Monday Night Dinner - Pork Medallions and Vegetable Stir Fry.

Here's the money shot to get your attention.

Whenever I shop, I always check the flyers

for the local grocery stores and end up

going to whereever the meat is on sale.

And I buy in bulk,

vacuum pack the meat,

and put it in the extra freezer we have in our utility room.

So at anytime,

I can go downstairs and shop for dinner.

I am never without available protein,

and lots of it.

Yesterday,

I stood in front of my open freezer,

as if anticipating the second coming,

moving frozen packages around on shelves,

wondering what to pick for our dinner,

and finally decided on a pork tenderloin.

I sliced the pork into thick medallions ...

... and started on my marinade. First, I took a chunk of my frozen ginger, nuked it for about 15 seconds, and squeezed it to release all the juices.

The rest of the piece of ginger and about 4 cloves of garlic went through my garlic press.

Some brown sugar was added.

And some soy sauce.

A few tablespoons of honey. Now, you tentative cooks out there: This is a marinade. You really don't have to be exact about the amounts of ingredients. Just be reasonable.

I added the pork medallions to my bag, pressed the air out, and squished the meat and the marinade. I let it marinate for about 2 hours before cooking the pork. (Actually, I only cooked 4 pieces last night. The rest of the pork is still in the marinade.)

I heated my pan and added Canola oil to heat. (You could use vegetable, corn, peanut oil, or a blend. I just wouldn't use olive oil. I wanted a high smoke point oil and no extra added flavor from, say, an extra virgin olive oil. And I refuse to shorten that by typing Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Screw Rachael. Oh. And Rachael was nee Rachel and actually legally changed her name to add in the "a." I find that affective and just plain weird.)

Three to four minutes on each side over medium heat and the outside is seared and nicely caramelized and the inside is still a nice, healthy light pink. Veggie stir fry up next.

My veggies: broccoli onions red, orange, yellow, and green peppers mushrooms bok choy

I like my mushrooms seared, so they went in the hot oil first. Rosie's Hint #134: Do not salt your shrooms. Salting brings out the moisture and the mushrooms will steam, not sear.

Next, I added in my broccoli, since it will take the longest to cook.

After about a minute of stir frying, I added in the peppers ...

... some sliced garlic ... ... the onions ... ... and the bok choy. Just toss for a few seconds.

I had prepared a cornstarch slurry - water, cornstarch, soy sauce, and some of my veal stock for richness. (I used about 3 TB cornstarch and 2 TB water. You could substitute canned broth for the stock although it won't be the same as veal, since veal stock is a transcendental kind of thing, but at least it would give a bit a of flavor.) I drizzled the slurry slowly down the side of the hot wok, tossed the veggies to coat and let the sauce thicken, and cut off the heat.

Isn't this pretty? You always want to slightly undercook your veggies so they're nice and crisp and colorful and flavorful. Remember, they keep on cooking after you turn the heat off. Most people have a tendency to overcook both vegetables and meat. I urge you to avoid this tendency.