Porchetta

Last Year's Post: Sesame Salmon en Papillote
Two Years Ago:  Hand Blended Loose Leaf Chai Tea

Although Porchetta (pronounced porketta) has been around for a while in the United States, it's recently become very trendy because its fatty nature goes well with the current pork belly craze.  From Wikipedia: Porchetta is a savoury, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary tradition. The body of the pig is gutted, deboned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted, traditionally over wood. Porchetta is usually heavily salted in addition to being stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs, often wild. 

The Lawyer's family used to buy an Americanized version at a local grocery store, which involved the traditional herbs patted onto the outside of a boneless pork loin.  Since pork used to be less dry, that worked pretty well.  But pork is so lean now that a pork loin can dry out, which is why chefs have started rolling pork belly into the roast along with the herbs.  I find pork belly to be chewy, fatty, and generally disgusting so I was looking for a better alternative.  Pork tenderloin is naturally tender, roasts faster and has the advantage of feeding a small family without massive leftovers so I challenged myself (and The Lawyer) to make a pork tenderloin porchetta.  (If you want to make a porchetta using a larger pork loin and wrapping it in pancetta for moisture, here is the recipe I used as inspiration.)

It was a fun little project and we were very happy with the results, both that night and in sandwiches the following day.  I cut down on the amount of salt and pepper in the herb mixture, but otherwise used the traditional mix of garlic, sage, rosemary, fennel seeds, lemon juice and orange peel for the herb rub for both the inside and outside of the roast.  The only slightly tricky part was how to butterfly such a small cut of meat.  Rather than the traditional approach which involves carefully cutting a flap around the outside of a larger roast, we found the easiest way to open a tenderloin is by making 3 long and deep cuts down the length and then gently pounding the meat flat to even thickness.

Then all you have to do is rub in the herb paste, tie up, and roast it.  

Because the herb paste gives the meat so much flavor, all you really need for a delicious sandwich is some high-quality mayonnaise and lettuce.  If you want to go big, I've seen porchetta sandwiches on restaurant menus with broccoli rabe pesto and provolone which is also great.  The big bold flavors go particularly well with beer, which is why you'll often see porchetta sandwiches on brewery menus.  Just remember their version will likely have pork belly and be quite fatty.  I'm happier with this healthy version.

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Porchetta

Serves 4

1 (1.25 lb) pork tenderloin

4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

¼ cup packed fresh rosemary leaves

¼ cup packed fresh sage leaves

1 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea)

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

2 strips (each ½” x 2”) orange peel, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Kitchen string, for tying

Preheat oven to 350d.

Prepare the pork by removing any extra fat or silver skin.  Pat dry.  Make a cut down the center of the pork loin about ¾ of the way through, but do not cut in half.  On either side of this cut, make another deep cut to open the tenderloin so it lays flat.  Cover with plastic wrap and gently pound the tenderloin to an even thickness.

Place the garlic, rosemary, sage, salt, pepper, fennel seeds and orange zest in a small food processor and finely chop them.  Add the lemon juice and olive oil and process again until a thick paste forms (add a small amount more oil if necessary).

Spread half the herb paste on the tenderloin and roll up from the long edge.  Tie at regular intervals with kitchen string to keep it closed.  Spread the remaining herb paste on the outside of the tenderloin and place in a roasting pan.  If desired, the tenderloin can be prepared to this point and refrigerated, covered, for several hours.  Remove and let come to room temperature for 20-30 minutes before proceeding.

Roast, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes until the internal temperature of the meat is 140-145d.  Remove and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Grilled Hawaiian Filipino Adobo Pork

Last Year's Post: Baked Italian Sandwiches
Two Years Ago:  Watermelon Gazpacho

How can a recipe be Hawaiian and Filipino, you ask?  I adapted this recipe from Steve Raichlen's BBQ USA and he explains it like this:

"Filipino cuisine is one of the world's best-kept food secrets.  Even if you live in a city with a large Asian community, like San Francisco or Seattle, I bet you'd be hard pressed to name a single Filipino dish.  This is a shame, because Filipino cooks draw on two rich culinary traditions - the Iberian cuisine of its Spanish colonizers and the vibrant flavors of the Far East.

