A Tribute to Family Dinner: Cuban-inspired Pork Quesadillas
I haven’t posted a recipe (or photographed food) in such a long time, it seemed well overdue. I snapped a pic of these quesadillas for Instagram last week, and they received some “Yums” on Facebook, so I felt spurred to write them up here. As well, I’m sort of celebrating a return to enjoying family dinner. For a few months after H was born, meal planning and cooking felt–well, stale. Nothing sounded good. Cooking was tiring. I found myself in a dinner rut for the first time in my living memory. Last weekend, I pulled out a few of my 110+ cookbooks and started paging through them for fresh inspiration and finally felt myself emerge from my hole. These quesadillas, in particular, were a surprising triumph.
Mind you, they are not traditional Tex-Mex quesadillas, but a rift on the Cubano, a popular Cuban sandwich. You could eat them with salsa if you wanted to, but I liked the suggested spicy brown mustard. E went for barbecue sauce. L refused to believe they were anything other than chicken, which cracked us up.
As well, E and I were surprised by the pork tenderloin, which by itself was a marvel to us. I have never been a fan of pork tenderloin, but I sprung for a package of them at Costco in order to make these, figuring I could be resourceful enough to find a use for the rest of the tenderloins (Costco’s price per pound makes purchasing a single tenderloin at the grocery store seem foolish). There were a few pieces of meat left on the cutting board after I’d assembled the quesadillas and put them in the oven, and we stood there picking at it. “I could just eat this by itself,” E said. I concurred, so a couple of nights later, we grilled another tenderloin the same way and I served it with oven-roasted fingerling potatoes and a Caesar salad. It went into my dinner diary with five stars. So, for that matter, did the quesadillas.
Enjoy these with a side of coleslaw and sweet pickles.
Cuban-inspired Pork Quesadillas
Serves 4
1 pork tenderloin, patted dry with paper towels
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed well with a mortar and pestle or pressed
1 teaspoon kosher or fine grain sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 cups shredded Pepperjack cheese
8 whole wheat tortillas
Spicy brown mustard, for serving
Preheat your grill. In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Coat the tenderloin with the mixture, massaging it in with your hands. Grill 10-12 minutes, until the meat reaches 155 degrees in the center (use an instant-read thermometer to check). Remove from the grill and allow to rest 5-10 minutes, then cut into thin slices across the grain. While the meat is resting, preheat the oven to 350. On a large cookie sheet (or two if necessary), lay out half of the tortillas. Add a layer of pork slices. Top with 1/2 cup of the Pepperjack and a second tortilla. Bake 12-15 minutes, until the tortillas are lightly browned and the cheese is melted. Cut into wedges.