Thursday, January 20, 2011

Banana Pudding, Pork Tenderloin Medallions, Mozzarella Tomato & Basil Couscous

Today was day 14 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato, and Basil Couscous Salad; Pork Medallions with Olive-Caper Sauce; and Banana Pudding. Overall good, but it's all relative to people's personal tastes, likes and dislikes. Read on for our thoughts...

FRESH MOZZARELLA, TOMATO, AND BASIL COUSCOUS SALAD, good, not sure that it was the appropriate side for the pork dish though...

I have never had couscous before, have been a little afraid of it for some reason, but my fears have been laid to rest. This was a good salad, and everyone liked it. I used the leftover buffalo mozzarella from last night's pizza in this, and would probably have liked more mozzarella in the salad. The flavors blended well together, and were mild, nothing was overpowering. This was a cold salad and would have been better served with something other than the pork medallions, but it was good, nonetheless.

PORK MEDALLIONS WITH OLIVE-CAPER SAUCE, excellent pork, the olives and capers were either hit or miss...

This dish I personally loved! However, if you don't like olives or capers, as some people in my family don't like, the dish may not be a favorite. The kalamata olives and capers were added in the last 4 minutes of simmering, so they didn't overpower the flavor of the pork. The pork tenderloin was delicious and very tender, everyone loved the pork, even if they scraped off the olives and capers ;) This was definitely a dish I would make again. Hubby's comment about it was it was good, but not one of his favorites, which is his polite way of saying "you don't have to make this one again". I think if it didn't have the olives and capers he would have been fine with it. As for me, and the rest of the family, we all loved it just the way it was. I recommend this recipe, and it was really easy to make :)

BANANA PUDDING, a winner for everyone...

This recipe was good, but I think it would have been better served cold. The recipe says it can be served warm or cold, and I ended up making it this afternoon so it was still warm when we served it. I made the mistake of buying mini vanilla wafers instead of regular sized vanilla wafers, and didn't realize it until I went to create this dish. I don't think I put enough vanilla wafers on the bottom and middle of the dish, and it could have used more. But other than that, everyone was as directed. When we scooped into the pudding to serve it, the pudding/custard was oozing water, but after we scooped out the first serving, it seemed to evaporate or get dissolved, but went away for some reason. Maybe if the pudding were cold it wouldn't have had the watery consistency to it. At any rate, it was still very good and everyone enjoyed it. And the meringue on top really gave it a nice flavor as well. My hubby even said we could make this in small individual dishes and serve it to our Bed and Breakfast guests, which I probably will, but cold, which will be nice because I can make the pudding itself the day before and just add the meringue and brown the top in the morning. Definitely a keeper recipe for sure.

29 recipes down, 518 more to go (it doesn't seem like the number to go is really moving much, this will be a long project, hope I can finish in a year!)

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