A Tribute to Jacques Pepin:

I made his dish the other night and was too good: thanks Jacques! Merci!!!!

Pork tenderloin is succulent, flavorful, and lean, delicious roasted whole or cut crosswise into medallions and sautéed. I accompany it with a sweet-sour sauce similar to what I would serve with venison, with pomegranate juice and chicken stock thickened with a little ketchup. Seedless grapes finish the dish nicely and shredded arugula gives it a special accent at the end, although you can use chopped chives or parsley instead, if you like.
4 servings

1 large pork tenderloin (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon good olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup chicken stock, homemade, or low-salt canned chicken broth
2 tablespoons ketchup [ I used Boar's Head spicy Remoulade sauce, good]
1 cup small green seedless grapes
3 tablespoons dried cherries or cranberries
1/4 cup shredded arugula

Trim the pork tenderloin of most of the fat and silverskin and cut it crosswise into 1-inch-thick medallions.

Preheat the oven to its lowest setting. Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy skillet. Sprinkle the medallions with the salt and pepper. Arrange the medallions in a single layer in the skillet and cook them over high heat for about 2 1/2 minutes on each side, or until lightly pink inside.

Transfer the medallions to a plate and keep warm in the oven.

Add the pomegranate juice and chicken stock to the skillet, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the ketchup, grapes, and cherries or cranberries and mix well. Boil for about 1 minute, or until the sauce is smooth and slightly thickened.
Arrange the medallions on four warm plates, coat with the sauce and grapes, and sprinkle with the shredded arugula. Serve.

enjoy, and enjoy the sauce the day after-It seemed even better!

Super Bowl Guacamole

Just had an idea for a side dish to take to a party:

two Serrano chilies
three jalapenos
three tomatillos
1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
one handful fresh cilantro chopped fine
10 ripe avocados
one lime
two garlic cloves, minced
sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut peppers and tomatillos in half lengthwise. Drizzle with olive oil. Roast until skin browns, [tomatillos will cook down and mushy-that's ok].
Wrap peppers in foil to steam until the skins can be peeled off--skin them and chop fine. Add the juice to the bowl.
IN the bowl, add the avocados sans the seed and scored with a knife into bite size pieces such that you can mesh, smash with a spoon until smooth. Add the onion, garlic, tomato cilantro, salt and pepper to taste. Add half a lime's worth of juice and mix to prevent browning. Let it rest in the cold while we deal with the roasted peppers.

FOR the peppers: remove the skin, chop fine and add to the avocado mix. Blend well, and chill for at least an hour (the first half of the game).

After chilling, I added a garnish of a dollop of sour cream to the middle and a few shakes of red pepper flakes around the edges for color. It's up to you but red on green looks cool to me.

Not too hot, but has some background heat. This amount was perfect for about 15 people.

Enjoy!