Friday Dinner: Apple Dijon Pork

This meal is a solo edition of the Friday dinners, as Trix had an emergency with her dog and couldn't participate. There was also no Gossip Girl watching, which is sad only in that it means we still have 4-5 episodes to go before we can start Battlestar Galactica.



I love pork. I love it in soup, in barbecue, in sandwiches, and basically any way it's prepared in a restaurant. At home I'm most successful with cooking pork when it involves slow cooking somehow, whether in the Crock Pot or in soup. (And I'm talking about cuts of pork rather than, say, bacon or ham.) Otherwise, it tends to be tough rather than tender, and is always just a little bit disappointing.

This recipe has shown me what I've done wrong all this time -- I've been overcooking it. According to the recipe, "Pork tenderloin is a very tender and lean cut of pork, and should not be served well done. Pork is completely safe to eat cooked medium, and may be slightly pink in color if cooked properly." I've always been very careful to make sure my pork was well done, because I was raised in the camp of thought that that was the only safe way to cook and eat pork. It's particularly painful for someone who enjoys her beef medium rare, which is why I generally avoid cooking cuts of pork -- I don't really enjoy sawdust in my mouth. I felt very daring the one time I had medium rare pork at El Greco. Now knowing that it's perfectly safe to eat it medium, well -- I won't be avoiding pork cuts anymore, because this was simply wonderful. The meat was tender and flavorful, and it was very simple to prepare.

As for the apple dijon sauce in this recipe, I can take it or leave it. I'm not a huge fan of sweet sauces to begin with, but the combination of the sweetness and the overabundance of rosemary (I like it in small quantities) is a little too much for me. Since the pork was so wonderful just seasoned with salt and pepper, the sauce was, for me, extraneous. If you like sweet sauces and/or rosemary, you might enjoy it a lot more than I did. In the interest of full disclosure I should admit that I used dried rosemary rather than fresh, which is what the recipe calls for, so I might have overdone it.



Rather than searing the meat in a frying pan then transferring it to a roasting pan, I used my new Le Creuset roasting pan right on the stovetop. I heated it up, added the oil, and seared the meat. Then I just placed the whole thing into the oven. If you have a cast iron roasting pan, you can do the same -- otherwise, just follow the directions as they are.



I also didn't use a pork tenderloin. I used pork sirloin, which was on sale at the market when I went. And I had just read this in the latest issue of Gourmet magazine: "Sirloin pork cutlets or chops come from the part of a pig's (very long) loin nearest the hip. The fact that they're inexpensive and naturally dark or two-toned in color doesn't mean that they're of poorer quality than paler loin chops or rib chops. In fact, they are tender, juicy, and full of wonderful flavor. They also behave beautifully during cooking: Both loin and rib chops have a tighter, dense texture that turns bouncy or cottony if cooked a second or so too long; sirloin cuts are much more forgiving."

Now I'm not sure if the tenderness of the meat was due to the cooking method or the fact that I used sirloin! I let it sit out longer than the 10 minutes the recipe suggests, because I made 3 sides and was putting the finishing touches on 2 of them when the sirloin was ready. Gourmet was right though; it must have been extremely forgiving, because they were still great even by the time I got to slicing them.

As for the sides, I made Zuni Cafe's buttermilk mashed potatoes (hey, I had Yukon Golds and buttermilk in the fridge, so why not), broth-boiled kale, and a new recipe for creamed broccoli that I also got from the latest issue of Gourmet. The head of broccoli I used was smaller than the suggested size, so the dish turned out a bit too thin, and next time I will probably just use a sprinkling of nutmeg rather than the full 1/4 tsp it calls for, but was otherwise very tasty -- I'll be making it again, but with a bigger head of broccoli!



Apple Dijon Pork

Ingredients:

• 2lbs pork tenderloin or sirloin (about 2 pieces), trimmed of excess fat
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 cups apple cider, or juice
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
• 2 tbsp cold butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Season the pork tenderloins well with black pepper and salt to taste.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan, over medium-high heat, until it begins to smoke. Sear the pork on all sides, about 2 minutes per side.
4. Turn off the heat, transfer to a shallow baking pan, and place the pan in the oven. Roast the pork for about 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F.
5. While the pork is cooking, pour off the excess oil from the frying pan. Place over high heat and add the garlic. Cook for 30 seconds.
6. Add the vinegar, apple cider, Dijon mustard, and rosemary. Cook until the sauce reduces by about 2/3, and begins to slightly thicken. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cold butter, stirring constantly until the butter is gone. Taste and adjust seasoning.
7. Remove the pork from the oven and move to a platter. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving with the warm sauce.