Consider the following pork tenderloin adobo.  As the adobo moved from Spain to the Philippines, it picked up some Asian seasonings, such as ginger and soy sauce, a combination that's hard to resist.  This recipe comes not from the Philippines, but from Hawaii - home to a large Filipino community and one of the few places in the United States where Filipino cuisine is accorded the respect it deserves." 

Compared to other Hawaiian adobos I've had, the sauce is less assertively vinegary and the fact that it's made with pork (instead of chicken) and grilled (instead of stewed) is unusual.  But it's still just as delicious and a great change of pace from your regular barbecue stand-bys.  And healthy!  Adobo is traditionally served with white rice to balance the big flavors and absorb the sauce, but brown rice or another grain would be just as good.  Be sure to throw some fresh pineapple rings on the grill at the same time for a perfect sweet accompaniment. Note that the pork needs to marinate for 2-8 hours so plan ahead.

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Grilled Hawaiian Filipino Adobo Pork

Serves 4

½ medium onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 piece (1 inch) fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks

2 green onions, minced (and additional sliced for garnish, optional)

1 cup low-sodium soy sauce

2/3 cup rice vinegar or white wine vinegar, or more to taste

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

3 bay leaves

2 tablespoons Asian (dark) sesame oil

1 pork tenderloin (about 1 lb)

Kosher salt and black pepper

 2 tablespoons butter

½ onion, cut into chunks and layers peeled apart

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine the sliced onion, garlic, ginger, green onions, soy sauce, vinegar, paprika, bay leaves and sesame oil in a large zip-top bag; seal the bag and shake to combine the ingredients.

Trim the tenderloin of any extra fat or silver skin.  Cut into 1-inch cubes, season with salt and pepper and place in the zip-top bag.  Seal and shake to coat all the pork cubes evenly.  Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours, shaking and turning the bag occasionally.

Remove the pork from the marinade, brushing off any onion pieces.  Strain the marinade through a strainer into a saucepan to remove solids.  Bring to a brisk simmer for 5 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce, stirring as it cooks.  After 3 minutes add the butter.  Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper plus a splash of vinegar if necessary; the sauce should be piquant and highly seasoned.  Keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat the grill to high.  Thread the pork cubes onto skewers, alternating with pieces of onion.  Clean and oil the grill grate, then grill the pork skewers for about 8 minutes total, turning to brown each side.  Baste with vegetable oil as they cook.  During the last two minutes of grilling, brush the kebabs with a little of the sauce.

Serve the kebabs with additional sauce on the side and optional green onions for garnish.

Pinchos Morunos

Last Year's Post: Gazpacho
Two Years Ago:  Pork with Thai Peanut Sauce

Color is Important
I grew up in an era where mothers regarded cooking as a necessity and their primary goal was to get food on the table that their family would eat.  Much of that food was beige.  Presentation and garnish were not concepts most moms thought about.  But times have changed, and cooking is now a conscious choice rather than a necessity since there are so many prepared foods and casual restaurants that are available.  There are many reasons to make the choice to cook - including good health, nutrition, dietary needs, or just plain fun - but as long as you made the effort to cook your food, why not make it look pretty?

Color plays a big part in making food pretty, which is why I chose multi-colored mini-peppers for this dish.  I could have used one big red pepper which would have added some color, but the multi-colored peppers are even better.

I've posted recipes in the past that were relatively colorless (Italian Sausage and Wild Mushroom Risotto ) because they are just that good, but it's a lot more impressive when they have all kinds of vibrant colors ( Seafood Cobb Salad ).  In particular, meat tends to be fairly brown so think about livening it up with a colorful sauce, relish, or accompanying vegetables.  Even a fresh parsley garnish on top of soup or rice helps to add color.  I once read about a chef who said he garnishes every meal he makes even if it's just for himself alone, because he felt it made that much difference to the overall eating experience.

Pinchos Morunos is Spanish in origin and is commonly found in tapas bars.  This particular recipe version converts it into a main dish by adding onion and peppers, but the pork by itself on small skewers would be a classic addition to a tapas party served with just a drizzle of lemon olive oil.  What makes it Spanish is the combination of spices on the pork, in particular the saffron.  I love the distinctive taste of saffron.  The pork is spiced but not very spicy in terms of heat, and it's what makes this dish special.  The spice mix colors the pork as it marinates before grilling.

