Pork Tenderloin with Red Wine Reduction

Recipe By :Cooking Light June 2001
Serving Size : 4
Categories : Main Dish

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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1 1/4 Pounds Pork Tenderloin
1 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon Black Peppercorns -- coarsely chopped or crushed
2 Teaspoons Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth
Salt -- to taste
1/2 Cup Dry Red Wine


Slice tenderloin lengthwise, being careful not to cut through to other side. Split meat into one large, flat piece. Spread mustard over both sides of the meat and rub in pepper, pressing gently so it adheres well.
Cut meat crosswise into 4 even portions. In large skillet, heat oil over medium flame. Put tenderloin in the pan and cook for about 10 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 155 degrees, turning once.

Transfer meat to a plate and tent with foil to keep it warm. Add chicken broth and wine to pan and cook over medium-high heat, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pan. Continue to cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until sauce is reduced to about � cup. Pour sauce over meat, season with salt, and serve

Beef Sandwiches with horseradish sauce

We made these delicious little sandwiches for my 34th birthday bash! We had a simple gathering with good friends and of course GOOD FOOD! We had a variety of appetizers and served these little sandwiches with a salad of beets and greens and bean salad.


* 2 to 4 pound beef chuck pot roast
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
* 2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper

For the sandwich:


* Dinner rolls for smaller sandwiches
* Mustard Horseradish Sauce, recipe follows
* 1 bunch arugula
* Kosher salt
* Freshly ground black pepper


Directions

The night before cooking we patted the outside of the roast dry with a paper towel. Mix the unsalted butter and mustard together in a small bowl and spread the mixture over the beef with your hands. Sprinkle evenly with the salt and pepper.

Place the beef in a roasting pan on a bed of carrots, onions, and herbs(this was not listed above in the ingredient list). Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake for approximately until internal temp (thickest part of the meat) reads 130 degrees for medium rare.

Remove the beef from the oven, cover it tightly with aluminum foil, and allow it to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes. We sliced the meat thinly.

Spread the Mustard Horseradish Sauce on the top half of the rolls. Top with slices of beef and arugula and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Mustard Horseradish Sauce:

3/4 cup good mayonnaise (light BestFoods)

1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

1/2 tablespoon prepared horseradish (Mark added about 5xs this amount)

2 tablespoons sour cream (light)(Mark only used 1 TBSP)

Kosher salt

Whisk together the mayonnaise, mustards, horseradish, sour cream, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: 1 cup

Additional modifications: Allison made the BEST Au jus by de-glazing the baking pan with beef broth. Yum! Allison what is your secret?! :) More info to follow.

Recipe modified from Ina Garten's recipe on the Food Network.

Chicken Pasta Bake

Quick, easy, and kid friendly! I must say quite lovely with a green salad and glass of Syrah.

* 8 oz. penne pasta (whole wheat)
* 1 Tbsp. olive oil
* 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
* 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
* 1 28 oz. jar spaghetti sauce (I used our homemade batch from the garden!)
* 1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
* 1 3 oz. package cream cheese (fat free)
* 2 cups fresh baby spinach, washed and patted dry with a paper towel
* 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (part skim)
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick spray.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions for "al dente." Drain. Pour into prepared baking dish.

3. Heat oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium-high heat. While oil is heating, cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces.

4. Brown chicken in oil. Add Italian seasoning, half of the spaghetti sauce and the drained tomatoes. Let simmer 2-3 minutes.

5. Cut cream cheese into small chunks. Add to chicken and tomato sauce mixture. Simmer until cream cheese is melted.

6. Stir in spinach. Cook another minute, until spinach wilts slightly.

7. Pour chicken mixture over pasta. Top with one cup of the shredded mozzarella. Top with the remaining spaghetti sauce, remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

8. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes, or until bubbly.

Brined Pork Chops

1/2 gallon of water
1/2 c Kosher Salt
1/4 c Sugar
3 Bay Leaves
5-6 Dried Juniper Berries (crushed)
4 cloves of garlic (crushed)
1 tsp dried sage

Add all ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil to dissolve salt and sugar. Allow to cool and refrigerate. Soak chops in brine 1 hour, 10 minutes for 3/4 " thick pork chops. (for 1 1/2" chops soak for 2 hours) Remove from brine, rinse, and pat dry with paper towels. Allow to rest in refrigerator uncovered for approximately 2 hours. To cook: sear on each side for 2 minutes then cover and cook for 4 minutes.

