Blueberry-Onion Sauced Pork Tenderloin: Love and Marriage

Jennifer (my wife) and I often have discussions about how certain things came to be an accepted, standard part of our food repertoire. Imagine the first person to eat a lobster. I love lobster as much as anybody, but what would possess someone to eat that unless someone else told them it was good? Just today, we were contemplating popcorn. How is it that someone made the leap from a simple ear of corn to movie theater staple? We agreed that it was probably an accident, but I took it a step further and hypothesized that it was probably the result of an argument between an early Native American married couple. 

The wife discovers that her husband has left their corn out in the sun for the 46th time, and, once again, it has dried out. Only this time, she's had enough, throws an ear at his...ear...and it misses, landing in their fire. As she continues to yell at him, he notices that it's "popping". His attention is so riveted on the corn that he forgets she's yelling at him, at which point, she gets even angrier at him for not listening to her, and voila! He's sleeping in the doghouse that night. At least he had a tasty snack!

Another food mystery that intrigues me is the combination of fruit and pork. Sure, other meats benefit from the addition of various fruits, but for some reason, the marriage of pork and fruit tends to be an especially happy one (unlike Mr. and Mrs. Popcorn above). Whether it's the classic pork chops and applesauce or the apricot and prune stuffed pork loin that I grew up with (that recipe is coming later, and it's an excellent one!), the pairing of pork and fruit ranks right up there in the world of culinary unions with macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, and, most importantly, beer and pretzels.

So when I first saw this recipe for blueberry-onion sauced pork tenderloin, I should have known better than to be skeptical. For some reason, though, I was a doubter, and my expectations were pretty low the first time I made it. All doubts were removed the moment I took the first bite, however, and this has become one of my go-to recipes, whether for entertaining or a lazy Thursday night. I would have never thought to put blueberries, onions, tomatoes, and pork together, but the combination is a good one, and the dish does not disappoint. 

I usually pair this with a great orzo recipe that also includes fruit, and I've included that below as a bonus recipe. One of the great things about this orzo recipe is that it can be held in an ovenproof serving dish in a warm oven (250 degrees) for 10-15 minutes until ready to serve. This makes it an extra nice dish to serve for entertaining because it can wait while you finish the pork.

Blueberry-Onion Sauced Pork Tenderloin

Recipe adapted from the North American Blueberry Council via the Food Network

2 tablespoons cooking oil (my preference is peanut oil)

3/4 to 1 pound pork tenderloin

salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons butter

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup sweet vermouth (port wine or sweet sherry could be used as a substitute)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat cooking oil. Season pork with salt and pepper, then add to skillet and sear until all sides have a nice, brown crust. Transfer to broiler pan, place in the oven, and cook until internal temperature of tenderloin reaches 145 degrees, about 20 minutes. Remove to a platter; cover with foil to keep warm.

Meanwhile, in the same skillet you used to sear the pork, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat. Add onions and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until onions are golden, about 10 minutes. Add sugar and continue cooking until the onions are caramelized, about 3 minutes longer. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits that remain on the bottom of the pan. Cook until slightly reduced and syrupy, about 4-5 minutes. At this point, I will often smash some of the tomatoes using the back of a spoon or a potato masher, but this is completely optional. 

Remove from heat. Thinly slice pork and serve with sauce and orzo (recipe below).

Orzo with Dried Fruit and Nuts

recipe adapted from Michelle Urvater

2 cups orzo

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup dried apricots, plumped in sweet vermouth

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1-2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook orzo according to package instructions, replacing water with chicken broth. Drain as necessary. Drain apricots (save the vermouth and use in the pork recipe above!), chop them into small pieces, and add to orzo along with 4 tablespoons butter. Stir until combined and butter has melted. Season with salt and pepper, and put into serving dish.

Saute almonds in remaining 2 tablespoons of butter with cinnamon sugar until just starting to brown and they smell toasty. Be careful - they will go from just brown to burned very quickly! Sprinkle over the orzo and serve. 

Cinnamon Rolls: A Trans-generational Voyage

Today we feature another installment in the often imitated, never duplicated "Recipes That My Sister Stole" series. But before you jump to any conclusions about the felonious nature of my sister, I should tell you that this recipe was stolen by my other sister (which might just lead you to jump to conclusions about the felonious nature of my siblings in general). Truth be told, I have a feeling that this recipe was intended to be stolen. 

