I’ve been busy recently so i didn’t post but i have been cooking!!! So i’m gonna add these cooking adventures right now!
So today i tried the Pork Loin with Sauteed Onion and Fennel with Fennel Cream. I have to say this was one of my favorite dishes so far. The sauteed onion and fennel was the best part of it. The fennel cream made it even better. The pork was really tender too. So all in all it came out a success. The only thing i didn’t like too much was that there wasn’t much color. I guess it doesn’t really matter though cause it tasted good. I added some fresh rosemary on top and it actually added a nice flavor to the dish. This dish in general takes some time to make. The most time consuming part is making fennel and onions. I don’t know if you have to but i followed the directions and slow cooked it for like 30 minutes or so. This dish took about 1-2 hours total.
Here are the pictures of this one.
- 1 pork loin
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, coarsly grounded
- 1 medium fennel bulbs, quartered, cored, thinly sliced
- 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 shallots minced
- 1/4 cup white wine (I used 2 buck chuck Chardonnay)
- 3/4 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
So first thing to do is make the onion and fennel. I made it a day before and put it in the fridge and it turns out just fine. Put 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Add a teaspoon of the coarse grounded fennel seeds to the oil and stir around till you get a nice fennel fragrance smell from the pot. Don’t let it burn or anything. About 30 seconds or so. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Throw in the fennel and onion slices and stir and cook. You want them to basically caramelize and go almost translucent. This is the time consuming part and should take somewhere between 20-40 minutes. I think it took 30 for me. Then throw in a tablespoon of minced garlic and keep sauteeing for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and put it in a bowl. Either fridge it or cover it with foil to keep it warm.
Now we are going to start the pork. Preheat the oven to 450F and heat a pan at medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season the pork with salt and pepper and throw it in the pan. Basically you want to brown all the sides. I flipped it about ever 2-3 minutes for a total of about 10 minutes. Then move the pork to a baking sheet and throw it in the oven. That should cook for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes take it out and keep it warm in foil.
Now we are making the sauce. Don’t clean the pan you cooked the pork in. You want to save all the flavor. So with the pan on medium heat throw in the minced shallots, 1 teaspoon of coarse ground fennel seeds, and a tablespoon of garlic. Stir it around and try to scrape a little of the pork flavors around. Do that for about 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat to high and pour in the white wine (i used 2 buck chuck). Try to scrape the rest of the pork flavors while the wine boils away. It should slowly start turning into a thicker glaze like consistency. Kinda like a watered down honey look (should take about 2-3 minutes). Then throw in the chicken broth and whipping cream and whisk it around. You want to keep cooking it till the sauce is somewhat thicker. Not like a really thick sauce but so that a spoon gets a nice thin coating around it. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and you’re pretty much done!
Reheat the fennel and onion mix in a pan and then put it on the plate. Place the pork loin on top of the mix and then pout the sauce all over the top! MMMMMMMMM so good. Bon App!
So this was recipe #3 of the festival of pork. This sauce came out really nice. As you can tell all pork recipes are just herb crusted or sauce based. So this is another variation on the cranberry sauce. The pork itself had a very simple spice mix. But even with a simple spice mix both the pork and the sauce came out really well.
Anyways, here are the pictures of the third pork recipe
The ingredients are really short and simple
- 1 Pork loin
- 2 3/4 teaspoons minced rosemary
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup Tawny Port
- 1 cup Whole berry cranberry sauce
Basically take some salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon of the rosemary and create a spice mix and spread it all over the pork.
Melt the butter in a skillet on medium/medium-high heat. After the butter melts put in the pork loins. I cooked it around 5 minutes on each side. You should make sure the pork is at around 145F to eat. I just assumed that 10 minutes total would be alright. After it’s cooked set it aside. Then add the broth, port and leftover rosemary to the pan. Let it boil and reduce for about 4 minutes. Then add in the cranberry sauce and simmer it all until it reduces and thickens which should take around 7-10 minutes. Season the sauce a little and then finish plating. I added green beans and potatoes and the onions to the side of the pork loins. Bon App!