Recipe compliments from

Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing

Braised Turkey Leg Soup

Braised Turkey Legs
(compliments of Simplyrecipes.com)

Everybody loves turkey breast for their turkey sandwiches but the more flavorful meat comes from the dark meat found in turkey thighs and legs. These, by the way, are much less expensive than the breasts. Mom and dad have a great way of preparing braised turkey legs, perfect for a cold winter day.
Print Options

Braised Turkey Legs Recipe

Ingredients

* 2 turkey legs and 2 thighs, about 4 lbs
* Olive oil
* 1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
* 1 cup of finely chopped celery
* Salt, pepper, and cayenne
* Water or other braising liquid (dry wine or stock)
* Corn starch
* Parsley, chopped, about 1/4 cup

Optional winter vegetables such as:

* Potatoes, peeled and quartered
* Carrots, chopped
* Turnips, quartered
* Rutabagas, quartered
* Parsnips, chopped

Method

1 Sprinkle turkey thighs and legs with salt and pepper. Brown the turkey thighs and legs on medium high heat in a little bit of olive oil in a large sauté pan with high sides. Add chopped onion and celery to form a nest under the turkey pieces. Sauté an additional 5 minutes.

2 Add enough braising liquid - either water, stock, wine, or a combination - so that the liquid covers the bottom inch of the pan, about 1 cup. Bring to a simmer. Lower heat and simmer covered for an hour and a half, or until the turkey is so well cooked and tender that the meat easily falls off of the bones. Remove the turkey meat from the pan and remove the bones, taking special care to remove the many small narrow bones of the legs. Remove the skin.

Optional: At this point you can use the liquid remaining in the sauté pan to cook the potatoes, carrots and turnips. Add the vegetables to the pan and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Cook covered until they are done, about 20 minutes. Remove from pan so you can reduce the remaining liquid without overcooking the vegetables.

3 Reduce the liquid remaining in the pan to intensify some of the meat juices for added flavor. Take a teaspoon of cornstarch and dissolve in a 1/2 cup of water. Add cornstarch mixture a little at a time to sauce, adding more liquid, until the sauce achieves the desired body. Adjust seasoning. Add salt and pepper if needed, add a little cayenne or Tabasco sauce. If the sauce is too sweet, add a little vinegar or lemon. Add parsley.

4 Add the turkey meat back in the pan with the sauce. Serve immediately over rice or bread or with the vegetables if you have chose to make them.

Serves 6-8.

Picture and review to follow

Chicken and Smoked Sausage Etouffee

Recipe: Tyler Florence

* Extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 pound andouille sausage links
* 4 leg-thigh chicken pieces
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (we used less than half this amount)
* 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
* 2 ribs celery, roughly chopped
* 1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
* 4 cloves garlic
* 1 (12-ounce) can beer (Lager Times from Trader Joes)
* 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
* 2 bay leaves
* 2 tablespoons paprika
* Pinch cayenne pepper
* 1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
* 2 scallions diced

Directions

Set a Dutch oven (I used a large stock pot) over medium heat and add a 1 TBSP of olive oil. I cut up the sausage and browned slightly as I rendered some of the fat. Remove and set aside on a paper towel. Season chicken with plenty of salt and pepper and add skin side down to the pan. Cook over medium heat to render fat for 7 to 10 minutes, then turn to brown both sides of the chicken. Remove and set aside on a paper towels.

With the pot still over medium heat add 2 tablespoons butter to melt with the fat then add flour and whisk to incorporate, and then swap to a wooden spoon. Cook until it is nice and brown (you want a nice deep rich colored roux), about 10 to 12 minutes.

Dice the onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic. Add the vegetables to the pot with the roux and stir with a wooden spoon. Cook over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes to sweat out some of the moisture, then deglaze the pot with the beer. Add the stock, bay leaves, paprika and cayenne. Return the chicken pieces to the pot and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken pieces from pot to a cutting board and shred the meat. Discard the bones and return the meat to the pot. Cut the andouille sausage into chunks and nestle back into the pot amongst chicken to heat through.

Give it all a final taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with plenty of parsley and scallions.

When this was finished Mark ended up skimming off quite a bit of the fat. Due to the fact that we didn't add as much flour our Etouffee had less of a gravy consistency.

This was absolutely delicious! We served it with jasmine rice because that just happened to be what we had on hand. It worked very well with it. In the picture you can see that Mark topped his serving with red chili flakes for a little kick.

