TV inspires dinner

Once again, while watching TV we were inspired to try our hand at a new dish. Of course, when I say "we" I mean AJ.

We recently switched from COX Communications back to DirectTV, mainly for football, but we have acquired many other fabulous new channels. One such channel is the Cooking Network. Like we really need to add more shows to our obsessive culinary line-up, but what the hell? The cool thing about this network is it airs past shows and episodes from Food Network. One such show featured Giada enjoying traveling through, what else? FOOD!

She was exploring Jackson Hole, WY and entered into a little saloon-looking dump (from the outside). However, this was far from a hole in the wall. This was a fancy, but rustic Italian eatery and she ordered a dish called Braciole. Much like my last name, the pronunciation of the word is nothing like how it is spelled. Nonetheless, this dish looked amazing. I actually think AJ might have stopped breathing for a short period of time. As soon as the show was over, he was in on the computer searching for a recipe. He quickly found a Giada recipe....hard to fathom, right? Sure.

This dish is typically prepared using flank steak, but AJ substitute that for a pork tenderloin because that is what we had in the freezer. Hey....you got to make it work sometimes.

He sliced the tenderloin in half without cutting all the way through. Stuffed it with mushrooms, Italian bread crumbs, garlic, fresh parm, and a little salt & pepper. It resembled a dry rub when he applied it. Then using butcher's twine secured the tenderloin into a log.

Next he put together the mixture of a dry white wine, EVOO and marinara sauce. He added the Braciole to the mixture and browned it for about 8 minutes and then stuck it in the oven. While the Braciole was in the oven we ate our salads with my favorite homemade dressing (from previous blog eatery). For the sides, we did the snap pea and fennel salad again because it is totally awesome and we served some warmed rosemary bread. We did not want to serve too much food because on the menu for dessert was my trial attempt at the peach pie.

I highly recommend this dish. It was so flavorful and the meat was super tender. There is no reason to set a knife out when setting the table for this one. It was even better warmed up the next day because the meat has absorbed even more of the sauce.

If you are interested in this recipe, click here. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/braciole-recipe/index.html. You will not be disappointed, I promise.

We finished the evening with a warm slice of the peach pie and because I am so damn impressed with myself, I am going to post another picture of it for you.