Pork Medallions with balsamic vinegar

Two is a company, three is a crowd.
"Mom, could we spend some time together, but alone (ok, taking F. / the baby brother/ with us)? You know just to do things alone, you and me, like girls do - go shopping, go to the hairdresser's, have an ice cream or something like that?"
You'd think that the arrival of a new baby in a family would simply create a conflict towards the last one to arrive. Instead my two daughters seem to be both in love with their baby brother, but are rather jealous of each other.
The older one wants some time alone with me, without younger sister, the younger one doesn't want to go to preschool any more so she could be with her baby brother all the time.
I took them out for dinner yesterday, girls-alone, and we left our two boys at home watching football and drinking beer, free to make all the noises they wanted  ^__^ And, alone, they seemed to get along quite well. The girls I mean. The little guy was, of course, all thrilled to spend an evening with his father alone.
If I wanted I could apply the first sentence above to our dinners,  and I could not agree more. There are days when each and every member of my family expresses a different request for dinner. My answer is usually, OK, wait a second, guys, I'll just go out for a minute, open a restaurant and then come back to take your orders!!!
I can manage up to two different dinners, but more than that only if you want a sandwich (unless I forgot to make/buy bread ).
I thought that going with this tender and delicious cut of meat I could satisfy everyone's taste, but, hey! there's someone here who doesn't like their meat to be "so tender".
No matter what you do, you can never please everyone. But those of us who chose to enjoy their meal, got up with happy tummy after dinner.
It was also a week I enjoyed red radicchio a lot, in different dishes, like risotto, ravioli, etc. I just love it. That slightly bitter taste is simply great, especially when paired with Balsamic vinegar.

Now, for those of you who don't live in Modena or in Italy, anyway, you may not know the difference between the Balsamic vinegar of Modena and the Traditional Balsamic vinegar of Modena. The first type is the so called "commercial type", industrially produced balsamic vinegar, more or less available everywhere, at quite reasonable price.  And if you check the label you'll discover it's made from wine vinegar, cooked must and coloured with caramel, plus you may find other things added, too.  The traditional balsamic vinegar is different. Really different. The production starts with the cooked must to which some old balsamic vinegar is added and that's how the whole fermentation process starts and ends. Nothing else is added. The consistency, colour and thickness will change with aging - the older it is, the darker and more dense it gets.  Pay attention, no wine, vinegar or caramel is added. That's what you have to read on a label if buying a bottle of real Traditional Balsamic Vinegar.
For this dish I used some "normal", industrial vinegar for cooking, but added some aged, dense vinegar later for serving, adding some balsamic glaze (sauce) to the meat as well.

Pork Medallions with Balsamic Vinegar

Medallions:
* 500-600 g pork tenderloin
* 2 TBspoons butter (or 1 TBspoon butter and 1 TBspoon EVOO)
* 2 TBspoons balsamic vinegar
* salt and pepper
*  flour
* Balsamic glaze or traditional (aged) balsamic vinegar (for serving)

Grilled red radicchio:
* 2 heads of red radicchio 
* extra virgin olive oil
* salt
* balsamic vinegar
* a few slices of pancetta (optional)

Slice the pork loin into 1,5 - 2 cm thick slices.
Season them with a little salt and pepper e flour on both sides shaking off the excess flour.

             

Warm up the butter (or butter and oil) in a large enough skillet to place all the meat in one layer and cook the meat on both sides until slightly golden.
Add the Balsamic vinegar and cook on low heat until the vinegar has evaporated.
Be careful not to overcook the meat or it will turn dry.
Just a few seconds before removing from heat add some finely chopped chive or parsley.
Serve immediately with a few drops of aged, traditional Balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze sauce and salad as a side,  or try some grilled red radicchio as I did.

Clean the red radicchio and cut it in half or four. Season with salt and a little olive oil.
Preaheat the grilling pan and grill the red radicchio on all sides on medium heat, until it's got the grilling marks and has softened a little bit.
Remove from the pan, slice and season with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
If you like, toast some pancetta in a dry skillet until crunchy. Chop it and add it over the sliced and seasoned red radicchio.

