Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Last week my friend Penny and I had our annual first Spring shopping trip to Asheville.  We always like to stop for lunch at Fig, our favorite French bistro.  It was a lovely day and we ate on the patio.  Penny ordered the Pork Schnitzel with Cranberry Beans and Chow Chow.  Here is how it looked.

 She said it had a lot of flavor.  The flattened pork tenderloin was slathered in mustard before being breaded in Panko crumbs and deep fried.  The smooth cranberry beans and piquant chow chow relish sounded to me like the perfect balance of flavors.  So I had to see if I could make it at home.  I am very happy with the results.

I could not find cranberry beans, so I substituted simple red beans.  I pan fried the flattened pork tenderloin filets after dipping them in flour, thinned Dijon mustard and Panko crumbs.  I bought the chow chow relish at a local roadside stand.  This made a wonderful meal.

It feels good to get inspirations from a restaurant and be able to come up with a new and special dish.  Although this came from a French inspired restaurant, it has all of the earmarks of a true Southern dish, albeit with German overtones.  I guess you could call it Global.  I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday at Penny’s Comforts of Home.

PORK SCHNITZEL WITH RED BEANS AND CHOW CHOW

1 (1 1/2 lb.) Pork Tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces.  You should get about 5 pieces
1/2 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup Dijon mustard thinned with a little water (You may need more)
1 cup Panko crumbs

Enough vegetable oil to come to 1/2 inch in a large skillet

Pound each pieces of pork tenderloin, cut side up, between 2 sheets of waxed paper until the meat is very thin.  Dip each piece into flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.  Then coat with mustard mixture.  Finally dip into panko crumbs to cover.  Place the pieces on a sheet pan and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set the crumbs.

Heat oil in the large skillet.  When hot, saute the pork pieces until they are browned on each side.  Watch carefully so they do not burn and adjust heat as needed.  You may have to do this in batches.  When they are well browned they should be done.  Keep warm in slow oven if you are not ready to serve.

Place each individual pork cutlet on top of a serving of the red beans on individual plates.  Top with store bought or homemade chow chow relish.

RED BEANS

Cook beans according to directions on a one pound bag of dried beans.  One hour before beans are done, saute one chopped onion with 1 cup of cubed ham until onions are soft and ham is browned.  Add to the bean pot along with 1/2 cup of cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Season with salt and pepper.  When beans are soft, add 1/4 cup of chopped parsley and serve.

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There are so many fascinating websites out there in the ether right now.  I can remember when blogging was a small fraternity or sorority of likeminded people.  Now bloggers are everywhere.  I am always discovering new sites.  One site that, to me, is very interesting comes from a French woman named Mimi Thorisson.  Her blog is called Manger, as in the French word meaning “to eat”.

Mimi is a stunningly beautiful woman of French and Chinese heritage.  She lives with her husband (who is a photographer), her children and at least 14 dogs in a charming home in the Medoc region of France.  With a background in writing for publications and extensive traveling all over the world, she brings a knowing eye and mind to her food blog.  Her husband Oddur Thorisson”s photographs are works of art and her recipes are impeccable.  I have enjoyed getting lost in her world.

Mimi made this dish with chasselas grapes.  These are wine grapes, although they are suitable as table grapes as well.  Since chasselas grapes are native to France,  I just substituted regular seedless grapes that are readily available here.  The pork tenderloin is sliced into 1″ pieces and cooked with shallots, wine and the grapes.  This was a quick and easy dish to pull together.  We loved it.  Mimi has been featured in Bon Appetit magazine and has a cookbook coming out in September 2014.

PORK TENDERLOIN WITH GRAPES (Adapted from Manger by Mimi Thorisson)

1 Pork Tenderloin, sliced into 10 to 12 1-inch pieces
1 cup each red and green grapes
2/3 cup white wine plus 2 tablespoons for the end
3 shallots, sliced finely
1/8 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Unsalted butter for frying
1 tablespoon olive oil for frying

Slice shallots finely and fry in 1 tablespoon butter for 5 minutes on a medium heat.  Add wine and lower heat – reduce until nearly totally absorbed.

Add the grapes to the pan with a little knob of butter and cook for 2 minutes until glossy.  Set aside.

In another pan, heat olive oil, and 1 tablespoon butter and fry the pork pieces for 3 to 4 minutes on each side.  Season with salt and pepper.  Remove filets from pan, add chicken stock and scrape to deglaze pan.  Add the 2 extra tablespoons of white wine and 1/2 tablespoon butter.  Reduce for 2 minutes on high heat. Return meat to pan, lower heat and add the shallot and grape mixture.  Cook for a few minutes to reheat and meld the flavors. Serves 2 to 4.

