Pork Two Simple, Family-Pleasing Ways – Day Two

As mentioned in my last post, my goal last week was to model Health Magazine’s Double Delicious article. In the article, the cooking was primarily done one day, and then meals were enjoyed in two different variations on two different nights. The challenge was to create dinners with half the effort, but that were still varied and delicious…like I pride myself on being about to make from scratch on the busiest of days. This two-night-pork-gig was a winner, one that I'll definitely repeat during a busy week ahead.

I took the remaining pork tenderloin from Day 1, and chopped it up into (about) ½” pieces, then tossed it into a large sauté pan with a little olive oil, some diced onion, a rinsed and drained can of chickpeas (I thought I had black beans in the pantry but didn’t) and Rosa Mexicano’s Granadilla Sauce (which contains: tomato puree, black beans, crushed tomatillos, onion, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, sugar, salt, red wine vinegar, pomegranate juice concentrate, garlic, cilantro, dried guajillo peppers, dried morita peppers, cloves, allspice). I found the sauce at Whole Foods in Westport, where I often find wonderful, slightly unique sauces to keep in my pantry.

Again, it’s all about having a well-stocked pantry if you want to be able to make simple, delicious dinners any night of the week. My rule of thumb is that these short-cuts are totally fine, as long as I recognize all of the ingredients in a product, and those ingredients are something I would cook with too.

I could have followed Health Magazine’s recipe for Pork and Black Bean Tacos…but, aside from the fact that I didn’t have black beans on hand, I was also having too much fun with my kids to slave over the stove. And so, after combining the pre-cooked pork tenderloin, chickpeas and sauce, I simply put a toppings bar together and let each person assemble their own soft tacos. It was delicious, and truly could not have been easier.

Quick note on the tortillas: I found these Sonoma brand Organic Tortillas at Walter Stewart’s in the refrigerated section over by the eggs. They are wonderful. Search them out!