November 2007 Archives
There are so many easy ways to make juicy pork tenderloin. One way to butterfly it, hammer it flat, put down a layer of filling, and roll it up. It roasts nicely in the oven, the outside comes out crispy, inside is cooked and flavorful, and if you follow instructions - the meat is not overcooked. If you are worried about the meat coming out dry, brine it ahead of time. It is more important to brine meat if you are roasting/grilling it whole. When you butterfly and hammer out the meat, moisture retention is less important, because the filling will have some moisture content to help balance out the overall feel of the meat.When you decide to stuff your pork, you need to think about your ingredients and how they will cook together. Ingredients that separate when cooked are a bad idea (cheddar cheese). since you are working with pork, you can get away with fruit based stuffings, as well as savory stuffings. Apples and apricots go well with pork. you often hear of people eating applesauce with their pork, or serving pork chops with an apple and bread dressing. This dates back to pre-supermarket availability. The livestock was killed in the fall, and it was served with locally available ingredients. Apples were harvested the same time the animals were 'harvested'. I personally like the balance of apples and pork, so this was the basis of my dish.
I wanted the sweetness and tartness from the apples in my dish, but I also wanted a touch of spice and savory feel for the entire dish. I've had pork that tasted like it was bathed in candy, I wanted this dish to have the apple flavor, but not be overpowered by the sweetness of the apples. I off-set the sweetness with shallots, black pepper, cayenne pepper, ginger, and aniseed. No - there was no licorice flavor in the dish. The aniseed mingled well with the ginger and made the dish quite spicy.
I coupled this with tart and spicy mashed butternut squash. I wanted to balance out the four S's for this dish. I steamed the butternut squash, then I mashed it with some sour cherry preserves from a local farm. To finish off this side, I added a few drops of Tabasco Sauce and a little salt. I plated it with some finishing black sea salt. The larger salt crystals provided a nice crunch, and a little burst of flavor.
Pork Tenderloin Apple Roulade
- 1 pork tenderloin
- 1 granny smith apple
- 1 honeycrisp apple (you can use any red apple variant here)
- 2 small shallots
- 2 tsp fresh peeled ginger
- 1 tsp aniseed
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- salt
- pepper
- Canola oil
Prepare the filling first. chop the apples into little bits - avoid the cores, but leave the skins. Dice the shallots and ginger, mix in with the apples. Add the spices, a little salt, and pepper. Toss to combine.
Pat the tenderloin dry and butterfly the tenderloin. Lay the tenderloin between two sheets of plastic wrap and hammer it flat with a meat tenderizer - you are aiming for 1/4 inch think. Spread the apple mixture across the cut side of the tenderloin. Roll up and place the seam on the work surface. Spray a wire rack with non stick spray and place in a baking sheet with raised edges. Line the bottom of the pan with aluminium foil for easy cleanup. Coat the pork with oil with one hand, use your other hand to salt and pepper the outside.
If you are only roasting one (Convection Roast - 450 degrees) - it should be done in 20 minutes (145 degrees). Remove the pork and tent with foil for 5 minutes. The carryover cooking will raise the temperature to 150 degrees. Slice the pork into 1/2 inch slices at an angle.
If you are cooking two - rotate the pork halfway through cooking.
Spicy Mashed Butternut Squash
- 1 Butternut Squash
- Salt 1 tsp
- Pepper 1 tsp
- Tabasco sauce
- Sour cherry preserves - 1/2 cup
- Finishing Salt
Fill a large pot with enough water to almost touch your steaming tray, Bring the pot to a simmer.
Prepare the butternut squash. There are many different ways to do this - I should write a post about this. In the end, you want to have cubes of raw squash 1 inch by 1 inch square (no rind). Place the squash on the steaming tray and steam for 30 minutes. Remove the squash from the steamer and place into a bowl. Add the other ingredients and mash with a potato masher. Plate and finish with the black sea salt.
Well.. it was interesting. we had a small party this year. Me, my wife, my parents, the little one, and my nephew. 