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While our family was visiting over the holidays my DIL Kristen made tacos for us one night.  She is a natural when it comes to flavorings and is especially fond of Mexican inspired dishes.  One of the condiments she made for us for her meal was pickled onions.  She marinated red onions in a combination of red wine vinegar, a little sugar and black peppercorns.  They make such a pretty addition to any number of dishes and look vibrant on tacos.

But the taco recipe I am using here is an adaptation of one that I saw in Food and Wine a long time ago.  It uses pork tenderloin which shreds nicely after only a short time in the oven.  It is flavored with lots of garlic, cumin, barbecue sauce and chicken broth.  The black beans make a flavorful topping and the red onions contribute their sweet and sour bite.  I wanted the tacos to look pretty and easy to pick up from a platter; perfect for those Super Bowl parties.  So I decided to form them into shapes by placing them in pieces of greased or sprayed foil.  About 10 minutes in the oven will ensure that they hold their shape, but will still be soft enough to eat.  Be sure you use a good quality corn tortilla.  I used Mission Artisan style Tortillas with Corn and Whole Wheat Blend.

When the taco shells are ready, you can either place just the meat in them and let everyone choose their own toppings, or go ahead and load them up with the onions, black beans, sour cream or any other condiment you wish.  We loved the flavor of these.  The barbecued pork makes them a little different.

I just remembered that I have some leftover pulled pork in the freezer from the holidays.  It would make a good alternative, although not as lean.  We are all about lean these days. Enjoy!  I am linking this to Tailgating Time-Super Bowl 2013 over at Seaside Simplicity.  Go on over and get some great ideas for the Super Bowl.

PORK TACOS WITH SPICY BLACK BEANS AND RED ONIONS

For the Pickled Red Onions:
1 large red onion
1/2 cup Red Wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
10 black peppercorns

In a small saucepan combine vinegar, water, sugar and peppercorns. Slice a peel red onion in half and then into strips.  Add to pan and bring mixture to boil.  Turn off burner and let onion sit in mixture for at least an hour.  Can be stored in a ball jar in the refrigerator until needed.

For the Black Beans:
2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic , minced
1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 tomato, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium skillet, heat the oil.  Add the onion, garlic and jalapeno and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 7 minutes.  Add the beans and the tomato, oregano and a little water to keep it moist.  Season with salt and pepper and simmer briefly until the ingredients are warmed through.

For the Pork:
1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of silver skin and fat. Cut in half
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup raspberry chipotle barbecue sauce or barbecue sauce of choice
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 habanero chile, seeded and minced (optional)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Corn tortillas and condiments of choice

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.  In a small enameled cast-iron casserole, combine the broth with the barbecue sauce, garlic, peppers, bay leaf, cumin and salt and pepper.  Bring to a simmer.  Add the pork tenderloin.  Cover and bake for about 1 hour, turning the pork once, until tender.  Transfer the pok to a plate and cover with plastic wrap until cool enough to handle.

Remove the bay leaf.  Shred the pork into strips and stir into the sauce.  Season with salt if needed.  Fill the tortillas with pork and serve with the black beans and red onions.

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There is nothing more versatile than a pork tenderloin.  OK.  Some of you may say that a chicken breast is better suited to imaginative preparations.  But there are so many things you can do with a pork tenderloin;, so many flavor profiles that marry with it.  The added advantage is that it is always moist and tender, as opposed to the tendency of chicken breasts to dry out.

This simple preparation is a snap.  Cut a pork tenderloin into 8 individual pieces, coat with Dijon mustard, bread it in panko crumbs and seasonings and saute with a brief turn in the oven until done.  It remains moist and succulent.

Served with oven roasted butternut squash and green beans, it is one of those meals that I will remember and make again.

The recipe came from Cooking Light.  Today I am making pork tenderloin pulled pork in the crock pot.  If you can’t tell, I am taking advantage of a great sale on pork tenderloins.  I am also working on stocking my empty freezer here in Florida.

CRISPY PORK MEDALLIONS ( Cooking Light )

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 8 medallions
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Rub mustard evenly over pork medallions.  Combine panko, thyme parsley, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.  Dredge pork in panko mixture.  Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat.  Add oil to pan; swirl to coat.  Add pork; saute 2 minutes or until golden brown.  Turn pork.  Place skillet in oven; bake for 8 minutes or until pork reaches 145 degrees F.  Let stand 3 minutes.

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David’s back has been bothering him lately.  He has been busy finishing the lower level of the cottage because we have 14 family members coming for the Labor Day Weekend.  He does most the work in the morning, but sometimes by early afternoon he has to sit down in his comfy chair and relax.  Therefore, he has been watching a lot of Food TV.  He has printed out more recipes than we can possibly get to.  But this recipe sounded so good to him, that he actually went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients.

