Recently, we tested out a few new recipes. I initially didn’t think they would go together well, but they surprisingly did! Both of the recipes were from Cooking Light magazine (where else!?).
The first recipe was for pork tenderloin with plum barbecue sauce. We switched that one up a bit and used chicken breast instead.
The second recipe was for grilled stuffed jalepenos. We left most of that recipe alone, except we didn’t grill them and I completely forgot about the bacon (and this recipe would be AMAZING with some in it). I also would like to note that this could easily fall in the appetizers or hors d’oeuvres category, but we liked it as our “veggie” for the evening.
Finally, we made basic couscous, but added some grilled red peppers to it. This was a marvelous idea. We both loved how well it went with the entire meal (and some Mad Men television).
It was all extremely easy to make too – just sounds fancy! Now, on to the goods–the recipes. As usual, chef notes are in parenthesis and servings are listed at the end of the post.
Enjoy!
For the Plum BBQ Sauce and Pork
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 whole cloves (I almost did an extra garlic clove here, whoops!)
- 1 1/2 pounds black plums, quartered and pitted (almost any plum will work)
- 1 star anise (this was definitely something we couldn’t find, so we omitted it from the recipe)
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed (or chicken breasts – one per person)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
To Make It
1. For making the sauce. Heat-up a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons canola oil to pan. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes, until softened. Add sugar and the next 10 ingredients (through star anise); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes or until plums are soft and the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally (don’t let it stick to the pan and burn, there is a lot of sugar in here). Discard cloves and anise (we definitely forgot to do this part too).
2. Preheat oven to 450° (this is only necessary if you are roasting the pork or chicken, my guess is that grilled chicken or pork would be great as well — we put our oven at 400 for the chicken).
3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Sprinkle pork (or chicken breasts) evenly with salt and black pepper. Add pork to pan; sauté 7 minutes, turning to brown on all sides (we skipped this step and just put our raw chicken in the oven to bake).
4. Transfer pork to a foil-lined jelly-roll pan; coat with 1/2 cup plum sauce. Roast pork at 450° for 15 minutes. Remove pork from oven. Turn pork over; coat with an additional 1/2 cup plum sauce. Roast 10 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in thickest portion of pork registers 155°. Remove from pan; let stand 10 minutes.
5. Top chicken or pork with remaining plum sauce for dipping.
Serves: 8 servings
For the Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 2 slices center-cut bacon (can be left out for vegetarians)
- 1 cup (4 ounces) cream cheese or fat-free cream cheese, softened (we use the non-fat kind always)
- 1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup minced green onions
- 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 14 jalapeño peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
- Cooking spray
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons chopped seeded tomatos
To Make It
1. Preheat grill or oven. You’ll want them hot–around 400 degrees.
2. Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, and drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon.
3. Combine crumbled bacon, cheeses, and next 4 ingredients (through garlic) in a bowl, stirring to combine. Divide cheese evenly and fill the pepper halves.
4. Place peppers, cheese side up, on grill rack or grill grate coated with cooking spray (we opted for the cookie sheet covered in foil, with cooking spray and it worked well). Grill or bake peppers 10-15 minutes or until bottoms of peppers are charred and cheese mixture is lightly browned (you really just want to make sure they are heated through and the peppers are cooked somewhat).
5. Sprinkle with cilantro and tomatos, and enjoy!
Serves: 14 servings (serving size: 2 pepper halves)