Long before I was even a consideration in the mind of my parents, my older sister was an 8th grader at  North Cumberland Middle School. And, like so many 8th graders before her, she took home economics. Lucky for my family all these years later, part of the curriculum of that class was making cinnamon rolls. So I suppose she was given the recipe, but it makes for a much better story when there's a villain.

These are, however, probably not the cinnamon rolls that you're used to. Absent from the dough is any trace of yeast, and when it comes down to it, these are probably more biscuit than roll (which is probably good, since the recipe is an adaptation of a biscuit recipe and will forever bear the moniker of "Kelly's Biscuits" in our family as a tribute to her nefarious ways in the 8th grade). 

I should confess that part of my appreciation for these is probably rooted in the nostalgia and tradition that they represent. To me, these cinnamon rolls are childhood Saturday mornings; they are my dad in the kitchen on Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings, before he got grouchy because we were all determined to ruin his afternoon feast (or so he thought). These cinnamon rolls were as much a part of growing up for me as neighborhood baseball games, playing in the sandbox, and hearing my mom's voice summoning us when all vestiges of daylight had disappeared (I never did figure out how she could yell so loudly for us to come home). Next to cereal, I probably had these for breakfast more often than any other single thing.

Before I get all teary-eyed, though, I should tell you that my wife didn't grow up with these. So, to her, they are merely cinnamon rolls rather than strolls-down-memory-lane-in-self-contained-breakfast-pastry form. Really good cinnamon rolls, but cinnamon rolls nonetheless. She likes them, and I think you will, too.

Cinnamon Rolls, aka Kelly's Biscuits
Adapted from North Cumberland Middle School Home Economics Class, circa 1977

2 cups (312g) all-purpose white flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tablespoon (11g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (4g) salt
1/2 cup (96g) shortening (could use butter if you prefer)
3/4 cup (177ml) milk
2 tablespoons (28g) butter, melted
3 tablespoons (44g) cinnamon sugar (my standard ratio for cinnamon sugar is 1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cinnamon)
1/4 cup (58g) packed brown sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift together first three ingredients. Cut in shortening or butter using a pastry blender, two forks, or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse sand. I've also had good luck using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and mixing dry ingredients with the shortening or butter on medium speed until desired consistency is reached.

Add milk, and stir until ingredients are just combined and coming together as a dough. Turn onto floured board or countertop, and knead gently to make sure dough is cohesive. Using a rolling pin, roll out to about 1/4" thickness, keeping dough in a rectangular shape as much as possible (with short side closest to you). 

Brush dough rectangle with melted butter, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar to coat evenly, leaving approximately 3/4" around outside with no butter or cinnamon sugar. If using, sprinkle brown sugar on top of cinnamon sugar, again leaving border with no sugar. 

Starting at the end closest to you, tightly roll the dough away from you until dough is completely rolled up and resembles a log. If the dough sticks to the board, a offset icing spatula or bench scraper can be very helpful. Using your finger, "paint" the last 3/4" of the dough rectangle - that does not have any butter or cinnamon sugar - with water and "stick" this last remaining 3/4" to the top of the log. 

Using above-mentioned bench scraper or a sharp knife, cut log into 1 1/4 - 1 1/2" slices (depending on how thick you want your cinnamon rolls). Place on parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until center of roll only moves slightly when pressed.

Cool slightly for about 5 minutes, then arrange on a platter and drizzle with cream cheese glaze (or whatever glaze/icing you prefer). I've included my favorite cream cheese glaze below as a bonus recipe.

Brennan's Favorite Cream Cheese Glaze
Adapted from Recipe Girl

4 tablespoons (56g) butter
2 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup (75g) powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium, microwave-safe bowl, heat butter and cream cheese using low-medium power until softened (slightly melted is okay, too!). Whisk together until smooth; Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.

A note on ingredient weights: I am convinced that if you ask 10 people to measure out a cup of flour and then weigh that cup of flour, you would get 10 different weights. The original recipe called for 2 cups of flour. When I measured the flour for the cinnamon rolls, I used the scoop-and-sweep method - I scooped the flour out of the container using the measuring cup and then leveled it off with a knife - and the resulting weight of my 2 cups was 312 grams. However, when I look at the nutritional information on the bag of flour and several metric conversion websites, they all say that 2 cups of flour should weight 240-250 grams, which makes my 312 grams more like 2 1/2 cups. So I changed the recipe to 2 1/2 cups of flour. The moral of the story is that if you can replicate this recipe using a kitchen scale, your results will be closer to my results. And my 312g-of-flour cinnamon rolls that I made this morning were pretty darned good...