Now this is good stuff! This time i followed directions! The sauce and the pork was really nice today. The sauce had a nice tartish taste from the cranberry and a nice sweet taste from the vinegar. Though i did have a booboo where i burnt my hand. My oven towel slipped off the bottom of the pan when i took it out of the oven and the middle of my hand got burnt. I’m pretty much used to getting burnt though so it wasn’t a big deal.
Here are the pics!
So the ingredients are
- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
- 1 pork tenderloin
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (i used a spice grinder with a few pulses)
- 1/2 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
- 1/3 cup canned whole berry cranberry sauce
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
So cooking the pork we do a sear bake thing. Preheat the oven to 450F. So the first thing to do is salt and pepper the pork. Then melt 1/2 tablespoon of the butter in a medium-high oven safe skillet. It needs to be oven safe because we have to put the skillet in the oven. After the butter melts sear the pork in the pan. It’s about 1-2 minutes on each side. After all the sides are seared and the oven is ready throw the pan in the oven. This should sit around 10 minutes. Now you can make the sauce while that is cooking in the oven. Take another skillet and put it on medium-high heat. Melt the rest of the butter in there. After the butter melts put the onion and rosemary in there. Cook till the onions are soft which should take a few minutes. Add the broth, cranberry sauce, and vinegar to the pan and whisk it together for a while. When the pork is done in the oven take it out and place it to the side to sit. (BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN YOURSELF ON THE PAN) Then scrap all the juices and stuff from the pan to the sauce. Boil the sauce for a while so it reduces to a nice thick sauce. Then you’re done! Slice the pork, plate and pour the sauce over. Once again i did the green beans and potatoes…. 
Bon App
Ok so i actually made this on Friday but i got lazy and didn’t write this up! Now i’m not lazy and writing this part of the adventure up.
Soooooo…… let’s just say you need a brain to cook…. I didn’t have my brain hat on so i forgot that the recipe i was using was for 4 people and i wanted to make only 2 people’s worth of the sauce. That means that you should cut all the ingredients for the sauce in half. What it doesn’t mean is leave all the ingredients the same but only use half the Pomegranate Juice!!!! So yea…the sauce was missing a little pomegranate flavor… I believe if i did use all the pomegranate the sauce would of been awesome. (I tried adding some juice at the end and it did taste a lot nicer) Anyways the meat did turn out really nice. I really liked the herb crust that searing it created. It all cooked really nice except for the little messup with the sauce. I will retry this recipe again to make the sauce right…
Anyways here the pics of the ordeal
The ingredients were
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 pork tenderloin
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup plain pomegranate juice (here is where i messed up)
- 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch (use the water to mix the cornstarch first or else you’ll get clumps)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons Sherry vinegar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
So first off you want to mix the cumin, coriander, cinnamon, pepper and salt together to make a nice spice rub. Then rub it all over the pork loins. Make sure it’s covered all over nicely. Then heat up a pan with the oil at around medium/medium-high heat. Throw the pork on there and sear it until it’s ready. You should use a thermometer and get it to 145F but i did it around 10-15 minutes or so. Then take the pork off the pan and let it sit aside and juice up. Pour out the fat from the pan and then add the pomegranate juice to the pan. Let the pomegranate juice reduce to about 2/3 cup and then whisk in the cornstarch in water mix. Mix it and let it boil for about a minute or two. The sauce will thicken a lot. Take off the heat and then add the sherry vinegar and butter. You can sieve the sauce to make it a finer sauce but i didn’t do it. Season the sauce with salt and then serve and plate. I added some pomegranate seeds just for a nice look. You don’t have to do that. There isn’t much of a difference :). I had the pork with green beans and red potatoes. Just a simple boil and chill.