I took the Wednesday before off to prep as much as I could. I messed up the turkey is as many ways as possible. I guess the "read the recipe, then read it again" should have been put to better use. I brined the turkey Wednesday afternoon, but I forgot to flip it during the night. So.. very little of the brine actually worked its way into the breast meat. I roasted the spices and ground them like I was supposed to, but, I missed the part in the recipe where it sits for 6 hours with the spice rub on it. In the end, the skin was excellent, but the flavors for the brine were only in the lower half of the turkey (dark meat) and the spice rub was under represented. The house smelled AMAZING, but the flavors were not how I wanted them. My oven also tried to sabotage me. It has a kitchen timer and a cook timer. The cook timer TURNS OFF THE OVEN. I normally use the microwave timer, but I was using that. So I used the wrong one. I kept checking the probe thermometers, and I noticed that the thigh meat had gone down in temperature. Well, the oven had been off for 10 to 15 minutes - lucidly it is convection, so the temperature is a little higher then standard ovens when the fans kick off. but we lost over 45 degrees in the oven temp. I think this affected the moistness of the unbrined turkey breast.
Everything else went well. I made buttermilk yeast rolls early in the day - they came out perfect. The day before I made cranberry sauce and a cranberry chutney, two soups, and prepped for the big day.
My previous post covers the pumpkin cheesecake. I decided to alter my menu a little. I took my pomegranate sauce and added it to the gravy before I added the flour. This added a very nice shallot taste to the gravy and just a hint of fruitiness. I had a few nice coincidences too. When I poured the soup into the bowls it practically plated itself. The creamy texture of the savory butternut squash soup shone like a crescent moon to the peanut soup. I garnished the soup with a few pomegranate seeds. It came out prettier then I had expected.
Everything else went well. I made buttermilk yeast rolls early in the day - they came out perfect. The day before I made cranberry sauce and a cranberry chutney, two soups, and prepped for the big day.My previous post covers the pumpkin cheesecake. I decided to alter my menu a little. I took my pomegranate sauce and added it to the gravy before I added the flour. This added a very nice shallot taste to the gravy and just a hint of fruitiness. I had a few nice coincidences too. When I poured the soup into the bowls it practically plated itself. The creamy texture of the savory butternut squash soup shone like a crescent moon to the peanut soup. I garnished the soup with a few pomegranate seeds. It came out prettier then I had expected.
I've made this cheesecake a few times over the last 4 years. The recipe is adapted from Cooks Illustrated, Alton Brown, and my own trials and tribulations. I've had the top crack, I've tried four or five different crusts, different spices, different types of cream cheese, fresh pumpkin, canned pumpkin, and many other variations. Everyone has liked the cheesecake, no matter how I make it, and it has been requested many times.First is the crust. there are a few schools involving cheesecake crust. some people used ground up graham crackers and butter. I prefer to use broken up cracker bits. You still have some large bits in the crust. The standard ratio is 33 squares to a stick of butter. But a plain crust does not stand up to this cheesecake. The cheesecake filling will have cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice in it, so we will mirror the same flavors in the crust. I prefer to toast any spices when available. The cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and cardamom can be quickly toasted in a small skillet, then crushed with a mortar and pestle. This will add a nice bite to the crust and make it showcase the cheesecake that rests upon it. The extra graham crackers can be used on the side of the cheesecake, sprinkled over the cream topping.
The trick to the pumpkin is getting the moisture out. Canned works better then fresh. I hate to admit it, but it has a more consistent flavor, the texture is predictable, and it is easy to get. The Cooks Illustrated method of whisking the moisture out with paper towels is better then anything I could come up with, so I use that method. the rest is pretty standard; toast and grind the spices, mix appropriately, cook in a bain-marie, cool, chill, slice and eat. I made a Navan and dark brown sugar cream, and sprinkled some of the crust over it. The Navan has a nice vanilla flavor, and the sour cream and dark brown sugar add sweetness, but not too much. For those not familiar with Navan, it's a cognac, from the makers of Grand Mariner.
When preparing the graham topping, take the reserved bits and reheat them in a small pan. This will make them crunchy, and refresh the flavors of the spices. It's best done 15 minutes before you are ready to serve. If you don't toast them, your topping will be a little stale and dull. The speckles in the whipped cream are from the brown sugar. If you top the cheesecake and let it sit for 3 minutes, most of the specks will liquify and you will not feel them in the cream. My whipped cream is usually an off white color. This is from the Navan and the brown sugar.
