Pork Tenderloin, Remix

At about 10 pm on Sunday evening I suddenly! realized that I would need to think about Monday evening's dinner. And who said that stay-at-home-mothers had an easy life?

As I keep most of the protein (heh, I'm conversant in chef-speak) in the freezer, I really do need to plan my meals at least a day ahead.

Oh, I know, I have some pork tenderloins in the freezer. And I have just the barest inkling of an idea for a marinade/sauce. Quick - off to the kit-cave??

Okay, please bear in mind that this was after 10 pm on a Sunday evening and I am just winging it.

My marinade ingredients are:

red pepper flakes

honey

whole grain mustard

rice vinegar

black pepper

soy sauce

Worcestershire sauce

garlic

ginger

I'm sorry, but as I was just winging this, there are no measurements available. However, I know that even if I had managed to precisely measure the ingredients, I would never have subscribed to these exact measurements again. All I can say is that you should make this to taste.

I started by grating the garlic clove and some of the frozen ginger and I moved on from there.

Taste, taste and taste again until you are satisfied with the marinade.

The marinade was poured over the pork tenderloin and this stayed in the refrigerator overnight.

Then, this afternoon I decided that bacon makes everything better (and keeps the daughter happy) so I defrosted three thick-sliced pieces of bacon for the dish.

I wrapped the pork loin and seared the meat over high-ish heat for several minutes on each side.

A digital remote temperature probe was placed in the meat and the alarm was set for 142 degrees.

Am I the only one who thinks that this picture looks like a lobster? No, just me? Guess I need to go get some therapy then...

Keeping in mind my daughter's preferences, I also prepared roasted red potatoes with bacon and onion and roasted green beans with bacon and onion. Hmm, notice a theme here?

The Asian pork loin ended up being succulent, tender and very flavorful.

Public service announcement: DO NOT, under any circumstances, ever attempt to touch a skillet handle that has, up to very recently, been residing in a 400 degree oven. How would I know that? Um, I don't know? And I really don't know anything about all of those extremely off-color words that were recently released rather explosively in this general vicinity. All I can say is that I am very thankful that my dear husband (have I recently said just how much I love that man?) cut the meat for me and that I am ambidextrous.

Oh, and I really, really want to hurt the builder who decided that my kitchen didn't need more than 2 linear feet of counter top in any given spot. Oh yeah, I have your number. You'd better run. Fast! And you'd better hope that I never catch you.

Er, back to the food...

After blanching the green beans, they were roasted, along with bacon lardons and sliced Vidalia onions for 30 minutes at about 400 degrees.





The red-skinned potatoes were scrubbed before being cut into one-inch cubes. They were then roasted at 400 degrees for 30 minutes before bacon lardons and sliced onions were added. This was then placed back in the oven for an additional 30 minutes.

I do believe that I have found yet another flavorful recipe for pork tenderloin. Even my conservative husband liked this dish. I love it when a recipe comes together.*

*Bonus points to whoever can figure out the origin of this phrase.

An Apple a Day

I had heard great things about Ann Burrell's recipe for Roasted Pork Loin with Cider and Chunky Applesauce. This sounded like a good choice for dinner tonight. Please note that the pictures will jump around from dish to dish as I am showing the order in which I worked to make dinner.

Here I have cinnamon and apples for the applesauce. Onion, kosher salt, apple cider, dried thyme, bay leaf, fresh rosemary, fresh sage, a garlic clove and one pork tenderloin are ready for the recipe. The butter and crushed red pepper flakes seem to be camera shy and are missing from the picture. I halved the recipe for the meat since I have a smaller cut than the recipe requires.

First, some sliced onion, salt and olive oil go into a baking dish.

Then some cider, the bay leaf and some dried thyme are added.

The rosemary and sage are finely chopped. I grate the garlic and toss in a pinch of red pepper flakes and some kosher salt. I add olive oil to make a paste.

The pork loin is placed on top of the onion and the herb paste is spread on top of the meat. I then set this aside while I work on the next dish.

I think I'll make a potato gratin. I couldn't decide on a recipe, so I made one up. Here I have some Yukon Gold potatoes, milk, black pepper, kosher salt, bacon, garlic and a shallot. I later decide to add some Fontina cheese to the dish.

I peel and slice the potatoes. Then I put down a layer of potatoes in a greased baking dish. I mix some salt, black pepper and the grated garlic in with some milk. A bit of the mixture is poured over each layer. Then I add a sprinkling of minced shallot and a grating of Fontina cheese. Repeat until all the potatoes are used. The remaining milk mixture and the shallots are poured on top and a generous amount of cheese is added. The diced bacon is sprinkled on top.

At this point I preheat the oven and when it is ready, I put in the pork tenderloin. After 15 minutes have elapsed I place the potato gratin in the oven.

Now it's time to work on the applesauce. I peel and core three apples before cutting into chunks. I soften them in melted butter.

A bit of cinnamon and some apple cider are added to the pot and the apples cook over medium-low heat.

The apples are soft and ready to eat. I did deviate from the recipe at this point, as I didn't want to add cream to the apples.

The pork loin is rested and sliced.

And the potatoes are done.

This was a nice and easy dinner, but I would have to say that I was a bit underwhelmed by the pork loin. I think I might try marinating the pork loin next time. We all loved the applesauce, but agreed that it needed more cinnamon. I would likely also mash up the apples a bit more the next time. I would have to say that the potato gratin was a success. Not bad for never having made a gratin before.