Hoisin Pork Medallions

Good lord, according to the ol' blog I haven't made this in almost a year! Unless I made it and forgot to update which is entirely possible. I really like making things with hoisin sauce. If you aren't familiar with it, it's almost like Chinese ketchup. It's the sauce that's used when you order mu shu to get all that yummy goodness to adhere to the pancake. Oh how I love mu shu. Now I wish we were having that for dinner.

I threw a baby shower today for my friend Jen A. today, so really all I've eaten today is shower food. Since somehow the only items left at my house were sweets, so I've been on a major sugar high all day. Okay, not really, but I do feel kind of sick from all the sweets I've had. Since the shower ended I've had probably five glasses of water because all I'd had before that was my customary morning diet Coke (which I'm trying so desperately to replace with coffee but can't because I forgot to buy coffee last week at the store. I should go put it on my grocery list for next week right now.) and punch (recipe coming shortly). the punch was yummy but super sweet. It probably didn't help that after everyone left and the punch was all gone that I got out a fork and ate the maraschino cherries in the bottom of the punch bowl and some of the orange slices. I'm not embarrassed--they were yummy! Anyway, after all of that sweetness all day, I'm ready for a good non-sweet dinner. Not that we ever have sweets for dinner, but you know what I mean. Kind of like when all I eat is junk all day, a really good salad always sounds the best to me...like I need a lot of vegetables to balance it all out.

So, this is what's on the dinner plan for tonight. I'm excited for it now that I have realized how long it's been since we had it. The recipe calls for pork tenderloin, but I always use a portion of a pork loin roast instead because, well, I'm cheap, and pork loin roasts are a whole lot cheaper than pork tenderloin.

Hoisin Pork Medallions
Cooking Spray
1 Tbsp dark sesame oil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1-pound pork tenderloin, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices
6 Tbsp water
1/3 cup dry sherry
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp hoisin sauce
2 cups hot cooked long-grain rice, cooked without salt or fat
1/4 cup sliced green onions

Coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add oil, and place over medium-high heat until hot. Add pepper and garlic; saute 1 minute. Add pork; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove pork from skillet. Wipe drippings from skillet with a paper towel.

Combine water and next 3 ingredients in skillet; cook over medium heat 1 minute, stirring constantly. Return pork to skillet, turning to coat. Place rice on a platter; spoon pork mixture over rice and sprinkle with green onions.

*****

I think the only item I don't have are the green onions, but I'm not too concerned. I'm going to make some brown rice to go with it, as well as a package of Asian vegetables I have in the freezer, and I also have a couple Trader Joe's eggrolls left in the freezer to use up.