Recipe is below.
Crust:
- 33 graham cracker squares, crumbled
- 4 ounces unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds (not pods)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger.
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 allspice berries
Spray the spring-form pan with nonstick spray.
Toast the cloves, cardamom, and allspice in a small pan. When cooled, grind the spices and combine with other spices.
Crush the graham crackers into small chunks. This is easily done in a large ziplock bag. Toss the graham crackers with the spices in a bowl, then add the melted butter and toss till evenly coated.
Press the crumbs into the pan and press down with a cup filled with coins (added weight, requires less effort). Reserve the left over crackers.
Toast the crust in an oven (325 degrees) for 15 minutes.
Filling:
| |
When the crust is in the oven, start drying out the pumpkin. Spoon it out onto a baking sheet with 2 layers of paper towel covering the entire length of the pan. Spread the pumpkin out as evenly as you can, then press the liquid out with paper towels. |
Beat the cream cheese in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Once the cream has lightened, add the sugar and mix until incorporated. Add two eggs, beat until combined, add two more, mix, Add the lemon juice, mix, then add the fifth. Scrape down between each addition. Add the vanilla paste, sour cream and heavy cream. Mix until combined.
Pour the mixture into the cooled crust and wrap the pan in two layers of tin foil. Place the pan in a large baking dish and place in the preheated oven. When the pan is settled, pour in near boiling water to cover 1/2 of the spring-form pan. Bake at 325 for 90 minutes.
When 90 minutes is up, carefully remove the roasting pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack. When the water is cooled a little, remove the cheesecake pan and discard the water. Cool the cheesecake at room temperature for 1 hour, then cool in the refrigerator for 1 day.
When you are ready to serve, dip the pan in very hot water for 15 seconds, the slowly unmold the sides. Cut the cheesecake with a heated knife, and wipe it down between cuts.
I've finalized my thanksgiving menu. It is somewhat traditional, but I am trying some new things, and stepping outside of the box on my dishes, but trying to stay true to the flavors of the holiday. Last year my uncle and I served a duo of soups ying-yang style in the bowl. I'm doing that again, though I've tweaked both recipes. This year I am trying out the spice rubbed turkey recipe from Cooks Illustrated. I've got the giant bags for the turkey brine, and the salt/pepper/spice brine ingredients ready to go.
I think I will have a bold and flavorful turkey. I'm borrowing tips from Christopher Kimball and Alton Brown again. I'm taking some of the flavorings from the rub and the side dishes and stuffing the turkey with them. Alton Brown talks about this on his show Good Eats -- you take the ingredients and nuke them in the microwave - half a pomegranate, half a pear, lemon wedges, orange half, and cinnamon stick - then you stuff the cavity with them. It leaves room for air to circulate, and the warm fruit does not add to the cooking time.
To balance the flavor of the turkey, I am making a pomegranate sauce and a traditional gravy. There will be two cranberry sides - one with seeds, and one without. The one without seeds will be a standard cranberry sauce, the one with seeds will be more of a chutney. A little more savory then the traditional sauce. The addition of shallots and garlic to the pears and cranberries should balance well with the brown sugar and ginger.
We will have an apple and pear bread dressing, some warm chorizo cornbread, and dinner rolls. Hrm.. that sure is a lot of bread... I might cut out the dressing, and turn the cornbread into a dressing. In that case -- I need some celery, andouille, some red bell peppers, and an onion. I'll check at the butcher to see what type of fresh sausage they have.... And I need to make two batches of skillet cornbread after dinner tonight.
Instead of a sweet potato casserole or roasted squash, I'm going to make sweet potato/roasted acorn squash gnocchi with an apple cider sauce. I made a variant of this a few days ago, and the wife and kid liked them. The sauce has some garlic and shallots in it, so there is a hint of savoriness in it, the acidity of the apple cider and a little vinegar, and a dash of cayenne pepper for bite.
And to round off the meal I needed something green. I stepped way outside the traditional box for this one. I'm going to make some mustard greens. This recipe is a variant of Alton Brown's sesame honey glazed mustard greens. I'm replacing a few of the flavors to meld with my menu.
For dessert we will have the traditional spiced pumpkin cheesecake, limoncello, and my wife might bake a pie.