I decided to halve the small peppers so they would fit better on the skewers plus it made them easier to seed, but I decided to leave the stems on for presentation and color.

I think I've mentioned somewhere previously that it's a good idea to separate your meats and vegetables on different skewers because they have different cook times.  If you alternate everything on each skewer your cook times become a compromise between ingredients, although for some reason that's the way skewers are most often shown.  In this case the meat was going to cook faster than the vegetables but the peppers and onions needed about the same amount of time.

One last note - although the recipe calls for marinating the meat for a few hours, it's very flexible.  I've grilled it without any marinating time at all, or you could let it marinate overnight so don't let that stop you from using this as a weeknight meal.  Served with rice or couscous, it's a fast, delicious and very healthy meal.

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Pinchos Morunos

Serves 4

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crushed

¼ teaspoon ground red pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 (1 pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1” cubes

1 red onion, cut into 6 wedges

8 multi-colored mini-peppers, cut in half lengthwise and seeded

8 (12”) wooden skewers

Cooking spray

Combine the first 10 ingredients in a zip top bag and toss to distribute spices.  Add the pork tenderloin cubes and toss to coat evenly.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Soak skewers in a water for 30 minutes prior to grilling to prevent burning.

Prepare a grill for direct cooking over medium heat. 

Separate each onion wedge into two pieces.  Thread meat pieces on four skewers; alternate onion and pepper pieces on the other four.

Grill over medium heat for 5 minutes per side for the meat, and 6 minutes per side for the vegetables, flipping once.

Asian Roast Pork with Broccoli Slaw and Pasta

I recently spent a wonderful relaxing weekend in the sun with three girlfriends and we made this recipe together. It's actually considered a salad and can be served either warm or at room temperature. It's very light and  healthy although it's full of flavor - a perfect spring dish.  Although it came out great that weekend, I re-created it for this post back at home instead of using that experience for the visuals.  The reason has to do with what I call "full-bore blogger mode", which is what a food blogger is in when they're creating a blog recipe.  It goes something like this.

Dining with a Food Blogger
1.  Expect that the entire process of making the dish will be interrupted repeatedly for photo ops.
2.  You may be pressed into service as a hand model for action shots (see The Lawyer below for an example).
3.  When the recipe is done, the blogger will carefully and painstakingly plate and garnish one serving, then disappear to whatever part of the house has the best light for pictures (for example, the bathroom - bathrooms have great light).  You, on the other hand, are left to your own devices to plate your food.
4.  Particularly if other props are involved, the blogger could be gone for several minutes at which time the food may or may not still be hot.
5.  As you eat, you'll discuss the recipe.  Generic comments like "it tastes good" are nowhere near adequate.  You're expected to comment on the colors, visual appeal, plating, balance of flavors and textures, overall flavor profile, and what (if anything) should be changed.
6.  You may be interrupted as you eat if the blogger is particularly struck by how your plate looks and needs a picture.
7.  After you're finished, don't be surprised if you're left with a kitchen of dirty dishes as the blogger dashes off to the computer to check out all the visuals.

OK, that might be slightly exaggerated, but not much.  Now you know why the only person I regularly subject to blog recipes is the The Lawyer.  All I can say is that he's a very patient man.  Certainly I didn't want to do that to my friends, whose sole goal for the weekend was to relax and lay in the sun.

Not that this is a difficult recipe at all.   The hardest part is figuring out how to grate a carrot without grating your fingernails or knuckles in the process.  (If you can find a bag of shredded carrots at your store, go for it.)

Basically you make an Asian barbecue sauce out of hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ginger and garlic, then rub some of it on a pork tenderloin and roast it in the oven, saving the rest of the sauce to serve over the finished dish.

The Lawyer as a hand model

While the pork roasts, you briefly blanch some broccoli slaw and toss it with the carrots, cilantro and a little sesame oil.  (If you don't like cilantro, just leave it out.)

Then you cook some pasta and toss that with sesame oil also.  All that's left is the plating.  And the photography, of course.

