A Life, Lived: Sunday Small Bites

September 27, 2009

Sunday Small Bites - Avocado

The Sunday Slow Cooks are a group of cooks from the slow travel community message board. We have been bakers, scoopers, soupers, and tossers (yes, I know that is a derogatory term in some parts of the world ! LOL) No we have taken on a new challenge - instead of each of us preparing the same recipe each week, we are preparing our own appetizer - or Small Bite - that uses a specific main ingredient. So far we have tackled shrimp, crab and sun-dried tomatoes. This week Annie selected avocado as the ingredient of the week.

In my mind avocados are closely tied with the foods of the SW that we love. I went through all of the various combinations of tacos, quesadillas, mini burritos, etc. and finally ended up with this unusual dish. Here a pork tenderloin is coated with a delicious SW rub and grilled. Once cooked it is sliced thinly and the slices are served atop a crisp tortilla chip topped with an amazing avocado cream sauce.

I wanted to make something that would fit the canape range of small plates. You know the things that you can picture waiters dressed in black passing about on silver trays while happy guests sip champagne and chat. Now, to be honest, I've never hosted such a celebration but if I did I would served these. *smile*

Paul LOVED them. In fact he ate the leftovers every night until that pork tenderloin was all gone. There was still some avocado cream left and I suspected he wanted me to grill up another tenderloin so that he could feed his addiction. Given that we are trying to 'eat up the fridge' before we head off to Greece - on FRIDAY I wasn't about to grill up anything else.

Another plus for this recipe - it is EASY! The cream sauce comes together in no time at all and it is the most complex part of the production. This recipe clearly gets put in the category of things you make with no fuss that people will think you're a master chef who has slaved in the kitchen all day. Everyone needs a few of those in their recipe file. :-)

You could serve this pork as a main dish as well (i.e. not on tortilla chips). It would be amazing with Judy's black bean salad that we made when we were tossing salads in the summer.

Enjoy!

Southwestern Pork Tenderloin with Avocado Cream

Avocado Cream:

1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 small ripe avocado. peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pork:

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon each freshly ground black pepper and cayenne pepper

1 pork tenderloin, 3/4 to 1 pound
large round tortilla chips
cilantro sprigs and lime to garnish

Combine all avocado cream sauce ingredients in food processor, fitted with steel blade, and process until smooth. Remove to small bowl; cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent discoloration. Refrigerate until needed.

Combine garlic powder, paprika, salt, oregano, cumin and peppers in small bowl then rub over pork tenderloin. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Bring to room temperature before grilling. Grill over medium heat, turning frequently, for 15 to 15 minutes, or until internal temperature in thickest part reaches 160 degrees.

Remove from the grill. Tent pork with foil and allow to cool slightly.

Slice pork very thinly.

Serve slices on large round tortilla chips, topped with avocado cream sauce.

Garnish platter with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs

Posted at 05:57 AM in Appetizer/hors d'oevres, Cooking, Grilling, Pork, Sunday Small Bites | Permalink