Irish Soda Bread: License to Eat

Perhaps it's blasphemous to say this given that my first name is Brennan, but I don't get too excited about St. Patrick's Day. Sure, I'll wear green, but there will be no corned beef and cabbage (mostly because I don't care too much for corned beef) and I certainly won't be dancing any alcohol-enabled jigs while belting out "Oh Danny Boy". You don't want to hear me do any belting anyway...

What this holiday does provide me, however, is a perfect excuse to make Irish Soda Bread. And that in itself is reason enough to celebrate.

This recipe comes from an Irish pub in my hometown, where my sister conveniently worked in the kitchen. While I do not advocate smoking, the breaks necessary to undertake this unhealthy habit provided her with the ideal opportunity to engage in some James Bond-esque covert culinary operations, namely calling my mother to write down the three ingredients at a time that my sister could remember of this bread recipe. 

After enough smoking breaks to encompass all of the ingredients, they had a complete recipe - one that called for 36 cups flour, 9 cups sugar, 2 dozen eggs, 3 sticks of butter, 21 cups of buttermilk, and 21 cups of raisins, not to mention baking soda and baking powder enough to powder coat an entire patio set. While ingredient quantities of these magnitudes are advantageous for restaurant preparations, the recipe fortunately reduced successfully enough that you don't have to make enough of it to feed the entire population of Dublin every time you want some Irish Soda Bread.

The recipe for this simply delicious bread is deliciously simple, and I applaud the sly machinations of my sister for providing it to us. James Bond would be proud - or at least the one played by Pierce Brosnan, anyway, since he was the only Irishman to play the role.

Irish Soda Bread
recipe adapted from an Irish-like pub that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent my sister

6 cups all-purpose white flour

1½ cups sugar

4 eggs

4 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons baking soda

4 teaspoons baking powder

3 teaspoons salt

3½ cups buttermilk

2½ cups raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine all ingredients except raisins in the bowl of a stand mixer, and mix until well combined. It will be more of a batter than a dough. Fold raisins into batter until incorporated throughout. Pour into two greased (but NOT floured) 9” cake pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Yield: two 9-inch breads

Note: While the ingredient quantities above would suggest that further reducing is possible, this is the smallest batch that my mom and sister were able to successfully execute. 

Arancini: Deep Fried Balls of Goodness

Are you sitting down? Good. Because it's time to share with you one of my all-time favorite recipes. I bought an electric countertop deep fryer just so that I could make this recipe... Okay, so that's not exactly true. But my wife and I did agree today that the fryer was worth purchasing just so that we can make this, and had we known this recipe existed before we bought the fryer, we would have bought it just so we could make this recipe.  

So what is this wunder-recipe? 

Arancini. 

Aran-what, you say? 

Air. Run. CHEE. Knee.

It's hard to believe there was a time when these were missing from my life, but I had never even heard of them until a few years ago. I was at a sales conference in Arizona, and these were served to us on our Italian-themed dinner night. One of my colleagues dubbed them "deep-fried balls of goodness", and the name has stuck. Specifically, these deep-fried balls of goodness are made from cold risotto that is stuffed, breaded and fried. And believe me when I tell you that they are sublime!

In theory, arancini are a great way to use up leftover risotto. I say "in theory" because I've never actually made these with leftover risotto. Every time I make these, I prepare the risotto specifically for them. But if you happen to have leftover risotto sitting around, and need something to do with it, this could be the recipe you've been waiting for. And if you don't happen to have leftover risotto sitting around, make some. I promise it's worth it.

Alas, arancini are not so sublime the next day. Which means that they will need to be eaten all in one sitting. Pity...

