Apricot Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin was on sale when I was at the store on Wednesday so I picked one up. The great thing about pork tenderloin is that it is just enough meat for a family of four or just two bigger eaters and leftovers for one.  Basically, it's not too many leftovers and it is quick to cook!

I didn't have a recipe in mind but when I got home I reviewed my bookmarks. I read one recipe on Martha Stewart that talked about making a mixture of dried apricots and scallions. The recipe had very mixed reviews but it sparked my creativity.

I finally got around to making the pork tenderloin tonight and made a twist on the apricot stuffing. It was great! This dish got an A from my husband and is definitely something I will make again! This takes just 25 minutes to put together!


Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup Turkish Dried Apricots, finely chopped*
2 T orange marmalade  (really any jam here, like maybe apricot)
pinch of sugar
salt & pepper
kitchen twine or those handy silicon bands

Preheat the oven to 450

1. Place a large frying pan over high heat and let it heat up. Salt & Pepper the pork. Add pork to the fying pan and brown 2 minutes per side until all sides are brown
2. Mix together apricots, marmalade, sugar, and garlic
3. Cut a slit lengthwise in the pork not all the way through but enough of a pocket to hold the apricots
4. Stuff the apricot mixture inside the slit and tie in 4 places with kitchen twine. If some of the apricot mixture falls out just stuff it back in.
5. Place the pork apricot side up on a rimmed baking sheet and roast 20 minutes or until it reaches 165 degrees.
6. Cut into medallions using your ties as guides.


*If you don't use Turkish apricots they may not cook down as nicely. If you want to use the regular kind you may want to re-hydrate them a little before using.

Homemade Buttermilk Bread

 When we were at Epcot in February I had this delicious ham sandwich in France.  It was just ham, butter and cheese on a very fresh baguette. It was fantastic. I recall it as one of my favorite meals while there.  Ever since we returned I have been craving a similar ham sandwich.  So today, since I was at home I decided to make some bread.  The thing about bread is that it's like 10-15 minutes of hands on time and hours of hands off time. Perfect when you are working from home!

This bread uses buttermilk and that is primarily the reason I chose to make it--because I already had buttermilk!  The bread may not have worked exactly how it was intended to work because it was really dense and a little spongy possibly because of the Pam I sprayed on the pan and bowl a little bit greasy. Regardless it was a really hearty dinner! It is fun to make bread and then use it right away!  I recommend it. And if you are lucky, your yeast might be more active than my yeast.

I used this recipe. But with my perpetual fear of other blogs going away I am reposting it here.


Ingredients
1/4 C water, warmed
1 package active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
4 1/2 C flour
1 t salt (use regular because I think Kosher was too salty)
2-3 t honey
1 1/2 C buttermilk, warmed
1 egg, whisked (for baking)

1. Place yeast and sugar in the warmed water and let sit 10 minutes until foamy. Note - If it is not foamy after 10 minutes your yeast is not active and you must try again, always buy extra yeast!

2. Meanwhile, measure out all other ingredients into a mixing bowl.  Add yeast mixture and mix with the dough hook until a soft ball forms.

3. Remove the dough and place on a well-floured board and knead about 10 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise 1 hour/

4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead about 5 minutes. Shape into a loaf and place into a loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 40 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 375.  Remove plastic wrap and brush bread top with egg.  Bake 45 minutes.  Wait a tiny bit for your hot bread to cool before enjoying.  We loved it with ham sandwiches for dinner!

Cheese-Filled Corn Muffins

Have you noticed how catalogs are getting up with the times recently by offering other content to set them apart from others? For instance the Crate & Barrel catalog has a section called "get the download" where you get free books, apps and music to use in conjunction with their products.  Another catalog that has caught on is William-Sonoma. They provide recipes--some which feature their products and some you could make even if all your kitchen paraphernalia is from Target.

