Chimichurri

Every which way but loose.

So, I started out with equal parts cilantro and parsley.

Chopped it up and set some aside for the potatoes.

The I added, 

2T red wine vinegar

3 cloves garlic,

1/2t red pepper flakes,

1/2t oregano,

salt and pepper

and spun it with 1/4 cup olive oil.

Put that on top of pork tenderloin medallions.

(or a shoe)

Next, add some cut up avocado and put that

on some thick tomato slices and 

WALA!

Chimichurri 

every which way but loose.

It's not often I name a meal.

PS, the one item not 

chimichurri-ized was that

delicata squash.

Not sure it could have saved it. 

Not a fan.

Hoisin Pork Salad

In theory it was supposed to be a roast, 

but it just shredded and the salad

I was going to use as a supporting player

got to become the star.

Or at least worked it's way into the credits.

The salad is a mix of;

romaine,

napa cabbage,

celery,

red peppers, 

and golden raisins

tossed with a store-bought Asian dressing.

The pork is another Rachel Ray.

Heads up, Rachel likes her food HOT!

I'll link the recipe, 

the things I "adapted"

were:

I used two pork tenderloins instead of the 

loin roast called for, 

and the 1 tablespoon chili paste

I cut to 1 teaspoon. 

Good call.

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dinner-recipes/hoisin-pork-roast

Sweet and Spicy Sauce

Or glaze. 

Or something. 

It would seem the hardest part of creating

a recipe would be naming it.

You know how 

pork is the *other* white meat?

Well, I'm not a big chicken fan so in this house

pork is the white meat. 

My favorite cut is the tenderloin. 

America's Test Kitchen gave me the 

perfect way to cook it. 

I use an oven safe fry pan, 

brown the tenderloin on all sides

 on the stove top

and then put it in a 375 degree oven for  

about 25 minutes depending on 

the size of the tenderloin.

I check it for doneness by how much

give it has when I poke it with my tongs.

I like it a little pink in the middle.

Over done pork is the pits.

Pork tenderloin is a perfect vehicle for any 

sauce you want. 

We are big on teriyaki, BBQ

and a cranberry sauce.

I got creative the other night and came up with this:

It is:

1/2 cup apricot preserves

2 T. soy sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

2 t. fresh grated ginger

1/4 t. red pepper flakes

When I took the tenderloins out to rest

I deglazed the pan with a hit of chicken stock

then added the sauce components and

heated them through. 

PS, those potatoes tasted pretty good

dunked in the sauce too. 

Yum. 

Pork Stew With Ancho Chiles

Let me start by stating I have not found

Rachel Ray's food to be as consistently good

as my smiley friend Giada.

That being said, I have stumbled upon a keeper

in Rachel Land. 

Did you know that there are entire sites devoted to the

hating of Rachel Ray?

That's not even nice. 

I'm not a hater, just maybe not a fan.

But I digress.

And I haven't made that statement for a while

so that helped prompt the little 

Rachel side note. 

On to the food:

Sorry the picture is not the greatest.

The meat was not burned as this photo might lead you to believe.

The sauce you make is a bit dark and I'm not 

too great of a photographer. 

The combination of which excuses or explains this shot.

You choose.

The recipe is actually (actually) called

Savory and Sweet Pork Stew with Ancho Chiles

Kind of an excessive title. 

If you ask me.

It was really good.

I think you could substitute a chuck roast or 

maybe even chicken for the meat. 

Dried chiles come in a very large bag

in my neck of the woods so I will be looking for

more recipes that call for them.

The "pickled" onions were fantastic with the meat.

Don't skip them.

I may not have gotten the sauce as smooth as

intended. I am going to try to 

pulverize it a little more next time. 

And that's about all my observations on this one.

Oh, but one last note, I am NOT going to freeze this.

There are peanuts and almonds smashed up in there

that you would never guess. 

I am scared to death that I would pull it out of the

freezer, forget the nuts, give it to Shanna

and kill her. 

Maybe I should re-name this.

Killer Pork Stew?

Pork Loin with Pinot Noir Sauce

I have my camera and my favorite person to cook for back.

And so you get, 

New Posts!

I know. 

The world waits with bated breath. 

Or at least Mom and Big :o)

So here is yesterday's creation:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/claire-robinson/pork-loin-with-pinot-noir-sauce-recipe/index.html

As I said before, I love pork tenderloin and am always on the 

look out for new things to do with it.

This was great and really easy. 

The hardest part was educating myself about Demi-Glace.

I happened to walk away from the TV as Claire

was explaining what it is and how you make it.

Big mistake. 

All I knew about it was somebody named

Escoffier had something to do with it and it takes a really 

long time to make. 

Oh, and that my FB friend Maggie had been interested in making it 

from scratch. 

Once. 

So, at least I knew who to ask for recommendations 

as to a good brand. 

First good call. 

Second good call?

Saying something to the sales person at Williams Sonoma 

about how expensive this stuff was ( $29 for 10 oz)

and that my recipe calls for 2 cups of the stuff!

Uh, it's a concentrate. 

A couple of tablespoon mixed with 2 cups of water should do it. 

Can you imagine what I would have wound up with!?

So crisis averted. 

And I am actually (actually) happy I discovered the stuff.

It has a really deep flavor and the package suggests

adding it to stews. That sounds fantastic.

Lessons learned:

Do NOT walk away from the television. 

Keep someone smarter that you in your back pocket.

Talk to strangers and tell them everything you know. 

Oh, and, Demi-Glace = good thing!

Pork Wellington

Alton Brown style.

I love pork tenderloin and so I'm always interested in new preparations.

This one from Good Eats caught my eye.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pork-wellington-recipe/index.html

It's really quite easy. 