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Asian Roast Pork with Broccoli Slaw and Pasta

Serves 4

For the sauce:

1 ¼ cups hoisin sauce

5 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice wine or dry white wine

2 ½ tablespoons chopped garlic

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped

1 pork tenderloin, approximately 1 lb

6 oz broccoli slaw

1 ½ cups carrots, grated or shredded

¼ cup chopped cilantro

½ lb spaghetti, broken in half

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided

Salt and pepper

For the sauce:  mix all ingredients with ¾ cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until thickened, approximately 5 minutes.  Let cool.

Preheat oven to 350d.  Line a roasting pan with foil.

Put the tenderloin in the roasting pan; spread 1/3 of sauce over all surfaces.  Roast 25-35 minutes, until the internal temperature is 140d (temperature will continue to rise as the meat rests to the eventual target of 145d).  Remove and let cool slightly.

Reheat the remaining sauce to a simmer.

Bring water to a boil in a large pot; add broccoli slaw and cook 30 seconds.  Using a strainer, remove vegetables (do not dump the hot water) and refresh in cold water, then drain again.  In a medium bowl, toss the broccoli slaw, carrots and cilantro with 1 teaspoon sesame oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Reheat the water and cook the spaghetti according to directions.  Drain and toss with the remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil.

Cut the pork across the grain into thin slices.  Arrange pasta on each plate, top with carrot/broccoli slaw mixture and some pork slices.  Drizzle some sauce over the mixture and serve the remaining sauce on the side.

Pork with Fennel and Caper Sauce

Capers vs Caperberries

We were at a restaurant with friends a while ago and two of the dishes had these green things with long stems that looked like olives but didn't have a pit and tasted like the best olive you ever had.  The chef happened to walk by so my friend Terry asked him what they were.  He replied that they were capers. Well, we know capers and this definitely was much bigger than a caper - more the size of a green olive.  He said they were capers that were left on the bush for a longer time.  I'd seen these things on the olive bar at Whole Foods and they were called caperberries but I had never actually tried them before.

That was enough to get my curiosity going so I researched caperberries when I got home.  Turns out that capers and caperberries come from the same bush but capers are the immature flower buds and caperberries are the fruit (so even the chef didn't actually know!).  Both are usually consumed pickled.  Both have a similar tart, salty burst of flavor although caperberries are more mild.  I found both in the pickle section of my grocery store right next to each other.

If you're curious about the difference, this recipe features them both.  They work ideally in Mediterranean-type recipes with tomatoes and vegetables.  The capers are part of the sauce, and the caperberries are more of a garnish (in my opinion) although they could easily substitute for green olives in any recipe.

If you're not all that curious about caperberries, just leave them out but keep the capers for the sauce - the tartness is an important component of the overall flavor profile with the tomatoes and fennel.  If you're not familiar with fennel, it's a crunchy vegetable with a slight anise flavor that's delicious raw in salads.  I like it equally well when it's sauted  - it becomes very mild and tender.  The important final component of the sauce is the bright note of lemon zest (LOVE lemon). 

I adapted this recipe to use pork tenderloin because it's a favorite of ours, but it would work equally well with pork chops or even a meaty swordfish or tuna steak.  We served it with mashed potatoes but rice or creamy polenta would be great also.  The meal was warm and earthy but light, a perfect fall dinner.

* * click here for a printable recipe * *

Pork with Fennel and Caper Sauce
Serves 4

¼ cup olive oil
1 (1.25 lb) pork tenderloin
¾ teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning meat
¾ teaspoon black pepper, plus more for seasoning meat
1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs with fronds, cut in half, cored and thin sliced (about 2 cups)
2 large shallots, thin sliced
2/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
½ cup white wine
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes with their juices
½ lemon, zested
2 tablespoons capers
Caperberries for garnish, optional


In a large, heavy skillet heat the olive oil over high heat. Season the pork tenderloin with salt and pepper. Add the pork to the pan and brown on top and bottom, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the pork from the pan, cover loosely with foil and set aside.

Add the fennel, shallots, and 1/3 cup parsley to the pan and cook over medium heat until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the wine. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan, then add the tomatoes and stir. Add the pork back into the pan between the fennel and tomatoes so it’s mostly submerged in the pan juices. Cover and cook until the fennel is tender and the pork is done, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Place the pork on a cutting board. To finish the sauce, add the lemon zest, remaining 1/3 cup parsley, capers, and ¾ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

Slice the pork into ½” thick slices and serve with the sauce. Garnish with optional caperberries.

