Do you ever make those meals that just make you proud? Maybe they are a little more complicated than normal, take you out of your comfort zone or just turn out way better than you ever expected. Well I made one of those meals this week. Pork Tenderloin with Cheesy Polenta



Its a Rachael Ray recipe which isn't so incredibly challenging however I had never made polenta before. And to make matters worse when I went to the grocery store I couldn't find polenta. So my internet search began and my elevated stress level. I started by googling polenta as I was trying to find out if it was the same thing as cornmeal and if I could use cornmeal to make it. And as the internet sometimes is the answers can be confusing because they range in scope and response. I read everything from yes polenta is the same thing as cornmeal to well its in the same family but its a courser grind to no not really. Awesome so I am pretty much in the same place as when I started this internet search so I decided to wing it rather than go to 19 grocery stores looking for a corn product that said polenta on it...this is often the way I go which is time consuming and a little fanatical.

The pork was easy to make as you brown the tenderloin in a pan with some olive oil for approximately 10 minutes. The pork then goes into the oven for 15 minutes...I am a little pork paranoid even though the new ruling is that pink pork is ok...so I honestly cooked it for closer to 25-30 minutes. Then in another skillet I cooked shallots, mushrooms and olive oil. The recipe called for cremini mushrooms which I couldn't find so I used baby bellas....however come to find out they are the same thing which I didn't learn until after the fact. Thank you Food Network Food Encyclopedia: http://www.foodterms.com/encyclopedia/cremini/index.html

Chicken broth is added to the shallot/mushroom mixture and its simmered and then removed from the heat. The chicken broth added a great salty flavor to the shallot/mushroom mixture and added some liquid to the pork since its served on top of the pork once its cut.

Then the hard part the polenta. The recipe says to boil heavy cream and water in a pot. First of all I was concerned about boiling cream because as you know its so easy to burn milk products and I just wasn't sure if it would maintain its integrity. So the recipe then says to whisk in the polenta so I am like hell lets try this cornmeal and I start whisking and it looks like a watery mess...so I keep whisking some more....hmmm a little thicker but still doesn't look like polenta...whisk some more...and OMG voila polenta consistency!!! I add blue cheese and stir that into the polenta along with salt and pepper. And let me just say I was really impressed with my polenta sure it wasn't quite as course as normal polenta but it had the same consistency and the flavor was great with the corn and blue cheese. I did find that my polenta had a few lumps and I think this was due to my whisking technique but all in all I was super proud of it.

I served the pork and mushrooms over the polenta with a side of asparagus. And it was a really good. As a side note I know that spring asparagus is really thin which is fine with me but don't you hate when you are eating it and you put something in your mouth that has the same texture as a stick it really is a meal bummer.

And if anyone is looking for a few other recipe inspirations here are a few things I have made in this past week. A great dip to bring to parties...I brought this to Super Bowl-Chipotle Artichoke Dip
Or if you want to try an interesting slow cooker soup with a lot of flavor I recommend Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Lentil Soup. The flavor comes from a lot of ginger and some curry and I had never used red lentils before so I truly enjoyed it. However, I do have to admit that I turned on the slow cooker before I went to bed so it would be ready in the morning and I could take it for lunch. And it was very strange to wake up in the middle of the night and smell lentil soup and it did lead to some confusion and possibly some dreams of lentil soup....very odd. And finally I made a Buffalo Chicken Salad but I know I have been on a buffalo chicken kick and I figured if I wrote a full blog on another food item that was buffalo chicken related you all would be like really lady? But it is a good recipe if you want to try it and its low in calories.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I am so excited as I have no plans and this is the first weekend in a million years where I don't have to be anywhere at a specific time. So looking forward to following my bliss. Cheers!