Rosemary Mustard Pork Tenderloin and Pasta with Mushrooms and Peas: Review of The Glorious Vegetables of Italy

Rosemary Mustard Pork Tenderloin and Pasta with Mushrooms and Peas is a stunning spring recipe that your guests will drool over. A copy of The Glorious Vegetables of Italy was sent to me by the publishers for an honest review. Affiliate links were used to link to items I am discussing in this post.

I just could not decide how to deal with this post. It started out at as me wanting to use The Glorious Vegetables of Italy, which the publishers had sent to me to review–and besides, I love Domenica Marchetti and her books so it was not exactly a chore. The recipe I fell in love with was vegetarian (she and the book are not), and my parents were coming to visit. What can I say, they are Midwestern traditionalists and while they would certainly eat any meal I served them politely, I know they would enjoy it more if it had meat. Also, my mom is diabetic so really the meat is one of the healthiest parts of the meal for her.

So I started contemplating what meat to serve… and came up with this recipe. And knocked it out of the park. So I had been planning to share the pasta recipe, but since the pork recipe is 110% mine and the pasta recipe is adapted from Domenica, I think I will share the pork recipe and discuss the pasta recipe–while exhorting you to go buy her book if you are at all interested. Actually any of her books. I think my favorite is The Glorious Pasta of Italy of the several I have, but The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy is high on my wish list. I discuss The Glorious Pasta here in this Fettuccine in Bianco post if you are curious to see a review.

So about this fabulous pasta dish and the cookbook it came from. Pasta e Piselli (pasta with peas) is a classic Italian dish, normally made with prosciutto or pancetta to give it some savory underpinning. Domenica’s recipe calls instead for dried porcini mushrooms for that depth of flavor. Of course if we were using dried mushrooms then as far as I am concerned we were also using fresh mushrooms–because we love mushrooms. That and shaved parmesan cheese for garnish were pretty much the only changes I made. So if you want the recipe, I highly encourage you to buy the book!  The Glorious Vegetables of Italy is full of recipes like this, that highlight the best of various vegetables. I can hardly wait for summer, when I am definitely trying Capricci with Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Cream. And it is not just pasta either. There are salads I am super excited to try, grain based and vegetable based, pizzas and calzones, and main courses that both include meat and do not.

I know this post was all about the pasta dish–and deservedly so– but I highly encourage you to check out this pork recipe! For me it was the surprise hit, because I knew Domenica’s pasta would rock (I’ve made several now, not all on the blog, and all have been fantastic), but I just kinda wanted to get some simple roasted pork on the table. The marinade was quickly and easily composed of pantry ingredients–I have a rosemary plant on my kitchen window sill and I always have balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard. We loved this so much it will become another go-to recipe for marinades around here.

5 from 1 vote

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Rosemary Mustard Pork Tenderloin

Course: Entree

Author: TheSpicedLife

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 T minced fresh rosemary
• 3 T Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 T sugar
• 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 t coarse sea salt
• 2 pork tenderloins trimmed of silver skin
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Whisk together the first 6 ingredients. Dip a finger in--do not hesitate to adjust for taste. It should be sweet, but also savory and tangy. It should not be as sweet as a barbeque sauce, for example. If you want a stronger mustard flavor, add more mustard.
2. Place the trimmed pork tenderloins into a gallon sized Ziploc bag. Scrape the marinade in as well. Press the air out of the bag and seal the bag. Massage the marinade into the pork.
3. Place the marinating pork into the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
5. Heat a large, heavy oven-proof skillet over med high heat. When it is hot, add the olive oil. When the oil shimmers, add the tenderloins to the pan. (I like to place a splatter screen over the pan.) Brown the tenderloins on one side, for about 6 minutes.
6. Flip the tenderloins over and place the pan into the oven. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 145 F (I let mine accidentally get about 10-15 degrees too high and would have liked them a bit pinker).
7. Let the tenderloins sit for about 10 minutes out of the oven before slicing.