Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Smithfield® Marinated Fresh Pork. The opinions and text are all mine.
Who loves a delicious appetizer? *Raises hand*. I can’t remember exactly when I fell in love with tasty morsels and pretty platters, but I really do enjoy creating – and eating – appetizers.
The flavor combinations for appetizers truly are endless. You can serve them warm or cold, and with a vessel to pick them up with such as a cracker or a skewer. Summer time is one of my favorite times to try and make new appetizers. Days are long and warm. Evenings are a little slower and meals are enjoyed a bit more in leisure. I’ll often serve a lighter dinner on hot evenings like a hearty salad, so I like to make an extra snack platter or fresh appetizer for us all to enjoy out on the patio.
The other night I attempted to replicate an appetizer I had once at a local food festival. It was pork tenderloin on a crostini with some herbs & raspberry puree. With this in mind, I headed to Safeway to start shopping for this recipe to recreate!
Creating the Pork Tenderloin Crostinis with Raspberry Puree & Herbed Ricotta
First thing I did was BBQ a Smithfield Roasted Garlic and Herb Pork Loin Filet. I frequently use Smithfield products because they give my meals real flavor, real fast. I usually pick up some when I walk by the fresh meat aisle in Safeway. Let’s face it; we don’t all have hours upon hours to spend daily creating meals.
While the Smithfield Marinated Fresh Pork Loin was cooking I played around and created a raspberry puree sauce by blending one cup of fresh raspberries and ½ teaspoon of honey.
I wanted to add another component to the appetizer so I scooped a half of a cup of ricotta cheese into a dish and minced up some fresh chives and rosemary and combined them with the ricotta.
Once the pork loin was cooked thoroughly I let it rest before slicing half of the meat into 1X1 inch slices.
I then spooned a small amount of the raspberry puree onto a crostini and then added the pork loin piece. I placed the ricotta into a pastry bag and piped some onto each crostini.
Then I garnished them with bits of chives and proceeded to devour more than my fair share of them!
Smithfield: Real Flavor Real Fast:
Right now Smithfield is challenging readers to see just what you can create with Marinated Fresh Pork to make a meal with real flavor, real fast – in 30 minutes or less! For more inspiration, or to submit your original recipe to the “What Can You Do With 30?” contest, head over to www.SmithfieldRealFlavorRealFast.com.
You can find your favorite Smithfield products at your local Safeway.
Ingredients
- 1 Smithfield Roasted Garlic and Herb Pork Loin Filet
- 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
- 1 cup of fresh raspberries
- 1/2 teaspoon of honey
- 1 tablespoon of minced chives
- 1 tablespoon of minced rosemary
- 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
- Package of crostini or similiar product
- Optional:
- Chives & Sea Salt to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your BBQ. Wrap the Smithfield Pork Loin Filet in foil and BBQ until cooked thoroughly. Set aside and let the meat rest.
- Mince the chives and rosemary and mix into the ricotta cheese. Add the garlic powder. Place the herbed ricotta mixture into a pastry bag. If you do not have a pastry bag, place the ricotta into a quart sized zipped sandwich bag and cut a tip off the bag so there is a 1/4" sized opening on one end.
- Puree the raspberries and stir in the honey.
- Lay out the desired amount of crostini's you need. There should be enough materials to assemble 2-3 dozen appetizers, depending on the size of the crostini.
- Slice the pork loin filet into 1x1 inch pieces.
- Spoon a small amount of raspberry puree onto each crostini, followed by a slice of pork loin. Pipe the ricotta mixture on top.
- Garnish with chives and sprinkle with coursely ground sea salt.
- Enjoy!
~Melissa
4 comments