rosemary

Herb & Nut Roasted Pork Tenderloin w/Bourbon Cream

/ Ren

Served with maple butter glazed sweet potatoes and sautéed haricots verts with shiitake mushrooms..

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Trimmed pork tenderloin dredged in seasoned flour, dipped in egg wash with a little sweet sorghum syrup and cider vinegar then rolled in chopped pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds and fresh sage, rosemary and thyme.

Sorghum cooking at Sandhill Farm

Seal tightly, pressing nuts into the pork. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

To cook, unwrap pork and place in a 350 degree oven until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees (mine took about 25 minutes).  Transfer meat to cutting board and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, deglaze the skillet with a little bourbon then add some stock and quickly reduce in volume by half.  Add heavy cream and continue to reduce until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Whisk in a spoonful of coarse mustard and finish with a knob of whole butter.

Arrange sliced pork tenderloin on a platter and dress with the bourbon sauce.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Chicken & Biscuits

/ Ren

A one-skillet dinner, adapted from a recipe at the always-tasty What Geeks Eat

Fresh rosemary, sage and thyme, celery, onion, potato, carrots, milk, baking powder, S&P, roasted chicken stock concentrate, all-purpose flour, white wine, butter and bone-in chicken thighs.

Prep the vegetables.  Cook the potatoes to about half done in a little olive oil and butter.  Add the rest of the vegetables and continue to cook until colored but slightly underdone (the flavor of root vegetables is enhanced by browning).  Set the vegetables aside.

Add a little more butter & olive oil to the pan and brown the chicken well on all sides.  Continue to cook the chicken until slightly underdone.  Set the chicken aside.

Deglaze the pan with white wine, scraping up all the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add herbs, liquid chicken stock and a spoonful of the concentrate to pan and reduce over high heat until reduced by half.  Sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Add the chicken and vegetables back to the pan and simmer over low heat while preparing the biscuits.

Make a basic biscuit dough from flour, salt, baking powder, milk and cold butter.  Roll the dough into a cylinder then cut into 1 inch thick biscuits.  Place biscuits on top of chicken then put the skillet into a 400 degree oven until the chicken is cooked through and the biscuits are golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Serve 2 thighs and biscuits per adult.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Kickas* Burger

/ Ren

Ever go to that fancy restaurant and have one of those $12 burgers, only to go home dissatisfied?  Well, I have.  Lets see what we can do at home for less than 1/2 the cost.

Pretty hard to make a great burger from anything less than a great steak.  This is a dry-aged top sirloin, about 7oz. That’s a wedge of Lancashire Blacksticks Blue cheese, tomato on-the-vine, red onion, Yukon gold potatoes, fresh rosemary, sweet corn, a wheat Kaiser roll, some of the peppers that we put up last week, thyme, pepper, sea salt and worcestershire without anchovies.

Grind the well-chilled meat and add thyme, pepper, sea salt and a little worcestershire. Form the burger and set aside.

Get the potatoes going with rosemary and garlic. Add the corn and peppers, season with chile powder and cilantro.  Meanwhile, check you burger for your desired degree of doneness.  Assemble, plate and feast.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