This month, the William-Sonoma catalog had an intriguing recipe for mini cheese-filled cornbreads.  Excited about the melty-creamy quality of Fontina in my recent recipe pizzaccherri, I was interested to try these so I made sure to have the ingredients on hand for the week.

When Friday finally pulled around I had the chance.  I only keep white cornmeal at home so I picked up some yellow in the bulk section at the grocery store. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 Cups of cornmeal and can you believe that is exactly what I guessed at the store?  Amazing.

I made these two ways--cheese & rosemary and cheese & jalepeno.  Both were good and neither had an overpowering flavor. I liked the cheese in the middle and didn't need any butter.  This makes 12 large muffins. Heat leftovers for 20 seconds in the microwave before eating for the cheesiest deliciousness.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups finely ground cornmeal
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbs. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary pr 1/2 jalepeno finely chopped, seed removed
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
5 1/2 oz. fontina cheese, cut into twelve 3/4-inch cubes
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 400ºF. Spray the wells of a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and rosemary (or jalepeno)*. Make a small well in the center.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and butter until just blended. Pour the egg mixture into the well of the cornmeal mixture and gently fold until the batter is blended and no lumps remain.

Spoon about 2 Tbs. batter into each prepared well and place a cheese cube in the center of each one. Spoon the remaining batter evenly on top, covering the cheese cubes. Bake until the edges of the corn bread are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

*If you want to make half rosemary and half jalepeno then don't mix it in with the dry ingredients. Instead sprinkle in the flavorings when you add the cheese.

Broccoli Fritters

This week we got a produce box. It is a challenge for me because I am making an effort to use the produce in ways that both my husband and I will eat together--or at least try.  Today I decided to make these broccoli fritters from the Smitten Kitchen Blog.  Joey said that these were good because they were crunchy and crisp and flavorful. However, he felt that once you got through the crisp it was strange that the inside was broccoli--he wished for potatoes.

On the other hand, I loved this! I thought it was a great way to eat broccoli. It was easy to make, and they are really pretty! They also sort of remind me of Oscar the Grouch. If you are having an OtG party this is your food of choice!

Make sure that you mash the broccoli into small pieces, I had some big chunks that made a few of the fritters fall apart in the pan. I also realized mid-cooking that my fritters weren't all over the heat and so they were just sitting there soaking up the oil--whoops! Still delicious though!

Recipe Here.

Valtellina Pizzoccheri

When I was young my family spent two different occasions in Sils-Maria, Switzerland at the Hotel Privata. My sister and I only were there in the winter but my parents have returned several times.  Sils-Maria is this beautiful small town nestled in the Engadin valley of Switzerland. It was cold but crisp when we were there and the hotel provided us breakfast and dinner along with our room.  We got to know the owners pretty well and I raved about the food after our vacations were over.  I just loved everything but my favorite was always the pizzoccheri.  I begged for this dish to be on the menu when we were there and it was surprisingly there both times.

Pizzoccheri refers to buckwheat noodles. At the hotel, the owners made their own noodles from scratch and mixed them with whatever vegetables were available and a healthy dosage of cheese.  This Northern Italian comfort dish is not to be missed! Well, actually if you talk to my husband you could pass on it but I really like it. I love making my own noodles and mixing them with the cheese and vegetables and sage butter.  For those not fans of vegetables you could set aside some pasta and cheese and butter and heat that separately into a delicious and creamy mac & cheese.

Valtellina Pizzoccheri
Serves 8 as a main course

For the Buckwheat Noodles:
*I couldn't find buckwheat flour anywhere which was sort of sad so I made noodles with a few different flours but I still missed the buckwheat
100g all purpose flour
200g semonila flour
200g whole wheat flour
(or 300 g all purpose flour + 200g buckwheat flour)
2 eggs
pinch of salt
4-5oz water

In a bowl stir together flour, eggs and salt.  Add water a little at a time until the dough forms together in a firm dough ball. Let sit 2-3 hours in the bowl covered with plastic wrap.