Creamed Broccoli (adapted from Gourmet)

Ingredients

• 1 bunch broccoli (1 1/4 lb)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp grated parmesan
• 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Method

1. Peel broccoli stems, then corasely chop stems and florets. Cook broccoli in boiling salted water (1 1/2 tsp salt for 4 qt water) until just tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Drain in a colander and run under cold water to stop cooking. (Note: Broccoli can be boiled 1 day ahead and chilled.)
2. Simmer cream, garlic, nutmeg, salt, and pepper in a medium saucepan, uncovered, until slightly thickened and reduced to about 2/3 cup, about 5 minutes.
3. Add broccoli and simmer, mashing with a potato masher, until coarsely mashed and heated through, about 2 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan and lemon juice.

Cream-Braised Brussels Sprouts

Another winner from Orangette.

Over the last few weeks, I've seen some recipes for Brussels sprouts pop up here and there. They all looked pretty good and I was intrigued, but not quite enough to make them. Why? Well ... I've never had them before.


Though I wish I could take credit for this photo, it's actually one I found at ProducePedia

No, I take that back. I might have had them once before, maybe at a buffet or something, because then I'd never had them before and wanted to know what they were like, since I'd grown up hearing all the horror stories of children being made to eat them against their will (I was obviously not one of them). They were completely forgettable. I mean, literally, after that one encounter I could not recall their taste or texture whatsoever. Obviously, I hadn't eaten the best example of what they could be, and didn't want to hold that against them, so I went about my business as if Brussels sprouts were still unknown to me.

What's odd is how impressions can stay with you, regardless of your personal experiences. Even though I love vegetables, and come from a family of vegetable lovers (though Brussels sprouts were apparently shunned), all the stuff I'd heard all my life about the terribleness of Brussels sprouts stayed with me, and I had no real desire to try them. I didn't hate them, but I didn't know them, and didn't really care if I knew them or not.



But then everyone started posting their pictures and recipes, and I became intrigued. What was this vegetable that I had never really tried? What if I loved it? What if I'd been missing out all these years, and never knew it, just because I let the Brussels sprout's reputation precede it?

So I decided to give it a try. And which recipe would I use? The one on Orangette, of course. I had loved her boiled kale with fried egg and toast so much that I felt fairly confident she would not lead me astray. Plus it involved heavy cream, and I don't think there's any recipe involving heavy cream that I don't like. :P



I tried it tonight as a side dish to some chili I was making (an odd combination, but then, I'm that way), and it was, indeed, a good, filling, flavorful dish. I don't think Brussels sprouts could ever replace broccoli as my favorite vegetable, but they were also nowhere near the awfulness I had secretly feared. I even like how they look -- like mini cabbages, and I love cabbage. I'm not sure if this will be the ultimate way for me to prepare Brussels sprouts I'll enjoy, but it sure was a good start. What I like best about it -- and what I enjoy about Orangette's recipes in general -- is its simplicity. Other than the sprouts and heavy cream, the recipe calls for salt and lemon juice. That's it.

I've also had my eye on an alfredo sauce that I was planning to use the heavy cream for -- but maybe now it'll just be tinged with a bit of beautiful green color! And instead of chicken or shrimp, it'll be topped with healthy Brussels sprouts. That's sure one way to rationalize eating fettucini alfredo!



Cream-Braised Brussels Sprouts - as found originally on Orangette

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ lb. Brussels sprouts, stemmed and quartered
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• ¼ tsp coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, or more to taste

Method

1. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the Brussels sprouts and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sprouts are nicely browned in spots, about 5 minutes.
2. Pour in the cream, stir to mix, then cover the pot. Reduce the heat to low or medium low: you want to keep the pan at a slow simmer. Braise until the sprouts are tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a paring knife, about 30-35 minutes. The cream will have reduced some and will have taken on a creamy tan color.
3. Remove the lid and stir in the lemon juice. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary.
4. Let the pan simmer, uncovered, for a minute or two to thicken the cream to a glaze that loosely coats the sprouts. Serve immediately.