Post Recipes…

The lady who runs the Steamy Kitchen blog said to post pictures with your posts. I hope to start doing that in the future but I made this dish before I started the blog so I’m gonna lean on that as an excuse…

One of the main features in this months Cooking Light is recipes featuring syrup. Earlier this week I decided to try my hand at the Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Maple Chipotle Sauce (Cooking Light, March 08, Page 116). The part I really liked about this recipe was that lack of chopping and mincing required to make it. I made some Mashed Potatoes with chives to go with it (I learned these from last month’s Cooking Light) while the wife prepared a sauteed Carrot & Onion dish that was great but I have no idea how she did it since I was busy measuring broths, syrup & vinegar while she talked on the phone did some dishes and cooked.

The dish turned out to be painfully awesome. I was afraid the Chipotle would make it to hot for me since I am hyper-sensitive to spicy foods but I soldiered through. However, it did leave my mouth real tingly for about 30 minutes after seconds. If anyone has any tips on how to condition yourself to spicy foods I would love to hear them.

Recipe (also available on the web here) is after the cut:

Ingredients

Pork:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed
2 teaspoons olive oil

Sauce:
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce (for those, like me, who don’t know. These are found in the Ethnic section, not the Tomato sauce aisle)

1/2 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Preparation

1. To prepare pork, combine first 6 ingredients; sprinkle evenly over pork. Place in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal and refrigerate 3 hours (Cooking with Magazines note; I actually marinated mine overnight…is it really marinating if there is no liquid?).2. Preheat oven to 375°.

3. Remove pork from bag. Place pork in a roasting pan; drizzle with oil. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in center of pork registers 155°. Remove pork from pan; cover and let stand 10 minutes.

4. To prepare sauce, remove 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from can of chiles; reserve remaining chiles and sauce for another use. Add 2 teaspoons adobo sauce, syrup, broth, and vinegar to roasting pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Place pork in pan, turning to coat. Remove pork from pan, reserving sauce in pan. Cut pork into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Strain sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl; serve with pork.