Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

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

I haven’t been inspired by my cooking lately.  We have been eating well and I’ll admit sometimes not so well.  So that is why I was glad when David volunteered to do a guest post for me.  I think I will hire him on to do more food related posts.  He actually has a blog of his own;  Riding with Dave.  Whenever he goes on one of his bike trips he chronicles his adventures on his blog.  It will be interesting to follow his triple D tour this Fall.

To get inspired to cook again I do three things.  I read my cookbooks, I read magazines, especially my Gourmet collection and I read your blogs.  I visited Susan of Schnitzel and the Trout last week and she had posted a recipe for the best potato dish.  She got the recipe from Cathy at Wives with Knives  who got it from Barbara at Moveable Feasts who got it from Donna Hay, the famous Australian chef and writer.  I love the way that great recipes get shared in the blogishere!  So thank you ladies for inspiring me!  You need to check out the recipe from one of their blogs.  The potato dish is cooked in a cast iron skillet and includes sliced potatoes, Walla Walla onions, and Gruyere and mozzarella cheeses.

It was an “A ha” moment for me.  There was a similar recipe that I used to make in my cast iron skillet with potatoes that I haven’t made in a long time.  But first, about my cast iron skillet.

I have had this skillet for years.  I think it was a wedding present.  I remember that it needed to be seasoned before using it for the first time, but after all of these years of use, there is no fear of it rusting ever again.  It is a thing of beauty in my estimation and although I have beautiful blue and green Le Creuset pots that cost me an arm and a leg, my humble cast iron skillet is worth it’s weight in gold.

Making and baking scalloped potatoes can be messy and time consuming.  Sometimes the casserole runs over in the oven.  This easy recipe requires stove top cooking and a quick run under the broiler.  It does not have as much cheese as the Donna Hay recipe, but is flavored with chicken stock and sprigs of thyme.  It is something a little different and a recipe that I will make often now that I have found it again.  Thanks Susan for the nudge I needed to remember it!

SKILLET SCALLOPED POTATOES

2 tablespoons oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
2 large or 4 to 5 smaller potatoes, peeled and sliced (I used Idaho potatoes)
1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme or dry to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can low sodium chicken broth or 1 3/4 cups homemade stock
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil

In a large iron skillet over high heat, heat the oil until sizzling.  Saute the onion until it begins to color, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and stir, and then add the potaotes.  Stir to combine.  Add the chicken broth, salt and pepper and the thyme.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil, reduce the heat to medium and cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the potatoes are glazed, 15 to 20 minutes.  Preheat the broiler.  Combine the bread crumbs and the cheese and sprinkle over the potatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil and place under the broiler until the topping is browned.

Printable recipe

Hi, Mr Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen here.  Out of desperation, Penny has invited me to do a guest post for the second time in as many years.  She had nothing to write about.  She was planning to write about Chicken Negimaki, a  recipe from the NY Times  that she tried for the first time last night.  It sounded great….flattened chicken breasts, each wrapped around a couple of scallions that had been sauteed in soy sauce, mirin and garlic, then brushed with sesame oil and grilled while basting occasionally with the soy mixture left from cooking the scallions.  Sounds wonderful and looks good, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, the finished product didn’t live up to expectations…a little too salty from the soy sauce, and a little too dry, probably from me over cooking it on the grill. In any event, Penny said, “I can’t write about this…not until I work with it some more and get it to the point that we like it.  Now what am I going to do?”

“Never fear,” I say. “Let me write about my trip to The Beacon for lunch today.”  So here we go.  I am a big fan of Guy Fieri’s show, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  I record it each week and watch every episode with paper and pencil in hand, making notes on any DDD that looks worthy of a visit.  I have an extensive list now, organized by states, that I will take along on our next cross-country bike trip this fall. My intention is to check the list for an unusual place to have lunch wherever we happen to be around noon on any given day.  I got a head start on the list by driving down to Spartanburg yesterday with my friend Jim to have lunch at the Beacon Drive In.  Jim had been there before, but it was my first visit.

The Beacon has been an institution in Spartanburg for over 70 years.  The present owners bought the place in 1998 and were allowed to do so by promising not to change a single thing.  So, what you see today is pretty much what you would have seen over a half-century ago. You walk in and get in line to place your order with J. C. Strobble who is standing at the head of the serving line.  JC has been calling orders at The Beacon for over 50 years. You tell JC what you want, and he calls it out loud and clear in diner-food speak to the cooks working behind him. JC is blind, but you would never know it.  He is amazing to watch and to hear. And you better not hesitate too long to tell him what you want, or he will ask you to step aside so that someone behind you, who knows better what they want in life, can place their order.  I had decided ahead of time to order the second most popular sandwich on the menu…the Outside Chop Pork Sandwich.  By the time I uttered the first word, “outside”,  JC called it out to the cooks and asked me only if it was to go or eat in.

Any sandwich can be ordered by itself or “A-Plenty”.  A-Plenty means with a heap of both french fries and onion rings.  The sandwich will be underneath there somewhere, hidden by all that fried goodness.  Jim and I had decided that only one of us needed to order “A-Plenty” because there would be “plenty” of fries and onion rings for both of us.  We agreed that Jim would order his Chili Cheeseburger (first most popular menu item) A-Plenty.  As you can see, there were more than enough fries and rings for the two of us.

My pork sandwich was very tasty with large pieces of tender, juicy cut-up pork and a delicious sauce that I couldn’t quite put my finger on (even though it was all over my fingers). It’s a good thing they have rolls of paper towels on the tables.

After placing your order with JC, you move on down the line and your order will magically appear on the stainless steel counter in front of you about a minute after you placed it.  A few more feet down the line, you can pick up a large styrofoam cup of your beverage of choice, the most popular by far being Beacon Ice Tea….loaded with sugar and lemon.  The Beacon sells more ice tea than any other restaurant in the country.

At the end of the line, you pay the cashier, find a seat in one of the several dining areas, and enjoy. This lovely lady will take your tray when you are finished.

You might recall some of Penny’s posts from early last spring when we were doing the snow-bird thing in Florida and attending Weight Watchers meetings.  I already have about 10 reasons to go back on WW when we get back to Florida, and by the time I get back from my motorcycle tour of other Triple D establishments this fall, I will undoubtably have several more reasons.  I can’t wait….for the Triple D tour that is.

Printable recipe

My husband is the seafood cook in our house.  He is always suprising me with the quality of the dishes he turns out.  I usually try to stay out of his way while he is in the kitchen because it is hard for me to turn over the job to him without commenting on the way he is doing things.  I am a control freak in that way.  So I let him get creative and then I clean up the mess when he is finished.  It is always worth it.

Shrimp scampi is so delightful and so rich.  It is even better when that richness is tempered with angel hair pasta which soaks up all of the buttery goodness.  He found a recipe on Epicurious and adapted it to his liking.  We are both big fans of lemon flavors and capers so he added them to the recipe.  This was such a refreshing pasta dish.  I could have eaten the whole bowl.  It was also very simple to make and didn’t require a whole lot of clean up by the sous chef.