Pork Tenderloin with Chipotle-Apricot Sauce

The other day I took a pork tenderloin out of the freezer and then sat down to my computer to find ideas for a nice weekday supper. Pork tenderloins are great (if you like pork) because they are lean, super-tender, easy to cook and budget-friendly. One tenderloin will feed me and Daniel two meals. So whenever they go onsale, I usually buy a bunch for the freezer and am always looking for new ways to serve them. This night I knew I wanted to use my homemade apricot preserves. Their sweet and tangy flavor pairs really well with pork. I also wanted to use Chipotle peppers, which are a new favorite ingredient of mine. Chipotle peppers are actually red Jalapeno peppers that were allowed to ripen on the vine and then smoke-dryed using a wood fire. This process helps create the lovely smokey, spicey flavor that these peppers are known for. My google search led me to this recipe, which I used for inspiration. I made several changes (I never really follow a recipe completely, unless it is for baking or canning) and the result was a wonderful smokey, sweet and spicy sauce that went fabulous with the pork tenderloin and was super easy to make. I served it with potatoes au gratin and roasted green beans (both vegetables from my father's garden).

The Recipe:

Chipotle-Apricot Sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 lg onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup apricot preserves or jam
1-2 chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, chopped
1 lime
salt
pepper

Saute the onion in olive oil over medium heat until soft (about 5 min). Add garlic and saute for 1 min longer. Add chicken broth (I added way less broth then the original recipe), apricot preserves and chipotle pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until reduced to a thick sauce (about 10 min). Add lime juice at the end. (The original recipe called for lemon juice, but I like the combination of chipotle peppers and lime much better)

The Pork Tenderloin: 

Cover pork tenderloin with olive oil, salt and pepper and allow to come to room temperature. Preheat oven to 400 F.

Brown tenderloin on all four sides in an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat (About 5 min/side). Put in oven and roast until no longer pink in the center, about 30 minutes. Let pork rest for 5 min before slicing. Serve sliced with Chipotle-Apricot Sauce spooned on top.

Buttermilk Pancakes with Maple Glazed Apples

Most mornings Daniel makes breakfast. We usually have poached eggs on homemade english muffins served with sliced tomato or an omelette filled with spinach, carmelized onions, and feta cheese served with homemade homefries. Once in a while I make breakfast. If it is a weekday, I usually try to make something healthy like slowcooker steel-cut oats with apples, nuts and dried cranberries. The weekend, however, is time for something a little more decadant. I like to make different types of pancakes. Some of my favorites are pumpkin spiced pancakes, pancakes topped with blueberry sauce and whipped cream or just plain fluffy pancakes topped with butter and maple syrup (the real kind). This past Saturday, Daniel wanted something new and found this recipe for me to make. It was really easy to make and really yummy. Make sure you choose a nice tart apple to balance the sweetness of the maple syrup. My parents have an old apple tree that produces white tart apples in August which I was lucky to have on hand, but granny smiths would work just as well. The pancake is a nice thin, almost crepe-like pancake. This recipe was so good it was actually requested the next day as well.

The Recipe:

Pancakes:

1 cup flour
2 tbsp cornmeal
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp vinegar allowed to sit for 5 min)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 egg

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the buttermilk, yogurt and egg in another bowl. Add dry ingredients and stir until just blended but still lumpy. Let rest for at least 10 min (this resting period is key to a tender pancake because it allows the gluten in the batter to rest). While the batter is resting start making the Maples glazed apples (See below).

To cook the pancakes, heat a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spread a thin coat of butter over the griddle (no olive oil here, butter goes much better with pancakes. . .and you'll notice there is no fat in the pancake batter, I removed it from the original recipe so that I could cook the pancakes in butter). Drop batter by 1/3 cups on the griddle and cook until brown on the bottom and bubbles from on top. Turn pancakes and cook until the bottoms are golden brown.

Transfer to a plate in a 125 degree F oven to keep warm.