Smoky Peanut Mole with Pork Tenderloin

Mole (molay) is a sauce that originated in Mexico's colonial period that typically contains one or more types of chiles, ground nuts, tomatoes, spices, and sometimes chocolate.  (The word "mole" actually means sauce in Nahuatl so saying "mole sauce" is actually saying "sauce sauce".)  A mole can have 20, 30, or even more ingredients and is one of the classic sauces of the world.  I've tried mole a few times and was never that fond of the chocolate element in the sauce, plus some moles can be very heavy and smother the meat flavor. But I was watching a food network special the other day on "the best sauce I ever had" and Michael Chiarello (a famous chef from the Napa Valley) chose the mole served with pork at Rick Bayless' restaurant Frontera Grill in Chicago as his favorite sauce.  I'm a big admirer of Rick Bayless' Mexican cuisine so I was immediately curious.  After a few minutes of surfing I found the exact recipe and was happy to discover his version didn't contain chocolate and it "only" had 16 ingredients.  And it was served over grilled pork tenderloin, one of my favorite meats.  So I had to try it.  Of course.

First you should know that this sauce took a little over 90 minutes to prepare so plan accordingly.  It wasn't at all hard, it was just time consuming.  Thirty minutes are occupied with letting some chiles soak in water and another 45 minutes are spent letting the sauce reduce and stirring it once in a while.  I would estimate active prep time at around 40 minutes. Having said all that, it was SO worth it.  The sauce has a warm smoky richness without being heavy or overly spicy.  It complemented the grilled pork perfectly but it would also be great with chicken or turkey.  Rick Bayless scores again!

I wanted to pass along a few things I learned along the way.  First, the recipe doesn't specify whether the peanuts should be salted or not, and whether the chicken broth should be low-sodium or not.  I always err on the side of less salt so I used unsalted peanuts and unsalted broth.  You add salt at the end and I found 1 teaspoon to be the right amount with the unsalted products.

Second, I found dried ancho chiles in my regular store with other dried chiles.  You might also check the Mexican food aisle.  They look like this.

The recipe tells you to stem and seed the chiles, then tear them into flat pieces so you can toast them briefly in a dry skillet to develop a smoky flavor.  The torn chiles look like this.

The other chile in the recipe is canned chipotles in adobo, which is readily found in most stores' Mexican aisle.

The final tip I wanted to pass along is my new favorite "how did I ever live without this" gadget called a Thermapen.  I stumbled across it on another food blog and learned it's the instant thermometer of choice for most competitive BBQ enthusiasts and many professional chefs, so I had to have one. What makes it so great is the really thin probe that can measure the temperature of even the thinnest piece of fish, plus the fact that it reads temperature in 3 seconds flat.   The Lawyer uses it every time he grills and thinks it really helps take the guesswork out of grilling.  He used it for the pork tenderloin in this recipe and it came out absolutely perfect - tender, moist, and slightly pink in the center. 

The thermometer turns on when the probe is opened, then turns off when it's folded back into the body for storage - couldn't be easier.  If you're a serious food person or you've ever had trouble deciding whether a chicken or turkey or roast was done, you need this.  You might not know it, but you do.  You can check it out at http://thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/.   I don't receive anything by endorsing it but I highly recommend it anyway. 

Try the mole.  It's one of the famous, classic dishes of the world, and rightly so. Now is a good time if you have tomatoes in your garden, plus it's another one of those food adventures we like to have.

* * click here for a printable recipe * *

Smoky Peanut Mole with Pork Tenderloin
Serves 6

2 medium dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 tablespoons canola oil
½ small white onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled
8 ounces (1 medium-large round or 3-4 plum) ripe tomatoes
1 cup dry roasted peanuts, plus additional chopped for garnish
2 slices firm white bread, torn into pieces
2 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, seeded
½ teaspoon cinnamon, preferably freshly ground Mexican
1/3 teaspoon allspice, preferably freshly ground
About 3 ½ cups chicken broth
½ cup fruity red wine
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 bay leaves
Salt to taste
2 (1-lb) pork tenderloins
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Cilantro for garnish


Tear the dried ancho chiles into flat pieces. Heat an ungreased skilled over medium heat and add the chile pieces. Briefly press the chiles down with a spatula. Listen for a crackling noise and watch for the color to change. Do not allow the chiles to start smoking – a burnt taste will significantly change the flavor of the mole. Place the toasted chiles in a small bowl, cover with hot water, and let soak for 30 minutes. Pour off the water.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add white onion and garlic cloves. Sauté, stirring frequently, until the onions and garlic are browned, about 10 minutes. Scoop the onions and garlic into a blender.