Medaglioni di filetto di maiale con aceto balsamico


Medaglioni:
* 500-600 g di filetto di maiale
* 2 cucchiai di burro (o 1 di burro e 1 di olio EVO)
* 2 cucchiai di aceto balsamico
* sale e pepe
*  un po di farina per infarinare
* glassa al aceto balsamico o aceto balsamico tradizionale (per servire)

Radicchio rosso grigliato
* 2 radicchi rossi (tondi o lunghi)
* olio extra vergine d'oliva
* sale
* aceto balsamico
* un po' di pancetta 

Tagliate il filetto a fettine larghe 1,5-2 cm.
Condite le fettine con sale e pepe e infarinatele bene, scuotendo la farina in eccesso.
Scaldate il burro (o burro e olio) in una padella abbastanza larga per contenere tutte le fettine di carne e rosolatevi la carne su tutti e due lati.
Aggiungete l'aceto e cuocete sul fuoco dolce finché non sarà evaporato. Non cuocete troppo la carne per non farla diventare secca. 
Poco prima di togliere la carne dalla padella aggiungete un po' di erba cipollina o prezzemolo tritati.
Servite i medaglioni subito, con un filo di aceto balsamico tradizionale o la glassa al balsamico pronta.
Servite con un insalatina oppure con il radicchio grigliato.

Per il radicchio grigliato:
Pulite il radicchio dalle foglie brutte esterne e tagliatelo a metà o in quattro. Condite dal lato tagliato con sale e olio.
Grigliatelo su una piastra ben calda su tutti i lati.
Trasferitelo sul piatto, affettatelo e condite con l'olio e aceto balsamico.
Se vi piace, tostate qualche fettina di pancetta in una padella senza aggiungere grassi, fino a farla diventare croccante. Sbriciolatela sul radicchio affettato e condito.

Svinjski medaljoni s balzamičnim octom

Medaljoni
* 500-600 g lungića
* 2 žlice maslaca (ili 1 žlica maslaca i 1 žlica ulja)
* 2 žlice balzamičnog octa
* sol i papar
*  brašno
* umak od balzamika ili tradicionalni balzamični ocat za posluživanje

Crveni radič s grila
* 2 glavice crvenog radiča (okruglog ili duguljastog)
* maslinovo ulje
* sol
* balzamični ocat
* (dodatak) pancetta

Lungić narežite na komade debljine 1,5 do 2 cm.
Malo ih posolite i popaprite, pa uvaljajte u brašno.
Zagrijte maslac u tavi i popržite kratko medaljone s obje strane.
Dodajte balzamični ocat i pričekajte da ispari.
Nemojte prepeći meso jer će postati suho. U svakom slučaju stupanj pečenosti prilagodite svojem ukusu.
Par trenutaka prije nego ćete meso izvaditi iz tave dodajte sitno nasjeckan vlasac ili peršin.
Poslužite medaljone odmah dok su topli uz par kapi gustog, tradicionalnog balzamičnog octa ili glazuru od balzamika (gotovi umak na bazi balzamičnog octa).

Radič očistite od vanjskih listova. Operite ga, posušite i narežite na pola ili na četiri dijela (ovisno koliko su velike glavice.
Malo nauljite i ostavite da odstoji par minuta.
Zagrijte gril tavu i stavite peći polovice/četvrtine radiča, prvo stavite prerezanu stranu na tavu.
Potpecite tako sa svih strana. Premjestite na tanjur, posolite, polijte s malo maslinovog ulja i balzamičnog octa.
Ovako pripremljenom radiču možete dodati i hrskavo prepečenu pancettu - stavite tanke kriške na suhu tavu bez dodavanja masnoće i pecite s obje strane dok nije hrskava, krokantna, a zatim nakidajte na komadiće i dodajte narezanom i začinjenom radiču.