Archives for April 2008
Pork tenderloin with roasted beets and salsify
A quick and easy dinner is just what a Monday night calls for. My favorite way to cook pork tenderloin is in an obscenely hot oven (500°) for about 10 minutes or until the internal temp in the thickest part is 140°. But that requires either a clean oven or the doors and windows wide open to let the smoke out of the house. Since it was raining/snowing/sleeting I decided to forgo my favorite method, instead I cut the tenderloin into medallions and sautéd it in some olive oil. I finished them off with a huge splash of lemon juice and then plated them with some of the pan juices dribbled across the top.
Salsify is also known as oyster plant apparently because someone, somewhere thought that it tasted like an oyster. Well I didn’t get that flavor note but it did taste vaguely nutty and sort of reminded me of a sunchoke. It’s a difficult root to peel because it’s tough and the white sap that exuded as I peeled and chopped was sticky and difficult to get off my hands. It’s also necessary to drop the peeled root in acidulated water immediately or it will turn brown.
Once I got the salsify peeled and chopped I gave it a spin around the bowl with some good olive oil and then I tossed it with some dijon mustard, lemon juice, and yuzu honey. The beets were tossed in that mix too. I roasted the two roots in a 425° oven for about 20 minutes and they came out tender and sweet yet with a tiny bite from the mustard. I’ve been cooking beets like this for years and we’ve always loved them but the recent addition of the yuzu honey has been genius even if I do saw so myself. Even though the salsify was fun to try, I doubt that I’ll be in a hurry to use it again. It’s sappiness and extra steps made it more work than it was worth…at least flavor-wise.
Do you seek out new products to try? What has been your favorite find? For me it’s anything with Yuzu in it.
The early bird catches the spinach
I have a fundamental problem with getting up and out of the house by 7:00 on a Saturday morning. But last week it ensured me a bag full of fresh tender spinach from Primrose Community Farm and it’s sweet, green, fresh flavor is enough to tempt me again tomorrow. Who knows if there will actually be any spinach but that’s part of the fun of cooking seasonally. My dressing on this salad is far from local but then my intent is to do the best I can…every little bit helps. It’s a mix of olive oil, dijon mustard, rice vinegar, and yuzu dressing (it came from World Market). I added sweet naval oranges and green onions. The first salad of the season and it was a big hit.
I’ll append a list tomorrow of what I find at the market. Cristie commented in last week’s post that she was looking forward to watercress…what are you looking forward to?
It was a head down, hurry-up and get home before I freeze kind of morning at the farmers’ market. Geez…it was painfully windy and cold…snowflakes were sighted! I was back home by 8:00…very little chit-chat going on but I certainly do appreciate the farmers and producers for bringing their tasty products for us to buy. I bought:
- Breakfast sauage, bacon, and pork tenderloin from Eric at Jordandal Farm
- Fresh spinach and tender chives from Primrose Community Farm
- Baguette and pain au chocolat from Madison Sourdough
- Eggs from Dreamfarm
- Raw milk cheddar from Brunkow
- Muester from Edelweiss Creamery
- Maple corn and little sausages from Sunnyhill Acres
- Raspberry kolachi from some lovely new bakers…but I don’t remember their names
Did you go to a market? What did you get?
Dorie’s great grain muffins…a taste of yellow
You know how much I love strawberry scones, right? Well, even though I haven’t made them as often as I did last year, I still make them…or at least I intend to. On Sunday I fully intended to make scones using Dorie Greenspan’s recipe…but then I remembered all the pain au chocolat that I’ve been eating because Cameron has been turning out such perfect delights lately, and then I thought about the baquette and butter splurge I went on the other evening, and I said to myself “hmmm, you need more whole grains”. Of course Dorie had the answer in the form of her great grain muffins.
A good muffin can be really good, but a bad muffin is often no better than a doorstop. Back in the 80’s I bought Jane Brody’s Good Food Book and learned a lot about whole grain cooking but as usual for me I went overboard…the details are unclear now but what I do remember is that the muffins I made were really dense (like a hockey puck) and heavy and I’m sure they had no resemblance to anything in Jane Brody’s book. The worst part is that I actually gave them to people to eat…I had no frame of reference on what a good muffin should be since I’d never made muffins before and honestly there were no muffins in my background…it wasn’t something my mom ever made.
These muffins are the good kind. They rise up with a nice perky little domes, their texture is good, they’re not heavy or dense…but they are satisfying. I chose to add dried cranberries and pistachios and I think it was a good choice. The colors add some interest and the flavors are well matched. 
Speaking of color…this post is my entry into the Taste of Yellow blogging event hosted by Barbara over at Winos and Foodies. I doubt that there is anyone who hasn’t been touched by cancer in some way and LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s one-day initiative to raise awareness and funds for the cancer fight. LIVESTRONG Day 2008 will occur on Tuesday, May 13.
Great Grains Muffins
adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan
printer-friendly recipe
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pistachios
Preheat the oven to 400° and butter a 12 count muffin tin or line the cups with paper muffin cups.
Combine the flours, cornmeal, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine. In another bowl combine the milk, yogurt, syrup, sugar, eggs, and butter. Whisk to combine. Add the cranberries and pistachios to the dry mixture. Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture making sure to only stir enough to combine…don’t over-stir. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let it rest for 5 minutes. Gently remove the muffins and allow them to cool, or eat them right away…that’s what we do!
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