Roasted Pork Loin

I found a pork loin on sale at my regular grocery store

and began planning a meal around it.

Search out the sales in the meat case.

Brining lean cuts of pork before cooking is a good way

to keep the meat moist.



For this brine I combined

about 1/4 cup kosher salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

black pepper corns

red chile flakes

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 quart water



I heated this in the microwave for five minutes

and then stirred to dissolve the salt and sugar.



Then I added ice cubes and allowed the mixture

to come to room temperature

before placing the meat in the brine solution.

After one hour I removed the meat.

It is important to not let the meat sit in the brine for too long

as the brine will change the texture of the meat.

I laid out a grid of cut carrots and onions in a baking dish.

These acted as a rack to keep the roast up off the bottom of

the baking dish.

I salted and peppered the roast and added

Herbes de Provence and olive oil to the roast before baking

at 350 for about one and a half hours or until

the roast reached 140 degrees.

Cover with foil and allow to rest for ten to fifteen minutes

before carving.

Ready to serve.

Roasted pork loin with honey mustard,

the carrots and onion

and Irish potato puffs.

Very nice.

The Foodie Girls know how to eat.

Another Scottish Rite Night at the Irish Lion

Heh, I just love the irony.

The Valley of Indianapolis wants to promote

fellowship and to introduce the Rite to other Masons.

Thus, these dinners were born.

I have to say that it is nice to see those

who can't always travel up to Indianapolis to the Cathedral.

Looks like the city of Bloomington has decided

to throw a few obstacles in our path.

Hmph, and right before the judging committee

for America in Bloom is supposed to arrive.

We were set to dine in "The Glen,"

an empty space between two buildings

a couple of doors down from the Irish Lion.

Apparently, this space is only available for private dinners.

The honored guests are arriving.







Virginia Creeper covers the brick walls.



I did see at least two poison ivy plants,

and I hope that the owners take notice and get rid of those.




Poison ivy and good eats do not mix.







I heard that some of the early arrivals

immediately grabbed the seats under the tree.


That was smart,

as the temperature can feel up to 10 degrees cooler

under a tree due to the transpiration of water vapor


from the leaves into the atmosphere.









The old brick walls have seen better days.

Once again we were presented with choices.

This time we could pick New York Strip Steak,

Lamb Chops,

Chicken Cordon Bleu,

Fish and Chips,

Mutton Pie

(although at our table we agreed

that it was much too warm for that)

and Corned Beef and Cabbage.

But first I had to get a Guinness.

Wouldn't you?

The foam on top was almost dense enough to be a cream.

Our salads arrive.

Mixed greens, red onion, cucumbers, grape tomatoes

and white button mushrooms.

The dressing was slightly creamy

with a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

The dear husband ordered the New York Strip

with a baked potato.

He justified his dinner choice by saying that

many Irish immigrants settled in New York City.

Oh -kay.

Yeah, we'll go with that.

I ordered the fish and chips

as that seemed to be a bit more authentic.

Still,

I missed the Blarney Puffballs (tm Irish Lion).

Do you suppose they heard that both Rosie Hawthorne

and I improved upon the recipe?

The lights accentuate the walls.

Looking to the public opening to The Glen.

This was a nice evening and a great chance to reconnect

with our local fellow Scottish Rite members.

However,

the weather was quickly moving in,

thus shortening our soiree.

Well, I guess we need the rain?

I'm not sure we needed the power outages

or downed trees, though.

A Late Saint Paddy's Day Dinner

As yesterday was the Foodie Boyfriend's birthday,

I decided to wait until today to celebrate

Saint Patrick's Day.

In honor of the Irish,

I made a Mustard Herb Roasted Lamb Breast

and Irish Potato Puffballs.

Bacon, Broccoli and Craisin Salad gives us our green.

Tender lamb meat (if you can find it amongst the fat)

is nicely accented by the mustard and herb blend.

I will be making this dish again,

but with a different cut of meat.

Perhaps a nice leg of lamb?

A Special Dinner Out

Since my husband had to be at a meeting on our anniversary earlier in the week,

he made it up to me by taking me out to eat on Friday evening.

He even let me choose the restaurant.

That was nice because he would likely have picked Red Lobster.

I, however, chose Chapman's Restaurant and Bar.

We got to sit right next to the fireplace.

And look at that wall of wine.

I think I am in love.

My dear husband chose to start his meal with the Caesar salad.

The Foodie Daughter and I had eaten lunch here last week

and we had each enjoyed this lovely salad.

I decided to go a different direction and ordered the Mixed Greens Salad

with toasted almonds, sun dried cherries, Roma tomatoes,

hearts of palm, basil infused olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

The meal came with rolls and butter.

My husband also decided to order the 6-oz. Grilled New York Strip Steak with

shiitake mushroom butter, spice roasted sweet potatoes

and fresh vegetables.

He did ask to have Yukon Gold potatoes substituted for the roasted sweet potatoes.

The nice people at Chapman's were only too happy to oblige.

The dear husband was a very happy man.

He enjoyed his meal very much even though he generally doesn't like veggies.

I of course had earlier perused the menu online and already had a selection in mind.

I just hoped that they weren't out of it this time.

I was in luck.

I ordered the Sautéed Breast of Indiana Duck

in caramelized berry sauce

with potato lorettes

and fresh vegetables.

I had never had duck breast before and was anxious to try this new dish.

Honestly, if I didn't know it was duck, I wouldn't have guessed it was duck.

But it was tasty, tender and succulent.