Arancini

Recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup Arborio rice 

1/2 cup dry white wine

4 cups chicken stock (room temperature or warmer)

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup finely grated cheese, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus extra for garnish

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, such as basil, thyme, parsley or chives (if using dried herbs, cut amount in half)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 eggs

1/3 cup cubed cheese, such as fresh mozzarella (small cubes are best)

1/3 cup chopped ham, prosciutto, pepperoni, salami, or other ready-to-eat meat

Peanut oil, for deep-frying

1/2 cup flour

1 cup dry Italian bread crumbs

Marinara sauce, for serving (optional)

1. Saute chopped onion in melted butter and oil over medium-high heat for about 3-4 minutes, but do not let the onions brown. Add rice and stir to coat with oil for about 1 minute.

2. Add the white wine, and cook until it has been absorbed by the rice, stiring frequently.

3. Stir in 1/2 cup chicken stock, and stir occasionally until it has been absorbed. Once it is absorbed, add another 1/2 cup stock and stir occasionally until it has been absorbed. Continue this process until the rice is tender and the texture of the risotto is creamy, about 20 minutes. You may not necessarily use all of the stock.

4. Add cream, cheese, and herbs, and remove from heat. Mix to combine well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let risotto cool completely, preferably overnight in the refrigerator (the colder the risotto, the easier it will be to form into balls).

5. When risotto is thoroughly chilled, add 1 egg to risotto and mix well to combine. Prepare "assembly line" consisting of risotto and individual bowls containing cubed cheese, meat, flour, 2 beaten eggs, and bread crumbs. 

6. Using your hands, form a spoonful of risotto into a ball a little bit larger than a golf ball. With the risotto ball in the palm of your hand, use your thumb to make a deep indentation into the ball. Add a few pieces of cheese and meat to this indentation. Close the ball back up around the filling, and roll in your hand to restore to a ball shape. Place on a plate and repeat until all of the risotto is used.

7. Bread the risotto balls by rolling them in the flour to coat, making sure to shake off any excess, then dip them in the beaten egg to lightly cover, and finally coat them in the bread crumbs.

8. After you have breaded all of the risotto balls, place them in batches into oil that has been heated to 360 degrees fahrenheit. If not deep-frying, there should be enough oil in pan to come at least half-way up the side of the risotto ball. Fry until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per ball. If your oil is not deep enough to cover them, you'll need to rotate them during cooking so that the entire ball is fried (figure about 2 minutes per side in this case). As each batch is completed, place on a wire rack over paper towel (and I also use brown paper bags) to drain. 

Note: Arancini can be prepared in advance through step 7. Simply refrigerate until ready to fry. They could probably be frozen, as well, and fried straight from the freezer, but I haven't tried this yet. I will update here once I've tried it.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas, Mission: Impossible Style

Lately I've been imagining myself in an ongoing episode of Mission: Impossible. My mission - one I've chosen to accept - is to make tasty meals using as few ingredients as possible from the grocery store. Mind you, almost all of the ingredients in my kitchen came from the grocery store at one point, but the objective lately has been to buy as few new ingredients as I can. 

You see, I have this habit of buying ingredients when they're on sale. And then I promptly forget that we have them. So a typical grocery shopping excursion with my wife might sound something like this:

Me: Ooh, look, chicken livers are on sale! Let's get some!

My Wife: We don't even like chicken livers. Why would we buy some?

Me: Because they're on sale! Besides, they'll keep in the freezer.

My Wife: But we already have some chicken livers in the freezer from the last time they went on sale.

Me: We do? I didn't remember that...Why did we buy chicken livers last time they went on sale? We don't even like chicken livers...

At which point I'll put two packages of chicken livers into the shopping cart to put in our freezer. And it's true - neither one of us like chicken liver. 

Recently, though, we - and by "we" I mean my wife - decided that we had enough, and I needed to use the ingredients we already have. Not that this is too much of a hardship, of course. At last count, we had at least six different types of protein in our freezer (including a few wild ducks, which I have absolutely NO idea what to do with), at least seven different kinds of starch in our pantry (don't even get me started on the subject of Israeli Couscous), and five bottles of Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce. All the same variety. Why? Because they were on sale, of course!

Thanks to my in-laws, we aleady had this salsa in the pantry! 

This brings us to tonight's dinner. In keeping with the theme of not buying too many new ingredients, I made Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas tonight. Since I already had so many of the ingredients on hand, it passed the test. And they were pretty good, too, so they passed that test also.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

Recipe adapted from Robin Miller (Food Network)

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces*

1 can (15-ounce) black beans, drained

1 can (4-ounce) diced green chiles

2/3 cup prepared salsa (mild, medium, or hot - your choice)

1/4 cup bottled taco sauce
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano

A couple dashes of hot sauce (optional)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves**

8 (8-inch) flour tortillas

2 1/4 cups shredded cheese (I used pepper jack and cheddar)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add onion and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken to skillet and sauté until cooked through, about 5 minutes. 

