Sometimes a recipe is quick to make and fabulous, too
I might have mentioned this before: I'm a slow cook. This has nothing to do with slow-cookers or slow cooking or the Slow Food movement. It has to do with not being speedy.
In part, I'm slow in the kitchen because I enjoy the process of cooking, and I get caught up in it. And, in part, I think it's because I never had to be fast. Everyone I cook for can wait; there's no maître d' in my house hurrying diners along, no runner bringing more order tickets into the kitchen. That means I cook for the yum factor.
But then there are those serendipitous recipes in which yum and quick meet. This is one of them.
When I sent the recipe to Mary, my longtime tester, I called it “quick-cooking.” When it came back to me, those words had been replaced by “lightning fast,” which is only a slight exaggeration. Even I can get this to the table in under 20 minutes. Someone with kids clamoring for dinner can probably top my personal best time.
Because the dish is based on pork tenderloin, it starts off with an advantage. The tenderloin is a quick-cooking cut that, when sauteed, as it is here, should be kept over heat for only a few minutes. Because the meat is cut into two-bite morsels, its total cooking time is even faster than usual.
But speed is a convenience; taste is the reason to make this dish. The pork gets three layers of flavor: a spice rub that includes chili powder, ginger, cumin and curry powder; a saucy gloss of honey and apple cider vinegar; and a couple of spoonfuls of Dijon mustard. Quickly mixed in the pan, these ingredients coat the meat and create a sauce that's good straight or drizzled over what's next to it on the plate. My favorite go-along is a spicy salad, one with arugula and mustard greens, maybe some tatsoi, too, tossed with a little oil and lemon juice and spooned onto each plate as a bed for the pork and sauce.
Take-away tips
• Have everything measured out and ready to go, because once you start cooking, you'll want to move quickly: You'll be at the stove for only a few minutes.
• Cut the pork tenderloin into same-size pieces that will all cook evenly. I like to cut the meat in half the long way and then slice it into ½-inch-thick pieces.
• Pat the pork dry so the spice mix will stick to it.
• If you've got a nonstick skillet, use it: anytime you're cooking with honey, nonstick is a help.
• Choose a bright, strong mustard for the dish. I use Dijon, but you could use a combination of Dijon and a grainy mustard.
• The same ingredients and techniques will work with the other white meat: chicken. They'll even be good with fish, if you choose a firm-fleshed one, such as monkfish or swordfish; scallops would also work.
With all the time you've saved making this dish, you could spend more time on a go-along grain, on making dessert or on patting yourself on the back for being a swell cook.