Preheat the broiler with a rack at the highest level. Remove the core from the tomatoes and place on a baking sheet lined with foil. Place under the broiler for 5 minutes, turn the tomatoes, and broil for an additional 5 minutes until the skin of the tomatoes is blackened. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the skin off and place the entire tomatoes, juices included, into the blender.

Add the peanuts, bread, chipotles, drained ancho chiles, allspice, and cinnamon to the blender. Add 1 ½ cups chicken broth and blend until the mixture is smooth. Add a little more chicken broth if the blades of the blender aren’t running smoothly. Put the mixture through a medium-mesh strainer into a bowl.

In the same large saucepan used to cook the onion and garlic, heat 1 tablespoon canola oil over medium-high heat. Add the peanut puree. Stir continuously for about 5 minutes as the mixture thickens and darkens. Stir in 2 cups chicken broth, red wine, cider vinegar, and bay leaves. Turn the heat down to medium-low, partially cover the pot, and let the mixture simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring regularly.

Taste the mole and season with salt (1/2 – 1 ½ teaspoons) and sugar. Remove the bay leaves. Keep warm.

Preheat the grill to high heat. Rub pork tenderloins with olive oil and season generously with kosher salt and pepper. Place on the grill and sear each side, about 2 minutes per side. Turn the heat down to medium-high and cook for an additional 7-12 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 145-150 degrees. Let the pork rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Serve several pieces of the pork with the mole sauce and garnish with chopped peanuts and cilantro.

Pork Tenderloin with Port and Dried Cherry Sauce

I was thinking about fall as I was driving around the other day.  Growing up in the Midwest, I never really realized that fall could be an entire season. Then I spent three months in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I was there from September through November and it was a beautiful fall the entire time.  The same thing happened when I moved to Louisville, KY.  Fall really can last longer than 2 or 3 days!  This year is a good example of "fall" in the Midwest - from 85 degrees to 40 degrees in one week.  Blink and you miss it.  I blame it on the jet stream, which is my favorite scapegoat for most things.

Even if the weather is messed up, you can still pretend.  Nothing says fall like a delicious pork and fruit dish.  I sometimes struggle with pork roasts or pork chops - they're so lean that they tend to dry out.  But pork tenderloin is a whole different story - it's very tender even though it's lean, and the perfect size to make a four-serving meal. Just be sure not to overcook the meat - it's OK if it's slightly pink in the middle.  Here's my tip of the day - don't use the prepackaged marinated pork tenderloins prevalent in every store.  They're full of chemicals and sodium and have a funny aftertaste, at least to me.  Search out natural (not marinated) tenderloins, although they're sometimes hard to find.  My latest discovery was at Costco, and I've also found them at Trader Joe's.

The sauce for this dish has dried cherries and port wine, which gives it a rich flavor and a slight sweetness that go well with the pork.  The color of the wine and cherries also makes it pretty enough to serve to company, although it's easy enough to make during the week.  If you're going to serve wine with dinner, don't serve port - it will be too sweet on its own (it's a dessert wine normally).  Serve a good Pinot Noir.

* * click here for a printable recipe version * *

Pork Tenderloin with Port and Dried Cherry Sauce

Makes 4 servings

1 cup ruby port or other sweet red wine

1/3 cup dried sweet cherries
4 teaspoons seedless raspberry jam
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 ½ pound pork tenderloin
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
Fresh parsley sprigs, optional

Hot cooked couscous or rice

Combine the first four ingredients.  Cut the pork tenderloin crosswise into 16 pieces and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat, then add the pork pieces and brown on the first side (approximately 3 minutes).  Flip the pork and brown on the other side, then remove from the pan.  Add the wine mixture to the pan, scraping up any leftover brown bits.  Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.  Cook for 2-3 minutes until reduced slightly, then remove from the heat and stir in the butter until melted.

Serve the pork and sauce over the couscous or rice.  Garnish with parsley.

browning the pork pieces