Herbed Pork Noisettes w/ Red Wine Sauce

How was everyone's week?  Hope you're glad it's Friday, because I know I am!

It was sausage week at school and my group was tasked with making Andouille and Hot Italian Sausages.  They. Are. The. Bomb. Gonna have to start making sausage at home because it's way easier than I ever thought it would be!

Anyway, I've got a tasty pork tenderloin recipe for your guys today!

This is pretty simple and you could definitely play with the rub ingredients, but I happened to have tons of herbs from my garden, so I decided to use those and some simple salt and pepper!  No need to be fussy to be tasty, right?!  One of the guys in my class brought a bunch of tomatoes from his garden to give away to the class, so I put those to use in a simple and refreshing tomato and zucchini salad as a side.  After all these hot days, I'm trying to turn on the stove as little as possible so a cool side dish sounded perfect!

Ingredients:

1 lb. pork tenderloin
1 tablespoons fresh sage, minced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Red Wine Sauce:

1/4 cup onion, minced
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper, to taste

Trim the pork tenderloin of any undesirable fat..  You want to have a little to keep the loin moist, but not too much.

You'll probably want to make your sauce first since it will take longer than your pork.

In a medium saucepan, saute your onions under medium high heat in a little bit of olive oil.  Once the onions are slightly softened and translucent, add the red wine.  Reduce the mixture to a syrupy consistency, about 1/4 cup or so.  Add the beef broth and reduce again until about 1/2 cup remains.  Mount (stir in) the sauce with butter and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Keep warm until needed.

In a medium bowl, combine the sage, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Place the spice blend on a flat plate and spread evenly.  Place the loin on the plate and roll in the spice blend until fully coated.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Heat a large oven-proof saute pan under medium high heat.  Add the olive oil and heat until shimmering.  Place the pork tenderloin in the pan and sear for about 3-5 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness of your cut).  Let the loin rest for about 5 minutes before slicing into noisettes (small portion of meat that originates from a rib about 3/4 inch thick).  Drizzle the red wine sauce over the slices and serve alongside a refreshing salad of vegetables or starchy side!

This is definitely another winner in our book!  If Andy's happy, I'm happy!   Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Pot Roast

One of my favorite things about crockpot cooking (I know I've had a lot of crockpot posts, but seriously, for the busy student worker I am, it makes tasty meals with less work, so who can pass that up?), is that I can put something in there, go to work or school, come back home, the house smells absolutely amazing, and there's dinner just waiting for me to plate it. Seriously, with the fast paced world that we live in now, I don't know how I would survive without one of these contraptions! And pot roast is definitely a staple meal of the crockpot. The cold weather, crockpot, and pot roast are just a match made in food heaven.


Ingredients:

2 & 1/2 lb. pot roast (I used a chuck roast)
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 onions, chopped
1 bunch of celery, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons flour
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
15 oz. can of chopped tomatoes
6 oz. can of tomato paste
3/4 cup red wine (I used a cabernet sauvignon)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat your crockpot up on the "high" setting.

Heat up a large skillet under medium heat and add olive oil. When shimmering, add pot roast and brown on both sides, maybe 3-5 minutes per side. Place pot roast in crockpot.

In same skillet, add onions, garlic, and green pepper. Cook until translucent and soft, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the vegetables with flour and stir continuously for 1 minute. The flour will create a subtle added starchiness and help to thicken the sauce.

Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme, sugar, parsley, and red wine. Stir until tomato paste is well incorporated throughout. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 3-5 minutes to allow to slightly thicken.

Carefully add vegetable mixture to pot roast in crockpot. Cover and let sit at high for about 1 hour. Then turn to low and can leave for up to 8 hours. I let mine sit a working day, so about 8 hours.

About 30 minutes before you're ready to serve, add the carrots and celery. You could add these add the beginning if you wanted to, but they would be a little mushy. I like my carrots and celery to be slightly crunchy but still somewhat tender. When carrots and celery are to your liking, serve pot roast and vegetables with white rice, mashed potatoes, or just by itself!

I loved this dish. I brought leftovers into work the next day and the pharmacist I was working with even ate it cold. You know something is tasty when you don't even have to heat it up! He also said that the dish brought back a "normalcy" and comfort when he was eating it. I think I should pat myself on the back then because those are some pretty great compliments! Enjoy!