The vegetables were good,

with summer squash, mushrooms, onion, cherry tomatoes, and carrots.

And as promised, they were fresh, not frozen.

The potato lorettes were essentially deep-fried potato puffs.

Sorry, Chapman's, but mine are so much better.

I would be willing to sell you my recipe.

Have your people call my people.

All in all, this was a lovely meal.

Truly, Chapman's is a gem in the vast culinary landscape of our town.

Blarney Puffballs, Take Two

Now that I have a *gasp* real deep fryer,

I decided to try to make The Irish Lion's trademarked Blarney Puffballs again.

My mise en place:

2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes,

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 garlic cloves, grated or minced
2 tablespoons onion (or 1/2 shallot), grated
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sour cream
2 slices cooked bacon, minced
1 egg
½ cup bread crumbs, for dredging

Peel and cube the potatoes before adding to some water and sprinkling with some kosher salt. Cook the potatoes in the microwave for about eight minutes, until fork tender.
Add the butter and mash until fairly smooth. Place the potatoes in the refrigerator to cool.

Meanwhile, grate the garlic, onion or shallot and cheese. Mix together with the minced herbs, flour, salt, pepper, baking powder, bacon, sour cream and egg and set aside.


Once the potatoes are cooled, mix in the other ingredients and put everything back into the refrigerator for another couple of hours.

Use a one-inch cookie scoop to measure out the right amount of potato mixture and then either gently roll into a ball or flatten the ball into a patty.

The puff balls or patties are then dredged in bread crumbs.

Put the puff balls or patties back into the refrigerator to firm up before frying.

The patties can be fried, a few at a time, in hot oil in a skillet before draining on a rack. The puff balls can be deep fried in oil that has been heated to 350 degrees in a pot or deep fryer.

Fry a few at a time until they are a golden brown. Drain on a rack after cooking.



The finished potato patties or puff balls can be held in a warm oven until dinner time.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chives, if desired.

I think I've got this just right.

Thanks again, Rosie Hawthorne, for your help with recreating this recipe.

A Sunday Evening Dinner

After my husband and I tried the Blarney Puffballs (registered, The Irish Lion Restaurant) a couple of weeks ago, I had been given the directive to find the recipe for these little bundles of goodness.

Fortunately for me, fellow world-famous blogger, Rosie Hawthorne of Kitchens Are Monkey Business, took up the gauntlet and made her version recently. Since Rosie had taken some of the Monkey Business out of recreating the recipe for me, I started with her notes and ran.

Here is my partial mise en place for my take on Irish Pancakes Patties.

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 Yukon Gold potatoes

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 egg

1/2 shallot, grated

1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

1 teaspoon rosemary, chopped

4 garlic cloves, grated

First I peeled and cubed the potatoes before adding to some water and sprinkling with some kosher salt. The potatoes cooked in the microwave for about six minutes, until fork tender.

I added the butter and mashed until fairly smooth. I then placed the potatoes in the refrigerator to cool.

Meanwhile, I grated the garlic, shallot and cheese. The minced herbs, flour, salt, pepper, baking powder and egg were mixed together and set aside.

Once the potatoes had cooled, I mixed in the other ingredients and put everything back into the refrigerator for another couple of hours.

Then, I wisely decided to make a test patty as after much deliberation, I opted to take Rosie's suggestion and make potato patties rather than puffballs. The deciding factor ended up being that with the patties I would not have to deep fry the potatoes.






I used a cookie scoop to measure out the right amount of potato mixture and then gently flattened the ball into a patty. I fried the patty in a bit of oil and served with a dollop of sour cream with a sprinkling of chives.





The Foodie daughter and I both decided that a bit of bacon would not be amiss and I finely chopped up some cooked bacon for the potatoes. More cheddar cheese was also added at this point.

I also decided to add in about 1 tablespoon of sour cream to the mix, just to kick things up a notch.







There, that looks much better. Back into the refrigerator.







Turning back to Rosie's recipe, I scooped out the potato balls before flattening and dredging in bread crumbs. And these patties then went back into the refrigerator to firm up before frying.

I fried a few patties at a time in canola oil before draining on a rack. The finished potato patties were then held in a warm oven until dinner time.

I had also chosen to bake a turkey breast roast for our dinner.






Unfortunately, I was unable to find an unseasoned turkey breast, so I settled for a roast that had added salt, dextrose, sodium phosphate and vegetable oil. It could be worse, I guess.

I wanted to make a special sauce for the turkey. I ended up creating my own sauce in the end, but I did start off with a recipe from the Internet.

3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
2/3 cup turkey stock
2/3 cup sherry
1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup Craisins, half chopped, half whole
1 teaspoon chives, chopped





The sherry, turkey stock and mustard cooked together for five minutes.

Then the Craisins were added.

The cornstarch slurry (cornstarch and water) were added along with the chives.

After tasting, yellow mustard, honey and black pepper were added to taste. Guess I couldn't leave well enough alone.

Not too bad, but I think I'll stick to my own recipe from now on.

Dinner is served.

The turkey breast was tender and flavorful. The sauce added just the right kick to the moist meat.

The Irish Potato Patties were a hit, with the bold flavors of the bacon, rosemary and chives adding just the right amount of interest to the potatoes. The sour cream and chopped chives on the side helped to ground and round out the flavors.

The Foodie daughter asked for corn with bacon, ignoring both her boyfriend's and my suggestion for broccoli as a side dish. Next time you get broccoli, dear daughter.

Everyone seemed to enjoy dinner and raved over the Irish Potato Patties.

I am a very happy Foodie.