Pork Tenderloin w/ Orange-White Wine Marinade

1 more week to go and I'll be a culinary school graduate! 

A lot of people ask me what I'll do next, and honestly, I look at them strangely.  I work in my field already.  I technically work at two prominent restaurants in town under two very amazing chefs.  I plan on continuing to at least work for one of them.  I originally thought we'd move out of town to somewhere warmer or whatnot, but it looks like we'll be staying put in Kentucky for a little while.

We've begun the process of searching for a house to buy and put it an application for pre-approval on a mortgage loan.  It's scary and stressful, but oh so exciting at the same time.  So here's to crossing our fingers that all goes our way!

This was a pretty easy dish that I basically made up to get rid of a bunch of stuff we had lying around.  Feel free to improvise based on what you have!

Ingredients:

1 cup white wine
1/2 cup champagne vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
4 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves,crushed
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced onions
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
4-5 fresh thyme sprigs
salt and pepper, to taste
1 lb. pork tenderloin
2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

In a medium bowl, combine the wine, vinegar, orange juice, olive oil, garlic, carrots, onions, peppercorns, bay leaf, and thyme sprigs.  Mix well and reserve about 1/4 cup in a separate bowl.

Place tenderloin in a deep pan and pour marinade over top.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, up to one day.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Remove tenderloin from marinade and pat dry.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat olive oil in a large oven-proof pan under medium high heat.  Add tenderloin and sear until golden brown on all sides.

Transfer pan to the oven and cook until medium, medium well - about 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your tenderloin.

While the tenderloin is cooking, you can prepare your sauce.  In a small saucepan, add the reserved marinade  and chicken stock.  Reduce mixture until only 1/4 cup remains.  Mount sauce with the butter and season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

Let tenderloin rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.  Slice into 1/2-3/4 inch thick slices.  Place over top sauteed vegetables and top with sauce.

 

Easy peasy dinner ready in a flash!

See you guys next week!

Meyer Lemon Poundcake Cupcakes

Well, this post would have come sooner if a certain somebody didn't mistakenly take the USB cable for my camera with him to work instead of his own camera's cable.  But... I'm not complaining.  I've let go of that grudge. Hehe.  But trust me, I wasn't a happy camper earlier.

Anyway, it's been a pretty cruddy day.  It hasn't stopped raining since this morning and the sky is a depressing shade of gray.  Days like these I just want to stay home and bake.  Bake things that brighten up my day and my mood.  Like these cupcakes.  Guaranteed to turn any depressing, gray day into something bright and beautiful!

I brought these into work earlier this week and they practically vanished in no time!  And funny conversation, I told them I used Meyer Lemons and kind of educated them on the difference between it and a regular old lemon, and the whole time I was saying Meyer lemons, my coworkers were thinking I was talking about the grocery store we have around here, Meijer (pronounced the same way), and so they were a bit puzzled why those lemons were so special.  Silly, silly coworkers.  I really have to give them some more citrus education soon. 

Anyway, without further ado (I mean, you've waited long enough), one of the best cupcakes I've ever had...

Ingredients:
Adapted from Cooking on the Side's recipe

They're just waiting to be eaten.

For cupcakes:

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 & 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
juice from 1 Meyer lemon
zest from 1 Meyer lemon

For glaze:


1 cup powdered sugar
juice from 1 Meyer lemon

I'm tellin' ya, they go quick!

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and corn starch.

In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter until fluffy and creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Alternate adding the flour and heavy whipping cream to sugar and eggs.  Stir in vanilla, lemon juice and zest.


Fill each paper liner about 3/4 full with batter.  I had enough batter to make 18 cupcakes and a whole loaf in a bread pan.

Bake cupcakes for about 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake come out clean.  If you decide to make a loaf as well, bake for about 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.


Remove cupcakes from muffin tin and cool on a cooling rack until at room temperature.

To make the glaze, in a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice.  Using a whisk attachment, beat until glaze is smooth and free of lumps from sugar.  Add more lemon juice, if desired.  Top cupcakes with glaze.


Seriously, these were amazing.  The pound cake was perfectly dense and had just the slightest lemon tinge, which was perfect for me - and apparently Andy also, who ate like 5 in one sitting.  Whether you make a loaf or a cupcake, you'll have a hard time keeping these around because I've noticed they have a tendency to just disappear!  Enjoy guys!