This Italian-Inspired Pork Tenderloin Leaves You with Multiple Weeknight Meals
Welcome to Rollover Dinners, a series to help you make smart use of leftovers. Step 1: Make a family-friendly big-batch recipe for the first night. Step 2: Cook a meal later in the week that transforms the leftovers into a new dinner with minimal extra work.
Anyone else trying to get their family to eat more vegetables while simultaneously hoping to streamline cooking? Rollover Dinners are here to help. First up is an easy, Italian dressing-seasoned pork tenderloin that roasts on a sheet pan with colorful veggies. Those leftovers turn into crispy, cheesy paninis later in the week that take mere minutes to whip up. Here’s how to do it.
Up First: An Italian-ish Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin with Tons of Colorful Vegetables
Rollover Recipe #1: Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Giardiniera Vegetables
Pork tenderloin is as well-suited to sheet pan cooking as chicken breasts are, and it’s decidedly more delicious. This recipe calls for two tenderloins (they’re usually packaged in pairs anyway), which will feed your family one night and leave leftovers for another night.
The real star of this recipe is the giardiniera-inspired roasted vegetables: cauliflower, peppers, celery, and red onion. They roast with tons of garlic and olive oil around the pork and add flavor and punch to the next night’s Rollover Dinner.
After cleanup, reserve six ounces (about half of one tenderloin) and one cup roasted vegetables to make the pressed paninis. You’ll turn the veggies into a spread for the sandwich and press the pork along with some salami and provolone.
Roll It Over: Roast Pork Paninis with Olive Salad
Rollover Recipe # 2: Pork Paninis with Olive Salad
Since you already have your roasted vegetables and pork, all you need for these paninis is a jar of olives, a loaf of bread, and a quick stop at the deli counter. I like these sandwiches with salami and provolone, but you can use any meat and cheese combo you prefer. This sandwich might remind you of a muffuletta but the panini press turns it into a crispy, gooey weeknight dinner that everyone will love.
Rollover Dinners will win over your whole family with their flavor and ease, and you’ll avoid wasting food and cooking fatigue. Look out for more of these smart, delicious recipes each month here on Kitchn.