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!

Beer-Marinated Pork Tenderloin

How's everybody doing?  I can't believe it's already Friday!  This week just flew by! 

I've been grilling more than ever, and pork seems to be the protein we've been working with the most lately.  I haven't marinated anything in forever, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do so.  My fridge was pretty bare, but I managed to scrounge some essentials: beer, soy sauce, and ginger.  I also picked some jalapenos from my garden and threw those in there for a nice little kick.  Add some sugar for sweetness, and we're well on our way to flavor town!

Ingredients:

1 lb. pork tenderloin
1/2 cup soy sauce
12 oz. bottle of beer (I used a Falls City Pale Ale - one of our new favorite beers!)
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon molasses
1 & 1/2 T fresh ginger, grated
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

Clean the tenderloin of any silverskin or excess fat. 

In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, beer, sugar, molasses, ginger, and jalapeno.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Place the tenderloin in a shallow pan (taller than the tenderloin) and cover with marinade.  Cover and place in refrigerator to marinate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat a grill to medium high heat.  Grill the tenderloin to desired doneness, about 2-3 minutes per side (assuming you turn it on all 4 sides and not just 2).

Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.  Serve with fresh vegetables or side of your choice!  We were both too tired to go to the store, so we settled on a can of green bean we had in the pantry - so NOT the same as fresh vegetables!

This was definitely a tasty little meal!  Definitely something you could leave to marinate in the morning and just quickly grill off once you get home from work/school! 

Hope you all have a great week =)

Beef Tenderloin W/ Broccoli/Cauliflower Hash

There's nothing more savory to me than a big hunk of beef (sorry vegetarians)! Especially a tenderloin, which when cut up is pretty much filet mignon! And don't worry you vegheads out there! I've got a Broccoli/Cauliflower Hash that is to die for (you could opt out the bacon of course to suit your needs).

Beef Tenderloin Ingredients:

1/2 cup parsley leaves
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb beef tenderloin in one piece
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 cups chopped cauliflower
1 lb red potatoes, cut into cubes
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3 ounces sliced pancetta, chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup beef stock
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon white truffle oil

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine May 2009 issue

In a food processor, combine parsley, rosemary, brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Process until it turns into a paste. Coat the tenderloin with the paste and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight is ideal.

In a large saucepan, bring salted water to a boil. Also, line a large bowl with paper towels and set aside. Add the broccoli and cauliflower to pot and cook until crisp and tender, about 2 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove broccoli and cauliflower from pot and place in bowl with paper towels and pat dry. Set aside.

Put the potatoes in pot and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the pot and dry potatoes. Mash the potatoes and add them to broccoli and cauliflower bowl. Mix the vegetables together well and season with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in medium sized skillet and add pancetta and cook until crisp, maybe 5 minutes. Stir the pancetta and oil into hash mixture.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Spread the hash mixture in the skillet in an even layer and cook until browned and crisp, about 3 minutes. Flip over hash in sections, and carefully pour remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil around edges. This will make sure the edges crisp up as well! Cook for another 3 minutes or until browned and crisp. Remove from heat and set aside.

For the tenderloin, you can either cook on a grill or pan fry in a skillet. It was raining outside, so I couldn't use the grill, so I decided to pan fry. And i liked this idea better too because I could get those juicy sucs from the tenderloin to make my sauce even better!

Unwrap the tenderloin and cut into 4 even slices, about an inch and a half thick. Season with salt and pepper and sear both sides until medium high to high heat, about 8 minutes on both sides for a nice medium rare. I use the palm method to test my steak's doneness, so timing really doesn't work very well, especially when stove heat differs for each person. Just cook it how you like it though! Transfer the steaks to a cutting board and let rest for about 5 minutes.

Now it's sauce time! With those delicious sucs you've got, deglaze your pan with the beef stock. Also stir in your mustard. Season with salt and pepper and there you have it, basic sauce! In addition to all this, I added 1 tablespoon of cold unsalted butter, this gives the sauce an added sheen and another depth of flavor. You can choose to do this or not. Set the sauce aside.

Reheat the hash in skillet until sizzling. Transfer the hash to plates and drizzle with a little bit of white truffle oil (if you've got it). Place the tenderloin steaks on top of the hash and drizzle with the sauce and serve.

Yes, there may be a ton of components to this dish, but trust me, it is WELL worth it. Very good all around! Enjoy

oh, and as an added side note, these brownies were what we had for dessert! You can find the recipe here at A Dash Of Sass!