Elevating Pork Tenderloin with a Tangy Goat Cheese Dressing

By: Nikhita Mahtani
Show: Chopped
Pork Tenderloin with Plums

Grilled Pork Tenderloin and Plum wCreamy Goat Cheese Vinaigrette

Photo by: Petrina Tinslay

Petrina Tinslay

For this week's Chopped Dinner Challenge, the chefs of Food Network Kitchen chose to feature the basket ingredient goat cheese. With its creamy texture and pungent flavor, goat cheese can usually be found crumbled on salads or mixed into spreads to give a salty touch to vegetables and crackers. In this recipe for Grilled Pork Tenderloin and Plums with Creamy Goat Cheese Sauce, the goat cheese gets mixed with Greek Yogurt and olive oil to create a tangy serving sauce, making for a winning summery meal any night of the week.

First, combine the Greek yogurt, goat cheese and 1/3 cup of water with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, parsley and scallions. Whisk until smooth. This will be your serving sauce.

Next, heat an outdoor grill or large grill pan over medium-high heat. Brush the pork tenderloin with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Grill until charred on both sides, about 12 to 16 minutes.

While the pork is grilling, halve and pit the plums. Brush them with 1 tablespoon of oil (on the cut side), and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the plums cut-side down on the grill and cook until the top of the flesh has just softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Remove the pork from the grill and let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice thinly and sprinkle with salt.

For the salad, toss the baby arugula with the remaining olive oil and lemon juice in a bowl, seasoning it with salt and pepper.

To serve, divide the arugula among 4 plates. Smear some goat cheese sauce on the side of each plate and place several slices of pork tenderloin on top, along with half a plum. Serve the rest of the goat cheese sauce on the side.

Chopped Dinner Challenge

The Chopped Dinner Challenge is a series of recipes showing you how easy it is to cook like a winning Chopped competitor. Every week, FN Dish will showcase a recipe created by Food Network Kitchen that uses at least one of the Chopped basket ingredients from an episode, plus basic grocery goods and simple staples. Consider it your very own Chopped challenge. Just take this frequent tip from the judges: Don’t forget to season!

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