Pork Marsala

This recipe is from the National Pork Board; they published it in a magazine ad in 1988 as part of their "The Other White Meat" campaign. This is one of those recipes that's very easy, but when you serve it to company they think you did something special.

1lb pork tenderloin

1T each olive oil and butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1T tomato paste

1/2 cup dry red marsala

1/2 cup red wine

8oz fresh mushroom caps

1t chopped parsley

Cut tenderloin diagonally into cutlets. Pound to 1/4" thickness. Heat oil and butter in heavy frying pan. Brown cutlets on both sides, then remove from pan. Add garlic to pan and saute briefly. Mix tomato paste with wines, then add to pan with mushrooms. Stir to blend with pan juices. Simmer 3-5 minutes. Return cutlets to pan and heat through. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Chicken Tacos

I don't use exact amounts when I cook, so this recipe is purely what ever I have and adjusted accordingly. Add more if you have it and like it, add less if you don't.

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3-4 cans of fat free & low sodium chicken broth, have a few cans on reserve if needed
1 white or yellow onion diced large
1 small can chopped green chili (or 3-4 fresh roasted, peeled and seeded)
4-5 tomatillos, peeled of the paper skin and washed, left whole
1-2 tbs chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste
fresh chopped cilantro

you can cook this on the stove top in a covered pot or in a slow cooker. Put all ingredients (except the cilantro) in the pot, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a slow simmer and cover. cook over a low heat until the chicken is fork tender and falls apart on it's own. Make sure you always have enough liquid in the pot to cover the chicken so it stays moist. Remove chicken from cooking liquid, it should fall apart easily and be moist. Fork shred as needed. Use a slotted spoon and remove the onion, chili, garlic and place with the chicken. The tomatillos usually fall apart in the cooking process but if they don't, mash them with a potato masher and add that to the chicken as well. Mix. Add a bit of the cooking liquid to make the chicken wet, but not too runny. You be the judge.

Use in your favorite corn or flour tortilla and your favorite toppings. I like sour cream, salsa, lettuce and tomato with mine. My favorite shell for this chicken is very easy and is below:

soft corn tortillas
vegetable oil
frying pan

heat pan with just enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. once hot, place a corn tortilla in pan and left soften, flip and cook the other side. you can leave them a very soft cook or let them get slightly "crispy" for a soft taco. if you do them very soft, you will most likely need two tortillas on top of each other for each taco. for chicken taco's i prefer soft so i can easily fold them, but slightly crispy for a bit of "light crunch".