On my meal plan I had a recipe for Apricot Glazed Pork Tenderloin.  This is a family favorite - mine because it’s quick and easy, the men folk’s because it’s tasty.  HOWEVER, when I got to the grocery store, tenderloin was $4.99/lb and a half loin was only $1.99/lb.  It costs me a small fortune to feed 3 active guys, so I shop with my entire meal plan – menu, shopping list, and recipes (go ahead and take a look, I’ll wait) on a clip board so I can make substitutions with things that are on sale. 

Pork tenderloin has very little fat, cooks quickly, and needs very little trimming (just the visible hunks of fat and the silver skin.  Silver skin is connective tissue that contracts when the meat is cooked, and causes your once flat piece of meat to curl.  The loin is a slightly fattier piece of meat, cooks slower, and needs a good amount of trimming.  Sometimes I trim a half loin, and then cut it into long tenderloin shaped pieces.  Most often I cut it into chops, and then cut the pieces that aren’t quite chop-like into stir-fry pieces.  I can get a lot of meals out of an $18 half loin!

In the morning I look at my plan to see if there is anything I can do before I leave for work to make dinner time faster.   The actual recipe calls for making a glaze out of the mustard and apricot jam, which made sense because this is a grilling recipe.  The weather, alas, was not to cooperate.  So, I put a healthy squirt of grainy mustard in the zip top bag with the pork, gave it a little massage, and popped it back in the fridge.  Why?  Well, vinegar is a great tenderizer, we love mustard around here, and, I did not feel like brining.  I left a note on the counter for the boys to take the meat out of the ‘fridge when they got home from school.

When I got home, it was still raining.  I chopped a head of cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and parboiled some red potatoes for 7 minutes and then let them cool.  About an hour before dinner I preheated the oven to 375, tossed the potatoes and cauliflower with olive oil, salt, and pepper in a 9x13 pan, put the pork in another 9x13 pan (they fit side by side in the oven quite nicely) and cooked for 30 minutes.  At that time I tossed the veg, and slathered the roast with the apricot jam.  30 minutes later the pork was done, but not the veg.  So the pork rested and the veg cooked another 15 minutes.  Perfect time to set the table.

My eldest ambled in, snitched a piece of pork, declared it great, but that a dipping sauce would make it perfect.  Hmph.  I mixed the grainy mustard, some of the jam, and a dollop of mayo, and he was pleased.  I also slapped his hand and sent him out of the kitchen before he worked his way through the roast.  Some sort of brotherly radar happens when one is eating that causes the other to come running.  This child wanted applesauce.  I just wanted to get dinner on the table while there was still something for dinner!

There were no leftovers.