 1 tsp at a time until mixture reaches a drizzling consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Make Tex-Mex sauce:

About 5 minutes before pork and veggies are done, heat pan used for pork over medium-high heat. Stir in half the Tex-Mex paste, juice from orange halves, and a squeeze of lime juice. Bring to a simmer and cook until sauce has thickened, 1- to 2-minutes.

Remove pan from heat, stir in 1 TBS butter until melted and combined.

Finish & serve:

Slice pork crosswise.

Divide pork and veggie jumble between plates. Spoon Tex-Mex sauce over pork. Drizzle crema over everything and serve with any remaining lime wedges on the side.

Southwest Spice Blend

4          parts garlic powder        1 TBS
2          parts cumin                     1½ tsp
2          parts chili powder           1½ tsp

Hunan Beef

Hunan Beef

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Yield: 4 Servings
Scott Nowell

I am trying to duplicate the great Hunan Beef at Peking Garden in Carlsbad, CA (closed in 2017) which they describe as: Tender sliced beef sauteed with bell pepper, onion, mushroom in spicy Hunan sauce. I thought it also had zucchini.

Beef:

  • 1lb flank steak

Tenderize: (optional)

  • ¼tsp baking soda
  • 3TBS water

Marinade:

  • 1egg white
  • 1pinch white pepper
  • ¼tsp salt
  • 1-2½TBS of corn starch
  • 1TBS of oil

For the vegetables:

  • 1small green bell pepper
  • 1small red bell pepper
  • 1zucchini sliced ½-inch thick and quartered, optional
  • 8oz mushrooms, quartered
  • 8whole dried chili peppers
  • ½tsp granulated sugar
  • 2TBS hot water
  • ½tsp Chinese black vinegar

Sauce

  • 2tsp chili bean paste, (spicy Doubanjiang)
  • ½cup chicken broth
  • 1½TBS soy sauce
  • 2TBS oyster sauce
  • 2tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1tsp sugar, optional
  • 2tsp cornstarch

Beef:

Note: Tenderize the beef with a Jaccard before slicing. (optional)

Slice the beef with the blade tilted 45 degrees to get a thin cut through the grain.

Tenderize: (optional)

Mix 1/4 tsp baking soda and 3TBS water in a small bowl. Add beef and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Marinate:

In a bowl, add the beef, egg white, white pepper, salt, Mix well. Add 1 to 2 TBS of corn starch and mix well. Add 1 TBS of oil and mix again. Set aside for 15 to 30 minutes.

Premix sauce:

Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small container and set aside.

 Prep:

Cut the bell peppers into ¾-inch dice. Cut the zucchini length wise to quarter, then slice into ½-inch thick pieces. Quarter the mushrooms.

Stir fry:

Heat a wok and add a tablespoon of oil until just smoking. Add beef and stir fry until browned. Remove to bowl.

Add more oil to the wok, then add the bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms and dried chilies. Stir fry for a minute then add sugar, water and black vinegar. Stir fry until tender crisp. Remove to the bowl with beef.

Sauce:

Mix the sauce a little and then pour into the wok. Cook until thickened and return beef and vegetables to wok and mix to coat. Stir fry to heat through.

Serve.

Nowell Spaghetti Sauce

Nowell Spaghetti Sauce

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Yield: 4-6 servings
Loosely based on a recipe in the Seven Seas Nantucket Cookbook.

This is a moving target recipe if there ever was one. This is a quick cooking sauce and does not need long simmering.  Once the sauce is mixed and simmering, the sauce will be done in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta.

Meat:

  • 4-6Italian sausages, sweet, mild, hot or combination (optional)
  • 1lb ground beef
  • 8oz ground pork or ground sausage (optional)

Veg:

  • 2TBS Olive oil
  • 1small or medium onion chopped fine
  • 1green bell pepper, small dice (optional)
  • 2cloves garlic minced
  • 1green bell pepper, diced
  • 8oz mushrooms, sliced or quartered (optional)

For sauce:

  • 114-oz can tomato sauce
  • 114-oz can diced tomatoes
  • 16-oz can tomato paste (optional)
  • 16-oz can water (paste can) (optional)

Seasonings:

  • 1tsp basil
  • 1tsp oregano
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1tsp sugar
  • ¼ to ½tsp fresh ground black pepper


For sausage: If adding the optional sausage, place them in a sauté pan over medium high heat with a cup of water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to simmer. Turn over after 6 minutes, cover and cook for another 6 minutes. Pour water into a glass measuring cup. Return to stove, and sauté until browned on all sides 4-8 minutes. Set aside.

For mushrooms: If adding the optional mushrooms, place them and a TBS of olive oil to the sauté pan over medium heat. Cook for 4-8 minutes, until water evaporates and mushrooms brown. Set aside.

Sweat vegetables: In a 2-qt sauce pan, heat 1 TBS olive oil and sweat (see Terms) onion and optional green pepper over medium heat for 5 to 8 minutes until soft and translucent but not browned. Add garlic, sauté 30 seconds more. Remove to a small bowl.

For ground beef: Carefully remove any left over garlic, otherwise it will burn and get bitter. Turn heat up to medium-high. Add ground beef and brown until mostly cooked through. Reduce heat to medium.

For sauce: Return onion and garlic to pan. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and optional paste. Fill paste can with tap or sausage water and add. Add all seasonings and 1 TBS olive oil. Stir carefully. If using, add sausage to pan. Cover, bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and simmer while pasta cooks.

Options:

Go meatless with no beef or sausage. Ha ha ha.
Replace onion with 1 TBS Minced onion flakes.
Replace garlic with ½ tsp garlic powder (only if desperate).
Adjust seasonings. I always uses a heaping tsp of basil and oregano based on an eye-ball guess.