Cool and crisp salad along side a fancy stuffed tenderloin...

8 new recipes for us this past week... the standouts this time were the Soft Barley-Sugar Cookies, Frozen Blackberry-Lemon Chiffon Pie and the Cumin Orange Glazed Carrots. For those that have been asking about the jury duty, I was never selected to sit on any of the trials, but at least it was a chance to peak in to see how the system works!

Tonight's dinner began by making a quick side that had just a few ingredients and turned into a surprisingly additive dish. With an appealing texture combination of creamy and crunchy, this Northwest Waldorf Salad had us going back for extra helpings before we finished with dinner. Crisp celery, chewy dried cherries and crunchy hazelnuts are tossed in a dressing consisting of smooth yogurt, tangy sour cream and lemon juice. While this type of recipe would normally call for apples, this one uses chunky pieces of juicy Bartlett pears to be added for a fresh change - the only difficult part of this recipe was waiting for it to chill down for an hour! I adore hazelnuts and this was a new way for us to enjoy the rich flavor they add. If your hazelnuts are still coated in the slightly bitter skins, a simple way to remove them is to toast them at 350 for about 10-15 minutes, or until they smell very nutty and the skins blister. As soon as you remove them from the oven, place them in a clean towel and rub them together vigorously. A little messy yes, but this gets most of the skins off - don't worry about any stubborn bits of skin that remain though, as it shouldn't impact the flavor.

We went a little fancy with tonight's main dish of Pork Tenderloin Rosa di Parma. Big name I know, but all it really comes down to is a pork tenderloin stuffed with prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The directions are fairly lengthy, but we went into detail on how you want to prepare the tenderloin - you will need to double butterfly it so it will be easier to work with. It is not hard at all - just be sure to read through the instructions before you begin. Because you will be moving the tenderloin around a lot, it is worth the extra step to use some kitchen string and tie the meat 3 or 4 times - this way it has no chance to unravel while cooking. Once it has been stuffed, rolled and tied, the tenderloin is given a quick massage with olive oil followed by a fresh herb coating consisting of sage, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper. The pork is then seared on all sides and goes for a trip into the oven to finish cooking.

Do yourself a favor and use the best quality Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese that you can afford. Because the pork is fairly mild in flavor, it allows the sharp, salty and nutty flavors in the stuffing to stand out and be known! Juicy with a light pink hue, the pork slices beautifully and would be a great addition to a dinner party. Next time, I would do two tenderloins to have more for leftovers as this dish was way to good!

Recipes
Northwest Waldorf Salad
Pork Tenderloin Rosa di Parma