It was a collabortive effort.  I got the pork tenderloin ready for the grill and he made the beurre blanc.  The pork tenderloin is butterflied and pounded very thin.  I took a great picture of the tenderloin flattened between two sheets of plastic wrap and a picture of the stuffing being wrapped up in the meat, but my memory card has been acting up and the pictures were lost.  Here are instructions if you have not done this before.  Place the tenderloin on a cutting board so one end is facing you.  Cut the meat almost in half starting at the top of one long side.  Leave about 1/2 inch not cut.  Open the meat up like a book.  I took it a step further and made small cuts on either side of the original cut but not all the way through.  This made it easier to pound.  Once the stuffing is made you spread it over the rectangle of meat.  It is then rolled up starting at the short end nearest you.  Tie with kitchen twine.

The stuffing is so good.  You can’t go wrong with shallots, garlic, mushrooms, andouille sausage, cornbread and a splash of whiskey.  I want to use this stuffing in other dishes.  It is a mixture that  inspires the creative process.  With more cornbread it could become the dressing for Thanksgiving.  Just be aware that you have to make cornbread before you can begin this recipe.

Now on to the grilled peach whiskey beurre blanc.  OMG!

That innocent looking white sauce is worth every minute of the time it took to make it.  Just think about it; the flavor of warm grilled peaches, shallots and ginger, heavy cream, honey and whiskey, with a hint of heat from a habanero chili, all pressed through a fine sieve and enriched with butter.  It is smooth and so layered in flavor that I will make this again and again to serve on salmon and any number of meat dishes.  It is now a permanent part of my cooking arsenal.

David grilled the meat after drizzling it with oil and salt and pepper.

The stuffing made a nice spiral effect even though I did very little to make this platter look pretty.  What was I thinking?  I think I was tired.  But I mean it when I say the work was worth it.  If you plan ahead you can butterfly and tie the tenderloin way ahead of time.  The beurre blanc can also be done ahead and warmed in it’s bowl over a pot of  boiling water.  The recipes come from Claire Robinson as seen on Bobby Flay’s Grill It.  The recipe uses two pork tenderloins.  I halved the recipe.

STUFFED PORK TENDERLOIN

Stuffing:
1 shallot, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
2 cups roughly chopped mushrooms
4 ounces fresh andouille sausage, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
Splash whiskey
Conrnbread, dried out and crumbled, about 1/2 cup
2 tablespoons chopped curly parsley leaves

Pork:
2 Port tenderloins
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Oil, for grilling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions for Stuffing:
Put the shallot, garlic and mushrooms in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until finely chopped.  Add the sausage, again pulsing until incorporated with the mushroom mixture.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Pulse again.

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat.

Add the mushroom-sausage mixture and cook until the liquid has evaporated, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Deglaze with a splash of whiskey, using a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the crumbled cornbread and parsley,  Mix to combine.  Set aside.

Directions for Pork:
Cut tenderloins lengthwise, but not through, to open and lay flat.  Lightly pound to even the meat.  I pounded it very thin.  Paint the tenderloins lightly with mustard, then add the stuffing mixture.  Roll up the tenderloins from the short end and tie the middle of the roll with kitchen string to secure.  Repeat the ties about every 1 to 2 inches.  Drizzle with oil, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and put on the grill to sear.  Remove the tenderloins from direct heat to indirect heat and tent with foil.  Grill until the internal temperature registers about 140 to 145 degrees F on an instant-read thermommeter, another 15 minutes.  Remove the tenderloins to a cutting board and let rest before slicing into medallions.

GRILLED PEACH WHISKEY BEURRE BLANC

Oil, for coating peaches
3 peaches, halved and pitted
1 tablespoon butter, plus 8 tablespoons, cubed and chilled
1 shallot, chopped
1 habanero, diced ( or to taste. I thought this was too much )
1/2 teaspoon grated or finely chopped fresh ginger
1/4 cup whiskey
1/2 cup cream
1 teaspoon honey

Lightly oil the peach halves and put on the grill for 3 to 5 minutes to slightly soften, flavor and mark.  Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan and add the shallots, habanero and ginger.  Saute for about 1 to 2 minutes.  Chop the peaches, add them to the pan and cook for 1 minute.  Remove the pan from the heat to add the whiskey and then return to the heat to cook until the liquid is reduced by half.  Add the cream and the honey and allow it to reduce again by half.  Strain and finish the sauce by slowly whisking in the cold butter.

On another subject, I want to tell you about a new blogger who has joined our midst.  Leslie emailed my a few months ago to compliment me on my blog and had questions about starting a blog of her own.  She and her family have a winery in California and she wanted to write about  her life at the winery, events that they have planned, the process of winemaking and recipes.  She launched her blog recently and I thought it would be nice to give her some support.  You can visit her at The Days of Wiens and Roses Blog.  Good luck Leslie.  I am enjoying your blog.

Printable recipe Pork Tenderloin

Printable recipe Beurre Blanc