Maple Glazed Apples:

2 tbsp butter
3 tart apples (eg. Granny smith)
1 tbsp plus 1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (good for stabilizing that blood sugar spike you'll get when eating these)

Peel and core the apples and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat (butter burns quite easily so becareful!) Add apples and 1 Tbsp maple syrup.

 

Saute until apples are tender and golden brown on each side (about 5 min). Mix in remaing maple syrup and cinnamon. Heat through and then take off the burner.

 

 

Spoon apples over pancakes to serve, passing around additional maple syrup. Yummy!

 

 

Roasted Beet Lasagna with Herbed Bechamel

Source: nytimes.com

I love beets. The traditional pickled beet that most people are familar with is a nice condiment to serve with meat and potatoes. An even better way to enjoy the beet is to roast it. Roasted beets are soft, sweet and have a nice earthy flavor. Great served simply with some butter, salt and pepper or sliced up in a salad with blue cheese and a tangy vinaigrette. The other day, when I was reading the Food and Dining section of the New York Times, this recipe for Roasted Beet Lasagna caught my eye. The following week I made it. The product was a nice, light lasagna that really highlighted the sweet flavor of the roasted beet. It was also very pretty to look at, layers of pink beets contrasting white layers of pasta and green flecks of herbs. It made for a very nice lunch or supper served with a crisp green salad made from our garden. I used homemade lasagna noodles instead of the no-cook noodles called for in the original recipe, since I find their texture and flavor to be superior to store bought noodles. I also doubled the recipe so that I could put one away in the freezer that I could pull out on a busy (or lazy) day. The only thing I would do different next time is to make 1 1/2 recipes of the bechamel sauce to make a creamier lasagna.

The Recipe:

6 medium-size red beets

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons minced shallot or onion

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh herbs, like parsley, tarragon and chives

1/2 pound no-boil lasagna noodles or 1/2 recipe fresh noodles       

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

The Beets (Can be prepared the day before):

Wash and trim the beets so that they still have 1/4 inch of stems attached. This prevents the beets from bleeding out while cooking. Put the beets in a roasting pan with a little bit of water and cover with tin foil. Put the pan in a 425 degree oven and roast until fork tender, about 45-60 minutes depending upon the size of the beets you use. I did this step the day before since I had the oven on at this temp already, it also saved time the next day.  After the beets were cooked, I allowed them to cool and then stored them whole in the fridge overnight. On the day you are assembling the lasagna, cut off the ends of the cooled beets and peel them (which is much easier when they are cooked). Slice them into 1/4 inch slices.

The Herb Bechamel:

Heat oil in a medium saucepan, add chopped onion and cook until softened. Stir in the flour and cook for about 3 minutes, constantly stirring, until mixture is smooth and bubbling. Becareful not to brown the flour. Whisk in the milk. The original recipe said all at once, but I found this causes lumps, so I slowly whisked it in a little at a time. Bring milk to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, for 15-20 min until the sauce is thick and no longer tastes like raw flour. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Strain to get rid of any lumps and then add in the herbs (I used chives, thyme, tarragon and a little bit of dill from my garden) and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese.

The Assembly:

If you are using homemade lasagna noodles like I did, precook them in boiling salted water for 60 sec (until a little firm). Remove them from the boiling water and stop the cooking process by putting them directly into a bowl of water and ice. If you are using no-cook noodles, you don't have to precook them (as their name suggests).

Oil a 9 x 12 baking dish. Spread some of the Bechamel in the bottom. Cover with some lasagna noodles. Top with a layer of beets and sprinkle with parmeson cheese. Repeat the layers. Top with a layer of lasagna covered with bechemel and parmeson cheese.

Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 min (noodles should be tender and lasagna should be bubbling). Uncover and bake for another 10-15 minutes to brown the top. Allow to sit for 10 min before serving.

Enjoy with a nice crisp salad and homemade garlic bread.