I think I will have a bold and flavorful turkey. I'm borrowing tips from Christopher Kimball and Alton Brown again. I'm taking some of the flavorings from the rub and the side dishes and stuffing the turkey with them. Alton Brown talks about this on his show Good Eats -- you take the ingredients and nuke them in the microwave - half a pomegranate, half a pear, lemon wedges, orange half, and cinnamon stick - then you stuff the cavity with them. It leaves room for air to circulate, and the warm fruit does not add to the cooking time.
To balance the flavor of the turkey, I am making a pomegranate sauce and a traditional gravy. There will be two cranberry sides - one with seeds, and one without. The one without seeds will be a standard cranberry sauce, the one with seeds will be more of a chutney. A little more savory then the traditional sauce. The addition of shallots and garlic to the pears and cranberries should balance well with the brown sugar and ginger.
We will have an apple and pear bread dressing, some warm chorizo cornbread, and dinner rolls. Hrm.. that sure is a lot of bread... I might cut out the dressing, and turn the cornbread into a dressing. In that case -- I need some celery, andouille, some red bell peppers, and an onion. I'll check at the butcher to see what type of fresh sausage they have.... And I need to make two batches of skillet cornbread after dinner tonight.
Instead of a sweet potato casserole or roasted squash, I'm going to make sweet potato/roasted acorn squash gnocchi with an apple cider sauce. I made a variant of this a few days ago, and the wife and kid liked them. The sauce has some garlic and shallots in it, so there is a hint of savoriness in it, the acidity of the apple cider and a little vinegar, and a dash of cayenne pepper for bite.
And to round off the meal I needed something green. I stepped way outside the traditional box for this one. I'm going to make some mustard greens. This recipe is a variant of Alton Brown's sesame honey glazed mustard greens. I'm replacing a few of the flavors to meld with my menu.
For dessert we will have the traditional spiced pumpkin cheesecake, limoncello, and my wife might bake a pie.
I've been working on redesigning the site during this last month. I have a few entries that I need to post up. Here's a teaser of a few of them.
We ate there this weekend for our 6th wedding anniversary. It was a mixed review, many high points, and a few low ones. Overall, it was an enjoyable visit. That's my wife, isn't she pretty -->I ordered the sweet potato croquettes as my starter. This went very well with my mild and gentle manhattan. These croquettes didn't have the typical breaded exterior, instead, the crust was the sweet potato. The maple chipotle butter was quite nice and shallots were spicy and sweet. the croquettes were a good size, two to three small bites each. The flavors were spot on, but the presentation was a little lacking. I think the whipped sweet potatoes were dropped in a deep fryer, then put on the sauced plate. The plating could have been spectacular with a little more effort.
This was interesting, considering she also owns Europa, which has great plating
My salad was a mixed bag. I got the Peach Melba, a bit of a tribute to the classic London dessert. It had spicy candied walnuts, goat cheese, bacon, spinach, a raspberry vinaigrette, and what I think were canned peaches. Fresh peaches, or grilled peaches would have made this salad a winner. They could have heated the walnuts -- a few of them were starting to get chewy. Overall, the salad was good, but it could have been better.
My wife got the standard house salad, and the waitress said the ranch was Hidden Valley. Sure -- many restaurants might use powdered salad dressing, but not many are SO UPFRONT about it. The waitress started to correct herself, but proceeded to tell us it was not like the stuff you get at the super market. "They use a giant bag of powder and mix it on sight. it's real good."
I ordered the crab cakes as my entree. They were cooked wonderfully, the rice was good, but a little on the heavy side. The rice was called Carolina Plantation rice. It had ham and chives in it. The "spicy remoulade" could have been a little spicier, but the consistency was good. The size of the crab cakes explained the price (second most expensive item on the menu).
The dessert list was uninspiring, so we passed on that. With four drinks, we managed to get out of there for $100 before tip.
The Sweet Potato Croquettes were the best thing I ordered. Salty, spicy, savory, sweet - everything was there, it wasn't heavy or overpowering, the butter sauce was thin and flavorful. The wait staff was attentive, the bartender sent up a straight martini instead of a dirty one, but I was into my salad by then, so I let it pass. As far as New Southern cuisine goes in richmond, Michelle's is a great option. Not as good as Julep's, but for me, they set the bar for New Southern cuisine.
