Pork Pasta Primavera

(with vegetables)

I love being able to toss things together on the spur of the moment. Pat’s heading back to Chicago this morning and we have a fridge full of extra “stuff” I’ve bought as a result of having her working from home the past few weeks.

Before we wandered out to the pool yesterday afternoon (yes—we’re already working on our sun tans in April here on St. Simons,) I browsed through the freezer and the pantry and here is what I came up with for dinner for two.

The ingredients:

1 medium pork tenderloin (1/3 to 1/2 lb?)

1 cup of frozen English peas
1 crown of broccoli
1 chunk of cauliflower
1 medium carrot, sliced
8 oz colored Rotini pasta

For the Primavera Sauce

¼ stick semi sweat unsalted butter
¼ cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1 clove garlic, crushed and diced very, very fine
A few twists of fresh ground black pepper
A few sprigs of fresh parsley, chopped fine
¾ cup grated fresh Pecorino Romano Locatelli Cheese (Parmesan will also do)

The process:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Redneck Tip: Be very careful with your use of salt in everything as the cheese is VERY salty in the Primavera Sauce.

Rinse the pork tenderloin and pat dry with a dishtowel or paper towel. Marinade the pork in a little balsamic vinegar or Worcestershire sauce or whatever, seasoning with pepper (no salt.)

While your pork is swimming, chop the broccoli and cauliflower into small pieces and toss the pieces along with the peas into your steamer basket over an inch of water in a boiler on the stovetop. Kick the heat up to medium.

Place a four quart boiler with two quarts of water for the pasta on the stovetop over medium heat, adding a DASH of salt and a little butter or olive oil.

When your oven is up to temperature, place the pork tenderloin in a greased dish in the oven and cook until the meat is 160 degrees F.

Redneck Tip: Use a meat thermometer, not your finger or tongue, to determine the temperature of the Pork….Duuuhhh.

Melt half the butter for the Primavera Sauce in a two quart boiler over medium low heat.

When your Pork reaches 140 degrees F and your water is boiling, put your Rotini pasta in the boiler and cook about 8 minutes or until al dente.

Redneck Tip: Al Dente is Italian for “how you like it”—no actually it means “to the tooth” i.e. firm, not soft or mushy.

Meanwhile, back with the sauce, after the butter has melted, stir in the cream and egg yolk, and whisk for another minute. Now add the garlic and cheese and keep stirring until the cheese melts.

Turn off the heat and whisk in the butter and parsley and add a few twists of fresh pepper. Take the boiler off of the eye and keep stirring so that it doesn’t overheat.

Turn off the heat on the pasta and vegetables and pull your pork out of the oven and let it rest. Put a couple of pasta bowls into the oven to preheat

Strain up the pasta and toss with a little olive oil. Now add the vegetables to the pasta and toss with your Primavera sauce.

Slice the pork tenderloin into thin slices and serve on top of the pasta vegetable mixture.

Enjoy Y’all

The Redneck Gourmet