Garlic-Riddled Pork Tenderloin: The Triumphant Return

And we’re back! I’ve been home (New Jersey, of the NYC Metro variety) for the past week on a rather spur of the moment trip, spawned by a super cheap plane ticket and a slight personal crisis. It was really nice to see my mom (obviously, because she rocks my socks off), to eat and drink my way across three states, and also for it NOT TO BE RAINING OMG. And then I got back to Macon and in less than 24 hours it was, naturally, raining like the end of days. But in the great obnoxious metaphor that is life, after the rain comes the sun. We may not be seeing much sun in Georgia right now, but after my own personal thunderstorm these past 5 months (good grief, has it really been that long and yet only that long?) I have finally seen the sunshine. I start my very own full-time, health insurance-providing, ass-kicking lawyer job next week. Say whaaaaaaaat! F’real f’real. So here is a tasty celebratory meal thanks to Fresh Market’s on-sale pork tenderloin and a whole lotta garlic. Super easy and makes fantastic leftovers for sandwiches or just snacked on plain.

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin (I bought a two-pounder and got home to find that it was actually two one-pounders stuck together…winning!)
• 1 head of garlic, cloves skinned nekkid
• fresh rosemary stalks
• olive oil
• salt’n’peppa

Preheat your oven to 325*.  Place the tenderloin(s) in some sort of walled cooking contraption – I used a deep baking sheet. Strategically poke holes in your loin and insert whole (you heard me) garlic cloves firmly into the meat. As much as you want. I went garlic-crazy, but that’s totally normal for me. The garlic will try to work its way out, so just push it back in. Also take some spears of rosemary and shove them into the pork as well. If you go with the grain of the meat, they’ll run in quite easily. Drizzle a little olive oil on and add salt and pepper to your taste.

like so…

I was intending on cooking my 2lb conquest for an hour and a half, but since they turned out to only be 1lb each, they got an hour. Remove and tent with foil for 10 minutes while it rests.

serious om noms

Extract the rosemary as best you can from the pork. Slice into medallions and marvel at the gems of garlic studding your magnificent loin (have you been giggling every time I’ve said that? GOOD!!). I enjoyed this with simple sauteed yellow squash’n’onions, a Southern summer favorite. Deeeeeelish!

American Jamstand: a 4th of July jam and other tales of the flood

It feels like it’s been raining for days… oh wait, it HAS been raining for days! And days and days and days. But I’ve kept myself occupied with various and sundry activities such as:

• mysterious goings-on at Dovetail that, while I am not at liberty to discuss, are VERY exciting indeed

• Steve teaching me how to homebrew, specifically this imitation of Bell’s Hopslam that went a little crazy in the pot

• top gal pal and birthday twin Melinda showing me Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market in Decatur for the first time and me going APESHIT over the tubs of spices for 88 cents

It’s been a not-too-sucky week for the most part! I’ll be heading to Edisto tomorrow for a holiday weekend with Kirsten and some of her gal pals. You know it’s gonna be a good time when everyone involved is super into food. I drove down to Lane Orchards this afternoon to stock up on some fresh seasonal peaches to take with me as my contribution. What I did NOT remember was that it was their July 4th Festival today. Poor planning, Melanie. So I parked in the middle of the field and schlepped up to the madhouse that was the store. There were festive locals and rude tourists alike. Lady who opened the box in my cart and removed some of my peaches while I was standing right there – you are on my shit list and I will find you. You do not manhandle another person’s produce after it has been claimed. This is not the Wild West.

I was planning on just getting a couple of quart baskets, but the lovely young lad at the store informed me that a 1/2 bushel box was only $20, and I would be paying just as much for less than half the quantity if I went with the quarts. SOLD.

Debatably good decision.

I carried my half bushel plus some beautiful fresh-picked blackberries back to my car, which I found firmly stuck down in the mud of the field upon my return. After a lot of wheel spinning (sorry, white minivan parked next to me…), I drove back home through what looked suspiciously like an almost-tornado.

Bring me Bill Paxton and a $5 Walmart belt.

I used the sinfully delicious blackberries along with the wonderfully fragrant Thai basil that I found at YDFM (for a DOLLAR) to make yet another round of summer jam.

LOOKADEM BERRIES!

