Pan-Seared Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry-Port Sauce

So, I know I clicked through this meal pretty quick. Here’s the general recipe, in order. If you have any questions—email me, or ask in the comments. I don’t assume I was so clear in my instructions that it all made good sense!

Ingredients:
Pork Tenderloin (remember—pork chops, chicken breast, steak—all of those will work)
Kosher Salt and pepper
Oil

Cranberry-Port Sauce:
1 shallot, finely diced
Dried Cranberries
Port
Chicken Stock (any low-sodium chicken stock will work)
Butter
1. Add salt and pepper to the meat, and allow it to come to room temperature.
2. Set sauté pan on medium high heat. Add 1 tbsp oil (enough to barely coat the bottom of the pan).
3. Sear the meat on all sides. Don’t be afraid to just leave it alone! You want a good crust on each side. After it has a good crust, you can turn down the heat so it doesn’t burn.
4. When cooked to your liking (shoot for 140 degrees internal temp), put meat on plate to rest while making the sauce.
5. Add shallots to pan (medium heat) and sauté, scraping the fond (browned bits) from the bottom of the pan. Now add the cranberries.
6. Add Port—around 1/2 cup at first. Keep scraping fond off the bottom
7. Add stock—about 1/2 cup.
8. Reduce liquid at by half, at a rapid boil.
9. Add 1/4 cup butter; mix thoroughly into sauce.
10. Add salt, pepper, or any of the other ingredients to taste.
Slice the meat (if any juices have accumulated in the resting plate, add those to the sauce!) and top with the sauce.

Yum! And remember--it's a process, not a set of directions. So think of it as Sear, Deglaze, Reduce.

Mac-n-Cheese, Please!

Sorry about the delay in getting this recipe up. Real life annoyingly gets in the way of the good stuff—ever noticed that?

Just couple notes for this Mornay sauce. You’re going for a proper consistency as much as an actual amount. If you’ve got too much, I’m willing to bet you’ll find a use for this pretty quickly.

Bechamel or Veloute
• 1/4 Cup finely diced aromatics (onion, shallot, leek, celery, carrot, etc)
• Salt, pepper, and any spices you might desire
• 3 Tbsp Butter
• 3 Tbsp Flour (more, if necessary)
• 1 Quart milk or chicken stock

Saute aromatics in a slight bit of oil on medium heat. Once they start to soften, melt in butter.
Add flour and blend in. You may need to add in extra flour to achieve a fairly dry mixture. Try not to brown the roux, though a little extra color never hurt anybody.

Add liquid a very little bit at a time. Start with 1/2 cup increments, and fully blend roux with the liquid each time you add more.

You want a consistency akin to heavy cream—or a bit thicker. Taste, and adjust seasonings.

Mornay
Add 3 to 4 cups of cheese, off heat, and stir until blended. Any cheese that grates well will work just fine. We used Jack, Cheddar, and Swiss.

Add in 1lb of cooked pasta, and you’ve got Mac-n-cheese. Serve it Kraft style (out of the pan, over the sink. What—you know you’ve done it!), or top with bread crumbs--preferably panko--mixed with a little melted butter and bake until the topping is crispy.

Fresh Pico de Gallo Recipe

This is a perfect 'measure by eye' recipe. We all know what we want Salsa or Pico de Gallo to look and taste like. So add in more or less of what you want. And feel free to add in extra ingredients--black beans, corn, avocado, peaches, mango--whatever you're excited about. If you need ideas, just look at the prepared Salsa aisle at the supermarket. And, experiment, because you know what you like better than anyone else!

Ingredients:
--6 to 8 Roma Tomatoes, diced small
--1 medium onion (red, or a sweet variety), diced small
--1-2 medium jalapeno chiles, diced very small
--1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped (more or less, depending on your taste)
--Salt and Pepper
--Fresh lime juice, about a 1/4 cup (preferably from a real lime!)
• Mix together all the chopped ingredients; add salt and pepper to taste; then add lime juice.

My Mom's Cornbread Stuffing

Okay. This, to me, is Thanksgiving. I don't need turkey. Mashed potatoes are optional. Cranberry sauce isn't necessary. But my Mom's stuffing? That, my friends, is why the last Thursday in November matters.

If you think I'm bad with recipes, well, you've never asked my mom for one. Seriously. This one is all by eye. Bake some biscuits--Pillsbury is fine--and cornbread--I used the 'Jiffy' mix, and it was okay--and let them get stale. Just break them up and let them sit overnight, or longer.

It's worth noting that Mom considers both bought biscuits and Jiffy cornbread mix to be an offense of nearly felonious proportions. And, I'll have to say, that her homemade versions are vastly better. Especially the cornbread. The one I made, with the Jiffy mix, was a bit sweet to my tastes. Still good, mind you, but sweet.

Now, add diced celery and onion (raw), along with hard-boiled eggs, salt, pepper, and Poultry Seasoning. No, I still don't know what 'Poultry Seasoning' is. And, frankly, I'm afraid.

You can add more vegetables if you wish. Bell peppers would be great--and properly southern in style.

Pack it into bread pans, pie tins--Hell, we use several of those, along with bundt-cake pans. That's how much we make. Pour a little bit of stock on top to keep it moist.

As leftovers, turn it out of the bread pans, slice it like bread, then pan-fry it in a little butter. Yes, that's right. More Butter. I'd offer to share some, but it won't make it long enough for that to happen. Yes, I will be heavier the next time you see me.

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!

Gravy...MMMM...Gravy...

If you were at the week when we made roux-based sauces, gravy is just another roux based sauce. But after roasting a turkey, here's what I recommend.

Remove the turkey from the roasting pan, drain the collected juices and reserve. If you've got a good roasting pan that can stand the heat, put it on a burner at medium high heat with a little oil or butter (if you don't--if it's too thin--just drain the juices and scrape off any collected fond as best you can). Add a couple tablespoons of flour to create a roux. Now, add the reserved juices back in to begin the gravy.

Lots of folks make a turkey stock ahead of time, while lots of others use chicken stock for the rest of the gravy. Either is fine. The important part is that each time you add more stock in, you fully incorporate it with a whisk (and as I proved last Monday--you want to use a real whisk, not whatever's handy. I'm still mildly embarrassed...).

I know this is devoid of measurements, but, as always, you're going for taste and consistency. Add the stock slowly and season it as you like it. I'm a black pepper fan in my turkey gravy, personally, but that's just me.

Have fun!

Brine O' Mine

Well, at least it rhymes, right?

Brining, in it's most complicated terms, is the way you make pickles. We, however, are not making pickles. We're making turkey--for Thanksgiving.

So: the simple version. A brine is just a solution of salt (and other flavoring agents, if you want) that allows any lean meat to cook up juicier and with a bit more room for error. Brined turkey (or pork, or shrimp, or chicken) can be cooked at a higher temp with less chance that it'll turn out tough or chalky.

1 cup of kosher salt per gallon of water should do it. Other ingredients--like sugar, citrus, and spices--help, but don't exactly provide flavor like you'd think. Using orange won't provide an 'orange' flavor. But it will taste good!

I'm including an article from Allrecipes that one of my co-workers wrote. The Citrus Turkey Brine is awfully good.

Thanksgiving Favorites.

Got a favorite Thanksgiving recipe? Want to tell the rest of us about it? Go ahead and either bring it tomorrow, or post it in the comments section of this post. Everyone would love to hear about it.