Stir in black beans, chiles, salsa, taco sauce, cumin, oregano, and hot sauce (if using), and simmer for 5 minutes, or until sauce has thickened. Take pan off stove and add cilantro.

One at a time, place a tortilla on a plate and spoon some of the chicken mixture on top. Fold each side towards the center, then fold the bottom up towards the center. Being careful so that the filling does not leak out, fold the top down over towards the center. I realize this is not the traditional fold for an enchilada, but it worked well for this recipe (alternately, you can simply roll the tortilla up). 

Place in a shallow baking dish, and repeat until all the filling is used. Cover "enchiladas" in baking dish generously with shredded cheese, and bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

* In the spirit of using up ingredients that I already had, I used some leftover cooked turkey that I had in my freezer. It was quite tasty!

** You will never, EVER see me cooking with cilantro. It is hands down, by far, my least favorite ingredient in the world. However, I understand that some people like it, so I include it in the recipe.

Not too bad for ingredients that were mostly on hand, if I may say so myself. And I even had a Spanish rice mix in the pantry. But it was the last one, so I sure hope they go on sale again soon. I need something to go with our chicken liver tacos next week...

Beer Bread: Three Ingredient Deliciousness

Benjamin Franklin said, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." In addition to drinking it, though, I think Mr. Franklin realized that with just two additional ingredients, he could make that beer into a delicious baked good. I speak, of course, of beer bread. What better way to use up the remainder of the six-pack that your friend brought to the Super Bowl party, especially considering it's not the type of beer that you would typically drink?

Yes, this recipe really does only have three ingredients: flour, sugar, and beer. Not only that, but even aside from the limited ingredients, it's about the easiest bread recipe I've ever made. You put the three ingredients in a bowl, mix them together, put the dough in a loaf pan, and put it in the oven. Really? What could be simpler? 

After it bakes for 25-30 minutes, it comes out nice and golden and just begging to be spread with butter and eaten. I guess that would be a fourth ingredient. 

Three Ingredient Beer Bread

2 cups self rising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

12 ounces beer

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (reduce oven temperature 25 degrees if you're using a glass loaf pan rather than metal). Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until just combined. Put dough into greased loaf pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes. Drizzle with melted butter, if desired, and let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool the remainder of the way on a wire rack.

Note: You can also use all-purpose flour for this recipe, but then you have to add three more ingredients: 2 tablespoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix these additional ingredients with the flour before adding to the sugar and beer to ensure thorough mixing. All other directions remain the same. 

Confessions of a Sunday Gourmet...

I like good food. Some people would say that makes me a foodie, but I disagree. Merriam-Webster defines a foodie as "a person having an avid interest in the latest food fads." Most of the time I couldn't care less about the latest fads, whether having to do with food or anything else. I suppose the term gastronome - a "lover of good food" - would apply, but for some reason, that term brings to mind a pint-sized caped culinary crusader. Perhaps a bon vivant, or "a person having cultivated, refined, and sociable tastes especially with respect to food and drink" would be appropriate? No, I'm pretty sure that I have some culinary tastes that would not qualify as refined (Spaghetti O's, anyone?). 

When it comes down to it, I think I prefer gourmand. Or, more specifically, one of the definitions of gourmand:

gour·mand

 noun \ˈgu̇r-ˌmänd, -mənd\

1: one who is heartily interested in good food and drink

Those of you (specifically, my brother and sister) who followed the sporadic postings of my first blog, The Risotto Project, were victims of an ill-fated concept. While I certainly love risotto, it was difficult to carry on a lasting and meaningful conversation exclusively about one dish. And that's the genesis of Brennan's blog, version 2.0.

So just what will The Sunday Gourmet include? Basically, anything having to do with good food and drink. Recipes? Check. Restaurant reviews? Check. Cooking tips? Check. The latest in food fads? Possibly, but only if they are, in the words of Alton Brown, good eats. And, yes, there will be risotto, too.

Virginia Woolf said, "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Let's get cooking!