Lamb Shanks with garlic and herbs

Recipe adapted from: Atkins for life Cook book

After working a string of several 14-15 hour days I asked Mark if I could make anything special for Friday night wind down meal. Mark perused a few cook books and found a recipe for crock pot lamb shanks. They were super easy and absolutely delicious. Try em' out and let us know what you think:

6 (1-pound) lamb shanks
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
10 garlic cloves, peeled
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 large onion
1/4 c dry white wine
1/2 cup diced tomatoes in juice (I used one large fresh tomato from the garden-yum!)
14 oz low sodium beef broth
1 tsp gravy flour
1/4 c chopped parsley for garnish

1. Season lamb with salt and pepper. Place in slower cooker with meaty ends down. I had the butcher cut the shanks down so they would easily fit into our slow cooker. Add garlic, rosemary, thyme, onion, wine, tomatoes, and broth. Cover and cook 8 to 9 hours on low or about 5 hours on high until shanks are very tender.

2. Remove shanks from liquid, cover, and set aside. Remove and discard any herb sprigs, remove garlic, and mash with a fork, then return to broth. Skim excess fat from broth and whisk in a small amount of thickener until smooth (gravy flour worked well. Pour over lamb and serve sprinkled with parsley.

I served this with pureed cauliflower and it was delicious! Wishing I would have taken a picture - next time!

Allison's Birthday Dinner!

This was such a fun & delicious meal to create! We decided to go with a middle eastern theme.

Homemade Pita Bread (recipe compliments of John Dials):

3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/3 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
1 package of dry active yeast

Directions:

1. Sift flour and salt together in a large bowl.

2 Combine yeast, sugar and 1/3 cup very warm water-give a quick stir and set aside for 5 minutes to activate yeast.

3. Make a well in the flour/salt mixture and add the yeast, 1 cup warm water and the olive oil.

4. Gently stir to gather dough into a ball-you may need a touch more water-depending on where you live, altitude.

5. Turn out and knead for 10 minutes.

6. Put into a LIGHTLY greased large bowl, cover and place in a warm spot for around 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

7. Punch down and knead to smooth.

8. Cut dough into 12 pieces, form into rounds, roll out and place on a dusted baking sheet, cover and let rest for 45 minutes.

9. Preheat oven to 500F degrees or turn grill on to high.

10. Once placed on the grill, cover quickly and check after about 90 seconds. Brush with a little bit of olive oil and turn with tongs and cover for another minute or so. Cooking times and temps will vary depending on grill. Let cool about 5-10 minutes at least before you try serving (the bread will still be cooking after you pull it out).

11. Some like to wrap the cooked pitas in a slightly damp tea towel for a minute or two-then cool and place in plastic bags. We opted to place cooked pitas onto parchment paper, on cooking sheets, and cover with a dry tea towel.


Greek Salad

3 Large cucumbers (spoon out seeds)
1 large tomato
1 block of feta cubed
2/3 cup of pitted kalamata olives
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1 TBSP olive oil

If you let this salad rest overnight the flavors are much more pronounced. It is easy, delicious, and very seasonal for summer in the pacific NW.

Dolmas

C'mon now... we didn't make our own dolmas....we have a 2 1/2 year old! Instead we went to our local middle eastern specialty store and found a canned brand recommended by the store attendant.

Attached to one of our favorite restaurants Ya Hala is a middle eastern specialty market. The restaurant is located at:

8005 SE Stark
Portland, OR 97215
(503) 256-4484

Dawali is the brand and the dolmas incorporated tomato in addition to the garlic & olive oil - very tasty! The brand was Lebanese rather than Greek. Like Ya Hala restaurant, the market incorporates Greek & Lebanese favorites.


Tzatziki

1 large container of plain yogurt (whole fat, not pre-stirred)
1/2 lemon juiced, pinch of lemon zest if desired
4-5 cloves crushed garlic
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and grated (with a cheese grater)
2 TBSP mint finely minced (or you can use parsley)
Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Place yogurt in a sieve (some recipes advise using a tea towel) over a bowl in the fridge for 2 hours to drain off any extra fluid.

2. Once yogurt is drained prepare remaining ingredients and add.

3. You can serve at this point, however, if you have time to refrigerate for an hour all the way up to over night you should do so. Flavors tend to mix and intensify the longer you let this dish set.

Serve with pita or with meat. We served along side our grilled leg of lamb. Delicious!