My wife and I both concluded that they have a bread god chained up in the basement. The bread was amazing. It was herby, the bottom crust was amazing. Crunchy like fresh focaccia, you could still taste a little of the olive oil, and a hint of salt. The texture was great, you could see flecks of basil and rosemary, and taste a hint of pepper. The butter could have been room temperature, but they had a timing issue with it, so it was cold... but the bread stood up to it. I asked the waitress if the bread was made on site, she said yes. Apparently they make a different bread each week.
I ordered the crab cakes as my entree. They were cooked wonderfully, the rice was good, but a little on the heavy side. The rice was called Carolina Plantation rice. It had ham and chives in it. The "spicy remoulade" could have been a little spicier, but the consistency was good. The size of the crab cakes explained the price (second most expensive item on the menu).
The dessert list was uninspiring, so we passed on that. With four drinks, we managed to get out of there for $100 before tip.
The Sweet Potato Croquettes were the best thing I ordered. Salty, spicy, savory, sweet - everything was there, it wasn't heavy or overpowering, the butter sauce was thin and flavorful. The wait staff was attentive, the bartender sent up a straight martini instead of a dirty one, but I was into my salad by then, so I let it pass. As far as New Southern cuisine goes in richmond, Michelle's is a great option. Not as good as Julep's, but for me, they set the bar for New Southern cuisine.
My wife and I both concluded that they have a bread god chained up in the basement. The bread was amazing. It was herby, the bottom crust was amazing. Crunchy like fresh focaccia, you could still taste a little of the olive oil, and a hint of salt. The texture was great, you could see flecks of basil and rosemary, and taste a hint of pepper. The butter could have been room temperature, but they had a timing issue with it, so it was cold... but the bread stood up to it. I asked the waitress if the bread was made on site, she said yes. Apparently they make a different bread each week.
Halloween is over and we have some leftover candy tempting us. My mom showed me a neat concept: take the candy, chop it up, and bake it into the brownies. They look like regular brownies, but they have some secrets. Your coworkers will love them.You have to think about the flavor combinations when you get ready to bake these brownies. Some flavors don't go well with chocolate, but I doubt anyone will complain if you make multiple batches.
First you need a good brownie recipe. This one is an mash of Alton Brown's Good Ole' Fudge Brownies and a few other recipes I've tried in the past. I like this because you don't have to labor over melted chocolate, and the cocoa grants the brownies a rich chocolate flavor. Then you need some candy. We've done some experimenting in the past, and our tasters have preferred mint, chocolate, caramel, and peanutty flavors the most.
Because the candy is not mixed with the batter, the flavors do not wander. This allows you to set up quadrants and experiment with multiple flavors in one batch. I decided to try Nerds, and surprisingly, they are excellent. You can't see them, but they still have a little crunch, and a burst of orange flavor - it compliments the chocolate very well.
Leftover Brownies
1 1/3 Cups Dutch Processes Cocoa powder
2/3 Cup Cake flour
3/4 Teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
4 Large Eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown sugar
2 sticks melted unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare an 8-inch aluminum baking pan (make a sling with tin foil, then spray with nonstick spray)
Add the dry ingredients together and whisk to combine (Cocoa, flour, baking powder, salt)
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until they start to lighten and froth. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then add the sugars and whisk to combine. Next you are going to add the melted butter and dry ingredients in three alternating steps. Add the butter first. At some point the whisk is not going to move the batter very well, so have a good spatula ready. When you add the dry ingredients, mix it very slowly, otherwise, a plume of cocoa powder will explode into the air and cause a sneezing fit.
Pour the half the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the candy in the batter, then carefully drop and spread the rest of the batter over the candy. After baking this, I would recommend using more Nerds. The Milky Way and Kit Kat layers came out ok. The KitKat was weird, the wafer consistency had an off feel on the tongue, so I would nor recommend them. Andes mints are ridiculously good in these browniesBake for 50 to 60 minutes. Test with a toothpick, but check to see where you stab it (there may be melted chocolate messing with your results). Mine were done at 50 minutes
Remove the pan and let it cool. When they have set for 10 minutes, use the tinfoil to lift the brownies out of the pan.
low quality images from my iPhone
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