I thought his idea to have you cut the tenderloin in half

and then flip the two sides to create a uniform thickness was great.

He has you stuff it with dried apples, which I did, but next time

I'm going to use craisins and maybe make a cranberry sauce 

to drizzle over the slices. 

It was really quite simple and other than swapping out the fruit,

the only other change I may make would be to 

skip wrapping the tenderloin in prosciutto.

You really couldn't detect it in the final product. 

Yum!

Low Sodium BBQ

Yes, it can be done!

Honey is having some blood pressure issues.

Since my heart lives in his heart, I am

very motivated to rectify the situation.

I can't remove the stress or change heredity but I can

COMBAT SALT!

Did you know salt is in like, EVERYTHING!?

The good news is, I use very few prepared foods.

Those seem to be the biggest offenders.

Bad news, 

so many of the condiments that make cooking so easy are 

chock full o'sodium. 

But, I WILL rise to the challenge!

Well, me, with the assist of the internet. 

I came across this site:

http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com/

I used their "Barbecued Spareribs 2" recipe as a start and 

changed it up by immersing country ribs in 

the cooking liquid in a slow cooker. 

After 8 hours I took the meat out and shredded it and 

then reduced some of the sauce down and added the 

molasses, vinegar and mustard. 

It was delicious. 

And I've learned something new about myself, 

I'm actually pumped for this new challenge.

Heart disease wants to put the love of my life in it's cross hairs

and I won't have it!

Oh, and I found uncured hot dogs so all is not lost :o)

Mediterranean Beef and Pasta

I'm always on the look out for something different to

make in the Crock-Pot and today I hit upon this on 

the official Crock-Pot Facebook page.

Yep, they have one.

It's pretty straight forward and turned out good. 

I think next time I would:

add some italian sausage,

sprinkle some toasted pine nuts on top,

and use twice as many olives, maybe even throw in some green ones.

Oh, and the sauce is pretty thick so I felt the farfalle was a better

pairing than the fettuccine they called for.

Gotta love those canned green beans. 

But I had issues.

Wednesday nights are pretty rushed around here. 

Mike has to leave for church at 5:45 and I work till 5 so

something that cooks while I'm gone is the best bet.

And this would have been great had I been able to work today :o(

I went shopping this morning.

I spent $160.00.

(don't even ask why I have a picture of my haul)

Once I got done photo-documenting said purchase I opened

the fridge to load it up and noticed the yogurt I picked up to move

didn't feel cold.

At all. 

Nothing. 

Was. 

Cold.

A call to my regular repair guy got me an appointment on Monday. 

I don't think so! They did give me a referral who upon calling told

me they could be here between 3 and 5.

Can I tell you, I don't work much but when I do, it's from 3 to 5. 

Argh.

Best laid plans.

But, whatever, there are blessings all around.

I didn't have to wait till Monday.

I live in Illinois.

It's February.

My entire garage is one big refrigerator.

It went out before I loaded it with $160 worth of groceries.

The repair was less than the cost of a new fridge.

All the shelves are clean.

There is no "old" food lurking about.

I was able to write a check.

Worst part, we had to eat canned beans.

Hey! I had issues. 

How was your day?

http://www.crock-pot.com/Recipe.aspx?rid=202

Goat Cheese and Cherry Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

An experiment gone right!

Question: can you take these ingredients and turn them into dinner?

Answer, yes you can!

I have wanted to try this for a few days. 

Five Ingredient Fix had a stuffed pork chop recipe 

that sounded pretty good.

Except for the pork chop part.

What is it with pork chops?

They're always dry and chewy and there is always a 

sliver of bone floating around that I get.

Now pork tenderloin, that I can relate to.

I guess the only part of the original recipe I used

was the goat cheese. 

She used goat cheese, prunes 

(that she insisted on calling, "dried plums", cause we're all dumb)

and some nut.

Oh, and the nasty pork chop.

I used goat cheese, dried cherries,

(that really are dried cherries)

almonds and a pork tenderloin that I butterflied.

My cooking method of choice for pork tenderloins

is to brown them off in a skillet and then pop them in a 

375 degree oven for 20 minutes.

They come out perfect every time. 

Just a touch pink, and that's ok, somebody, somewhere, 

solved that whole trichinosis thing years ago. 

The potatoes are Giada's 

Fried Smashed Potatoes which are basically small potatoes

that you have boiled, let cool, flatten out with the

palm of your hand and then pan fry in some garlic

infused olive oil. 

I've tried a few of Giada's recipes and I think I'm 

going to have to get over the whole 

"don't hate me because I'm beautiful" thing.

The chick can cook. 

Those are parsnips and carrots that I roasted with some

balsamic. they were fine but not exciting. 

Oh, and if you noticed the cherry preserves and amaretto, 

I made a little glaze out of them for over the pork.

And now, maybe a little of that amaretto in my coffee?

Who Knew A "Cookie" Could Cause So Much Strife?

I Fixed it!!!!!

Don't ask me how.

It had something to do with cookies and cache.

Whatever those are. 

As for this delicious dinner,

Aggie marinated some drumsticks in olive oil with

 5 spice powder and then cooked them with an Asian BBQ sauce that she made up.

She gave me the ingredients but no amounts (thanks, Aggie). LOL

I'm not big on drumsticks but I do enjoy pork tenderloin.

I marinated mine in some sesame oil and 5 spice powder.

I browned it on all side and then poured my rendition

of Asian BBQ sauce on it and popped it in a 375 oven

for 20  minutes. 

Yum.

A little quinoa on the side with an Asian dressing and sliced almonds and

some sautéed asparagus with red onions makes a meal in my book.

I'm a happy girl. 

Mike's a happy guy.

All is right in the world.

Mike also says all hell breaks loose when I say that.

I'll keep you posted....