Blackberry Basil Jam

• 2 pints blackberries
• 1/2 cup Thai basil simple syrup (we’ve covered this before…), made with ~1 cup basil leaves
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp powdered pectin
• squirt o’ lime juice
• extra fresh Thai basil leaves for extra basil power!

I mixed the pectin and extra sugar together and sprinkled it over the crushed berries while I was making the simple syrup to macerate them a little. Extra juices are always good. Boil the fruit and simple syrup, and if you want extra basil flavor, throw the whole leaves in near the end. Thai basil is so good. It’s more fragrant than sweet basil and has an almost licorice-y taste to it. Look for the bright purple stems and buds. I adore it and can never seem to find it anywhere. Thanks, YDFM!

Once the jam is good and fragrant, remove the shriveled whole leaves and jar it up! Seeds included because I love them, but you could strain them out if you like.

Happy birthday, America! Go drink a beer. Look out for updates from Edisto if we stop eating long enough to get online.

Also, I’ve joined Bloglovin. Go here if you want to follow along via them!

Gravlax and Honeyed Figs: A Collection of Thank-You Foods

Here’s the deal – if you feed me, I will probably insist upon returning the favor. I will make every effort to figure out what you might like, and I will probably make it for you within a week. It seems only fair.

I had a fantastic dinner at new friends Steve and Laura’s house last Thursday. Much food and wine (and some bourbon) was consumed by all (but actually John Buckner drank all the bourbon… I’m calling you out on that, buddy), and everyone left feeling very satisfied in bellies and in hearts. Enter the thank-you food!

Gravlax is salt-cured salmon and should not be confused with smoked salmon, which is cooked during the preparation process. There is no cooking involved in this, only pressure and science. It is pretty critical that you get good fish for this as a result – don’t go cheapsies and get some half-priced about-to-turn stuff. Your digestive system will thank you for this later. Gravlax is surprisingly easy to make (I’ve done it only once before); it just takes a bit of a time commitment and some patience, plus somewhere to get a very fresh, large, center-cut salmon filet.

Ingredients

• 2lb salmon filet, center cut (thicker filet = larger slices at the end), skin on
• 2/3 cup coarse sea salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• a few tablespoons akvavit, gin, or other suitable liquor (I used herbe de bison)
• fresh dill, and mounds of it

Grind up the fennel and peppercorns, and mix with the sugar and salt to make a rub. Lay out a big sheet of plastic wrap and sprinkle about a third of the salt mix on it in roughly the size and shape of your fish. Place the fish on the salt, skin-side down.

A magnificent fish.

Slowly pour your alcohol of choice onto the top of the fish, evenly cover it in the rest of the salt mixture, and dump all the dill on top. I used too little dill here. I will learn from my errors next time. Wrap the fish up tightly in the plastic wrap. It’s going to cure in the salt and its own juices, so make sure they stay in there! Plus, you don’t want fish juice all over your fridge.

tasty tasty package

Put the fish package in a baking dish (just to be safe from leakage) and bung it in the fridge. It can take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to fully cure, depending on the thickness of the fish and the proportions of your rub. Mine was pretty well done in about 24, though I will probably leave it in longer next time to let the flavors absorb more (see also: more dill). You will know it’s done when it turns darker and opaque and has shed much of its moisture into the pan and plastic wrap. Go ahead and unwrap it now.

All done!

Scrape off the herbs and the salt rub, or rinse it lightly if you’d prefer no bits of salt and pepper (shoop shoop) hanging around. Slice at an angle very thinly (remember, you don’t eat the skin…) and serve up! Mine went on a sourdough round with a bit of butter and a few capers.

Get in mah belleh!

Also good for gifting are things in jars. They don’t have to be eaten right away and are more easily shared. My friend Jennifer tipped me off to some figs on sale at Fresh Market, so I grabbed the last(!!) package and scurried home with them.

Anyone else thinking of Fern Gully?

I sliced their jewel-like bodies in half and sprinkled them with some cinnamon, sugar, and orange zest, then baked them slowly in the oven at 225* for about two and a half hours. It took every bit of self-control not to gobble them all up as soon as they came out.

om nom nom!

You could eat them just like this, but I chose make them gift-able by covering them in some local sage honey from Weeks Honey Farm in Omega, GA. They’ll stay good for quite some time like that. Enjoy as is, on toast, or over ice cream!

Delivery!