Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Tonight's entry is a joint effort by me and my boyfriend, Eric.  I've never cooked pork before, let alone a stuffed pork tenderloin so he was incredibly helpful in all of this.  Basically this is a lean pork tenderloin butterflied and pounded until it's a rectangular, flat-ish piece of meat.  After that, a goat cheese/cranberry/walnut/chestnut stuffing mix is spread across the meat and the tenderloin is tightly rolled back up, tied with twine, and cooked.  It's then sliced and served with mashed sweet potatoes and I have to say it came out pretty good.  Pork is one of those meats that combines really well with sweet fruit flavors so the cranberry adds a really nice contrast.  The creamy goat cheese, savory bread stuffing, and sweet dried cranberries sort of melt into the pork and the chestnuts and walnuts take on the flavor of the meat.  I think this would make a great autumn dish, maybe with an apple chutney and possiblyyyy a nice sangria :)

Ingredients (serves about 8):

• 1.5 - 2 lb. lean pork tenderloin
• box of bread stuffing (I used Stovetop's Savory Herb stuffing) - 3 cups needed
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 cup roasted and peeled chestnuts
• 6 oz. soft goat cheese
• 4 medium sized sweet potatoes (or red yams)
• 4 tbs butter (I used Smart Balance)
• 4 tbs fat free sour cream
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil
• twine

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F and cook the stuffing according to the directions on the box.
2. In a large bowl, combine the stuffing, cranberries, walnuts, chestnuts, goat cheese, and garlic and mix well.
3. On a large cutting board, butterfly the tenderloin and pound until somewhat flat.
4. Rub the surface of the pork with olive oil and salt and pepper and flip so the spiced surface is now face down.
5. Spread the mix evenly over the exposed meat surface and leave a 1/2 inch border along the sides.  You can pile on the stuffing mix as much as you want, but there's a good possibility (based on the weight and how flat you pounded the meat out) that you won't use all of it.    
6. Tightly roll the tenderloin back up and tie off the ends and a couple of segments in the middle with twine.  You're looking to keep the roll in place when you're cooking the meat as well as keep the goat cheese from oozing out.
7. Put some olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Once heated up, put the tenderloin in and sear on both sides until it turns a light brown.
8. From there, transfer the tenderloin to the oven and cook for about 45 minutes - 1 hour.  Basically, you want the internal temperature to be at least 165*F.  
9. While the pork is cooking, peel the sweet potatoes and cube them.
10. Bring a large pot of water to boil and put the sweet potatoes in.  After 5-10 minutes, change the water and bring to a boil again.  I suppose this isn't really mandatory, I just like getting rid of the starchy water.
11.  Boil the potatoes until they're fork tender and drain.
12. Add the butter, sour cream, and mash until smooth. 
13. Once removed from the oven, allow to sit for a couple of minutes and then slice and serve with the mashed sweet potatoes.

 Approximate Nutritional Info per Serving:

• Calories: 339
• Carbohydrates: 29g
• Fat: 11g
• Protein: 27g

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

 

Yesterday I got back from a trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic which was absolutely amaaaazing to say the least.  Perfect weather, white sand, turquoise water, lots of snorkeling, and killer fresh fish and fruit.  I can't rave about this vacation enough. 

But alas, all good things must come to an end and unfortunately that meant suffering about a 70* temperature drop upon arriving back in the frozen wasteland of Boston.  My body has officially gone into freakout survival mode and I'm desperately avoiding the outdoors at all cost.  My way of handling this?  Make some good comfort food, curl up with a book and my dog (I missed my sidekick) and pretend I don't have about 18 hundred loads of sandy laundry to do. 

This corn chowder is a bit different because it mixes yams and butternut squash (one of my staples) with regular yukon gold potatoes.  It's a heavy soup but since its thickened by pureeing about half of the potatoes and squash instead of adding heavy cream, its considerably healthier than a lot of other chowders.  If you have picky kids that get bent out of shape when they see veggies in their food, just puree the whole thing instead of half and add the corn after.  Voila!  No more visible veggies!  Serve this with a nice chunk of crusty bread and you're good to go!


Ingredients (4 to 6 servings - makes about 3 quarts):

• 1 onion
• 1 bell pepper (preferably red)
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 sweet potato/yam
• 2 yukon gold potatoes
• about 5oz. butternut squash
• 7 or 8 baby carrots
• 17.5 oz corn (2 standard size cans)
• 2 cups chicken broth (or maybe vegetable broth if you're looking to go vegetarian)
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 tbs sugar
• salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste
• chopped scallions to garnish

Recipe:

1. Add a little olive oil to a large pot over medium heat and allow to heat up.
2. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onions are somewhat browned and tender.
3. Add the peppers and carrots and sautee until the peppers are tender (~5 minutes).
4. Slowly stir in the chicken broth, water, potatoes, yams, and butternut squash and kick the heat up a bit.  Allow to simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
5. Lower the heat and remove about half (1.5 quarts) and puree in a blender until smooth.  Pour back into the pot and mix in the corn.
6. Add the half and half and the sugar and stir to equalize the temperature.
7. Taste test and add salt and pepper to your liking.

Approximate Nutritional Info per Serving (4):

• Calories: 270
• Fat: 7g
• Protein: 8g