Roll pasta dough out on a floured surface as thin as you can. Cut into long noodles about 1cm wide or the width of a metal skewer. Separate noodles and set them aside until ready to cook.

Other Ingredients:
1 lb potatoes, cubed
1/2 lb Swiss chard, cut into 1 inch pieces, stems cut into small pieces but separate
1/2 lb spinach
8 oz Fontina cheese, grated
4 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
4 oz Mozzarella cheese, grated
salt
black pepper
2 T butter
10 sage leaves
4 cloves garlic, sliced

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add salt and potatoes and boil about 7-8 minutes until fork tender.  Add Swiss chard stems in the last minute of cooking. Remove potatoes and stems to drain but don't dump the water!
2. Add Swiss chard and spinach leaves to a steamer basket and steam, covered 2-3 minutes over same water (turn down the temp when you put the lid on). Set aside
3. Bring water back to a boil and add pasta with some more salt.  Cook pasta 3-4 minutes until it resembles pasta.  If you are using buckwheat noodles this could take a little longer. If you are using dried buckwheat pasta this could take up to 17 minutes. Drain pasta, you are free to get rid of the water.
4. In a heavy bottomed skillet brown butter with sage and garlic about 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
5. Preheat the oven to 450
6. In a large casserole dish layer pasta, vegetables and cheese along with salt & pepper to taste.  Pour garlic/sage/butter mixture over the top.
7.  Bake 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and serve warm.   This is delicious with a simple salad on the side.

Pasta Pie - Inverted Spaghetti & Meatballs

When I was reading through my regular blogroll a few weeks ago I read about this pasta pie.  Immediately, I thought of my friend Robin's fat parties and sent her the dish. She told me we should have it at our next game night, and so we did.

This is basically meatballs formed into a pie crust with pasta, cheese and sauce on top.  You could totally reduce the amount of cheese and my pie plate wasn't big enough to use all the meat--so I froze a couple of mini meatballs. You could even use turkey in place of the beef if you were so inclined.  You could use a different noodle but nothing too big, this size was good for presentation but harder to fork. If you use a big noodle then reduce the amount of pasta significantly.

This is actually very delicious, it was good with sauce on the side and without. It was good the next day and several days after.

I found this recipe on The Italian Dish. The only thing I did differently was to use less meat (and I used the rest to make meatballs) and less pasta (because my pie tin was obviously not as deep as hers). You might as well still make the amount she used and have leftover pasta (sooo good due to the cheese) and leftover meatballs (roll into balls, freeze on a baking sheet, transfer to a ziploc when frozen, defrost before using for soups, pasta, pizza or sandwiches.

The Recipe.

TrueFood Kale Salad

Kale is the buzzword in Santa Monica. I feel like everywhere I turn someone is eating some kale or worse, drinking some kale!  It is like the superfood that trumps all superfoods. I'm not a huge fan of kale and prefer to hid it in soups than make it a star.  However, this salad is so delicious. This salad makes me crave more kale! I have now made it two weekends in a row, eaten all the remnants and dreamed of picking up more kale at the market to have it all week.

This salad comes from TrueFood Kitchen which is a restaurant in Santa Monica that you should visit if you are there and someone else is paying.

Kale Salad
4-6 cups kale, any variety or a mix! (I used a mix of three kinds and the purple one is pretty
3-4 T olive oil, I used Ojai Valley Lemon Olive Oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, crushed
salt & pepper to taste
1 shake red pepper flakes
1/3 C grated Parmesan cheese, it really is better if you grate your own here
optional toasted breadcrumbs for topping (I didn't use these)

1. Tear kale from hard inner stems. Soak leaves in a bowl of water, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.
2. Remove leaves from water and place on a clean dish towel to dry. Roll dish towel and leaves into a burrito and set aside
3. Meanwhile, combine lemon, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper in a small pyrex. Whisk together until combined.
4. Toss dressing, cheese and kale together in a large bowl and serve.