Week 10: NE Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts- Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

I had never heard of a pork tenderloin sandwich before yesterday, but appearently its a big midwestern favorite. In fact there was even a documentary made, In Search of the Famous Hoosier Breaded Tenderloin, where the filmmakers were on a mission to find the perfect one. It is a sandwich made of either tenderloin or pork loin that has been tenderized by a meat mallet, breaded using either cornmeal or crushed saltines and fried, and dressed as you would a burger- with ketchup, mayo, mustard, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, and/or onion.

We rarely eat fried food, so at first I wasn't sure I wanted to make this, but I couldn't find much else that I could make, and honestly, it just sounded good! And it was. I found lots of recipes but decided to go with one from allrecipes. I couldn't decided between using cornmeal or crackers, so I went with both. I also saw some dipped in egg rather than water, but I choose to stay with the water, and as this particular recipe called for, we used the pork loin. Ours two pieces came already butterflied, so we just pounded them out and cut them each in half, before proceeding. As written, this makes much more breading than neccesary and I used way less oil than the orginal called for. These were really yummy, but obviously not something I intend on making often, due to the fact its fried. I did see there is a healthier version that is grilled, so we may give that a try in the future.

slightly adapted from allrecipes.com, makes 4 sandwiches
1 pound boneless pork loin (ours was already cut and butterflied)
1 cup flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (or 1/2 cup of crushed saltines, or a mix of both)
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
oil for cooking
4 large sandwich buns
choice of fixings: mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onion

Cut 4 1-inch slices of pork. Trim any exterior fat from edges and butterfly each slice by cutting horizontally through the middle almost to the edge so that the halves are connected by only a think piece of meat. Put each butterflied slice between pieces of plastic wrap. Using a wooden meat mallet, or the side of a cleaver, pound vigorously until the slice is about 10 inches across. (Since ours was already cut in two pieces and butterflied, we just trimmed it, pounded it, and then cut it so we had four pieces.)

Mix flour, cornmeal and/or crushed crackers, and garlic powder together in a shallow bowl. Add water to another. Dip the pork into the water, then dredge it through the flour mixture. Proceed with all four pieces. (We had a lot of extra breading leftover.)

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in deep, heavy skillet (I only used about 1/4 inch) and fry pork, turning once until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Drain on paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Serve on buns (we toasted ours) with desired condiments and toppings.

Week 9: NE Patriots vs. Miami Dolphins- Cuban Sandwiches

If any one is actually paying attention, you may have noticed that last week I didn't have a Football related meal. It was a bye week for the Patriots, and originally I had planned on making a New England dish. Only, when it came down to it, we were having a lazy Sunday, after being up way too late on Halloween, and I decided I needed a bye week too.

This week was Miami, and we both instantly thought of Cuban Sandwiches. Interesting thing about Cubans- for me, it's rather similar to how people who hate thousand island, corned beef, sauerkraut and rye bread will somehow love a Reuben. I hate ham, am not much a fan of lunchmeats in general, and love a sandwich loaded with veggies. Yet I like Cubans.

Sage absolutely loves them and is the Cuban Sandwich maker in our house. This sandwich is made with Cuban bread, butter, yellow mustard, pickles, roast pork, ham and swiss. Just recently he got one somewhere and it also had salami on it. I have since discovered that only in the Tampa area will you ever find the addition of salami on a Cuban.

I'm going to be lazy and just link to a traditional Cuban-Miami recipe site, Three Guys from Miami, for how to make an authentic Cuban. Our only changes (other than a last minute subbing of spicy brown mustard when we discovered we were out of yellow) were to press ours on a George Foreman grill with a cast iron pan to weigh it down but this site gives direction on how to press it using a griddle pan.

Corned Beef Pinwheels & Garden Veggie Pinwheels

On the message board I frequent, there is a girl who has a food blog, The Novice Chef, which has the most amazing photos of her dishes. Recently she made pinwheels and they looked so tasty, I was craving them.


So for Ali's get together, Sage and I made two types. The ones he prepared were a variation of a corned beef, pickle and cream cheese appetizer he often makes. I found a recipe for a meatless one on allrecipes that had a lot of reviews and a high rating. When I went to put them together, the recipe seemed rather familiar and I realized it was actually a very similar recipe to the one on The Novice Chef. So I actually borrowed a little from both, and added carrot and took out the green onions. I mixed the veggies right into the cream cheese to make it easier on myself- so they weren't the most attractive but they were yummy. My only complaint was that the ranch dressing mix made them a little bit salty. I still got compliments on them, and at the end of the night, both kinds were gone.

Somehow, I forgot to take pictures of the Garden Veggie ones and the ones of the Corned Beef Pinwheels were horribly out of focus. In fact, all of the pictures from that night were really bad. Instead of getting better, I think I'm becoming a worse food photographer... but I'm going to blame it on the wine.

Corned Beef Pinwheels (makes about 24 pinwheels)

2 large flour tortillas

about 1/3 cup lite cream cheese

1/3-1/2 lb. Corned Beef, sliced thin

kosher dill pickles (amount will depend on size of pickles)

1. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on each tortilla. Layer with corned beef slices, slightly over lapping so entire tortilla is covered.

2. Slice pickles into match sticks. Stager sections of pickles across corned beef, with slight spacing between pickles.

3. Carefully roll tortilla up, seam side down. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours.

4. Prior to serving, trim ends, and slice chilled rolls into 1/2 inch slices.

Garden Veggie Pinwheels (adapted from allrecipes.com and The Novice Chef)

2 large flour tortillas

1 block (8 oz.) reduced fat cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup 2% shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped carrot

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

2 tbsp black olives, diced

1/2 cup chopped red pepper

1 1/2 tbsp ranch dressing mix

1/4 tsp dried basil

1. Mix all ingredients other than tortillas until well blended. Spread 1/2 of mixture on each tortilla.

2. Carefully roll tortilla up, seam side down. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours.
3. Prior to serving, trim ends, and slice chilled rolls into 1/2 inch slices.