Pork Tenderloin on Roasted Red Pepper-Tomato Sauce with Pasta, Sugar Snap Salad, and Cocoa-Banana Frozen Dessert

A pleasant trio of recipes today, with another coming later on once I get home and pull that particular cookbook out. All threre of these have been sitting in the inbox for a while

Pork Tenderloin Piccata on Roasted Red Pepper-Tomato Sauce with Pasta

Serves 2. Can be doubled to serve 4 or multiplied for more.

Ingredients:

For the Sauce
2 Tbl olive oil
2 Tbl garlic, diced
15-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups roasted red peppers, rinsed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

For the Pork
1 pork tenderloin (fresh or thawed, approximately 1 pound)
1-1/2 cups bread crumbs (Italian) or add Italian herbs to plain bread crumbs
3/4 to 1 cup of egg substitute or 2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbl olive oil
Butter (if you want)

2 portions of pasta (This can be just about any kind--angel hair, spaghetti, linguini, or even penne, etc.)

Instructions:

In a sauce pan, put in your olive oil and your garlic. Heat on Medium High just to get the garlic bubbling and fragrant. Do not brown it.

Whiz the tomatoes and peppers in your food processor or blender until fairly smooth. Add those and the pepper flakes to the sauce pan. Cook the sauce on Medium heat about 10 to 12 minutes to reduce it and meld the flavors. You're really just heating it well.

Put on a large pot of water to make your pasta. You need to get the water boiling.

Slice the pork tenderloin into one-half inch slices. You should have about 4 slices per person from one tenderloin and then the ends. Use plastic sandwich bags to protect the meat. Place each slice inside a bag. Gently pound each slice with a meat mallet to flatten to half thickness or maybe even one-third inch thick. Be careful. You don't want to go so far as to put holes in your pork tenderloin, and tenderloin is fairly susceptible to damage. Go easy on it.

When your tenderloin slices are flattened, dip each of them in the egg on both sides and then dip each of the slices in the bread crumbs.

Heat your oil in the saute pan. (Add the butter if you want it even richer; maybe a tablespoon.) Then put the slices in on Medium Low. Brown one side on Medium High and then turn them over and cook the other side on medium low. When you turn the pork, use a flat spatula to keep the breading from falling off. Peek to see they are browned. This will all take only 5 to 7 minutes. Pork cooks pretty fast. Your tenderloins can be slightly pink in the middle if you like it that way, or you can turn off the heat and let them continue to cook until no pink remains.

While the meat is cooking you can cook your pasta. The pasta will take the longest to cook, depending on which noodle you choose and whether your pasta is fresh or dried.

To serve this dish you have a few options: If you are trying to do a lower carb thing, you can skip the pasta and just have the pork and sauce with a larger salad. Otherwise, put the pasta on the plate first, ladle on your sauce and then top with the pork. This way your breading will stay sort of crunchy.

Sugar Snap Salad

Serves 4

8 ounces sugar snap peas (2 cups), trimmed2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil1/4 teaspoon salt1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper1 bunch scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal1/2 large red bell pepper, cut into 11/2-inch-long slivers

Cook peas in lightly salted boiling water in a medium saucepan until tender-crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water.
Whisk vinegar, oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add peas, scallions and bell pepper; toss to coat. Serve within 1 hour.

Cocoa-Banana Frozen Dessert

Serves 6

4 very ripe bananas 2 tablespoons pure unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 tablespoons real maple syrup

Peel the bananas and place in a blender or food processor along with the cocoa powder. Add the vanilla extract and the maple syrup.
Blend till very smooth. Pour into individual custard cups or small bowls and freeze until just frozen.