quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Pork Tenderloin

Hey, it’s Sunday so let’s do some thing special.

At the store get a small (or large) pork tenderloin. They come with a few different kinds of marinades or just plain. You get what sounds good to you. I like just plain and then do it up myself. You’ll need a small box or bag of pasta. Bite sized stuff is best for what we’re going to do. penne, farfalle (bow ties), fusilli (corkscrews) etc. Also, a couple of handfuls of fresh green (string) beans. We’re going to have peach cobbler for dessert. Don’t be scared. Get a 29 oz. can of sliced peaches. If you don’t have brown sugar at home get some of that too and a small tube of biscuits. You’ve seen them, over by the milk and eggs. The flaky kind. Flaky is important. Don’t forget some vanilla ice cream!

First get the cobbler started.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

Drain all but a very little bit of the liquid out of the peaches. Put them in a baking or casserole dish. Sprinkle about 3-4 tablespoons of brown sugar over the peaches. Cover with the biscuits as thick or as thin as you might like. Some people put them on the bottom of the dish before the fruit goes in. I like them on top and not too thick, that’s why I said get the flaky ones to give you some options. Put it in the oven. It’ll take about a half hour. Start watching it at about 20 minutes. When the biscuits are golden and the peaches are bubbly, of course it’s done. At dessert time serve it up with some vanilla ice cream on top.

Put about a quart of water on to boil for the pasta. Add a dash of salt and when boiling add the pasta. Stir it up right away and turn the heat down a bit if necessary to keep it from boiling over. Stir it often and cook until not quite done.

You can cook the pork on a grill, in a frying pan or in the oven. I like a frying pan because it gives me the option of making a little gravy after the pork is done. If you bought a marinated one just put the tenderloin on to cook right from the bag. I get it plain and coat it some with ground pepper and some garlic powder. If you don’t have a meat thermometer and have your doubts about if it is done, just take it off and cut it in half at the thickest place and see if it’s done. It should be barely pink in the middle. If not just put the 2 halves back on and finish the job. If we did a frying pan then put about ¾ cup of red wine and a pat of butter in the pan. Stir, getting the stuff left over from cooking the pork into the liquid. Simmer it until the wine is reduced by half. There’s your gravy.

While the pork is cooking rinse and trim the beans. Finely chop up 2 cloves of garlic. Put about 4 tbsp. of olive oil in a frying pan (medium heat) big enough to handle the beans and the pasta. Start the beans first for about 2 minutes and then the garlic for just an additional minute or so. Remove from the heat. Drain the pasta and add to the pan. When the pork is almost done put the pasta mix back on the heat and toss while it heats up.

SERVE IT UP!!! With some good crusty bread, some parmesan cheese and the rest of the red wine!! And then that fantastic cobbler with the vanilla ice cream on top.