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Monday, April 23, 2012

Pork Parmigiano??

I love veal parmigiano, but hate paying $18.00 per pound for the veal. A few years ago I was thinking what to do with a pork tenderloin. You know what I mean..one of these things:
I never liked cooking them whole, especially when they came in a horrible marinade in the cryvac. They always dried out and had little flavor, but the texture was ideal for slicing, pounding and substituting for veal scallops. Since that discovery, I have made parm, picatta, milanese, and any other veal dish with the tenderloins.  I went to the market yesterday for something to make as a special appetizer for our "Sunday Cocktails" with friends, and seeing the plain (unmarinated) ones on sale,  I grabbed one and a hunk of motzarella. I decided to make mini-pork parms, and they really came out great. With the one pound tenderloin, I made about 20 pieces, that could be picked up with fingers or cut with the side of a fork on a plate. Here's how I did it:
 I trimmed any silver skin and fat from the filets, then sliced the pork thinner than the above picture and pounded each peiece out to about 1/8" thick. I skipped the flour step, and just dipped each piece in the beaten egg/water mixture and then breadcrumbs, and sauteed them in medium high olive oil for about 2 minutes per side, till they were golden brown.  I layed them out on a large baking pan apart from each other. Then I sprinkled a little freshly grated Reggiano Parmigiano on top, and then spread out a tablespoon of homemade marinara sauce on each. Then I covered the top with grated motzarella. I then baked them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes and they came out perfect.
The key was to not use a lot of sauce, but just enough for flavor. You could pick it up with your hands and not get dripping sauce down your chin. They went quite nicely with Makers Mark Old Fashions, and Cosmopolitans (the 2 cocktails of the day I served).
Ingredients:
1  one pound pork tenderloin without poisonous marinade
2 beaten eggs with 2 tablespoons of water mixed in (helps crumbs adhere)
Enough Plain bread crumbs to coat all the scallops, with a little salt and pepper added
Good olive oil, adding to the pan when it would get low between batches
1/2 cup grated Regggiano Parmigianno
A cup or so of homemade marinara sauce (one good tablespoon per scallop)
Enough freshly grated motzarella to cover sauce and scallop
 
The next thing I want to try is making salami out of the tenderloins. In one of my 50 Italian cookbooks I remember seeing this recipe and dog earred the page. I will have to dig it out and give it a shot. Here is a link to site that has a recipe if you are game to try it;
http://thepauperedchef.com/2008/11/saucisson-of-pork-tenderloin.html
The finished salami looks great and is very low on fat. If you see a string of salamis hanging in my window, you'll know I found the original recipe.