The weather this Spring has been crazy. For most of the month of March I was in shorts and flip-flops, now it’s the middle of April and I’m back to my winter jacket and scraping ice off of my windshield in the morning. In March I was enjoying cocktails on the deck and grilling out, now I’m longing for soul-warming comfort food.

Chicken Pot Pie is one of those great comfort foods I remember from my childhood. Unfortunately, they often came frozen, from a small blue box, you remember the ones. I can remember my Mom making a number of different “chicken topped with some kind of pastry” casseroles, but I don’t ever remember her making actual Chicken Pot Pie. Too bad for me, because I imagine if she had set her mind to making a chicken pot pie it would have been a pretty good one.

Chicken Pot Pie is not difficult to make, especially if you already have pie dough on hand, or if you do like I did and bought a package of the premade stuff. Sorry to dissappoint some of you, but yes, I do often buy premade pie dough, although not always. I am of the opinion that there are 2 types of people out there, those that can make great pie dough and those that can’t, no matter how often they try. Unfortunately, I fall into that latter category. Sure, I can make a decent pie dough by hand, but it’s not great, certainly not that much better than the store bought stuff so I often cheat. I admit it. I guess I’ll just have to keep practicing. If you have any surefire tips for making great pie dough please let me know.

Chicken Pot Pie
serves 6

2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or boneless skinless chicken thighs)
5 Tbl. butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 each carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 Tbl. fresh sage, minced (if using dried sage use only 1 tsp.)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peas (either frozen or if using fresh, blanched briefly in boiling water)
salt
pepper
pie dough for a double crust pie, rolled out for use in a 10″ pie plate

In a medium sized pot bring the chicken broth to a simmer. Add the chicken breasts and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the breasts are just barely cooked through. Remove the breasts and allow to cool to the point where they can be handles. Reserve the chicken broth. Cut into 1/4-1/2″ chunks and set aside.

Pre heat the oven to 400°F. In a larger pot, over medium high heat melt the butter. Add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook until soft and the onion is starting to turn transparent. Add the sage and cook for 1 minute longer. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until all the butter is absorbed. Cook 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Add the reserved chicken broth and stir to fully incorporate the flour into the broth. Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil. Allow the mixture to thicken. It should be quite thick. Add the peas and the diced chicken. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Line a 10″ pie plate with pie dough, allowing the dough to hand over the edges. Fill with the chicken and gravy mixture.

At this point you need to work quickly as the mixture is still warm and can make working the pie dough difficult. Place the second sheet of pie dough over the filling and crimp or twist the edges of the dough together to seal the pie. Cut a couple of steam vents into the top crust and place in the oven.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Cut into sixths.

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Like most of the people in the upper Midwest, I can’t believe the weather we are having. We’ve had almost a full week of 70-80° temperatures and it’s barely the middle of March. Of course, we’re all holding our breath, just waiting for winter to make one last bid for supremacy. We watch the news religiously expecting to hear that the season’s worst blizzard is heading our way and that this weather is nothing but a short tease before we are plunged back into sub zero temperatures.

That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been out, enjoying this early preview of summertime. It seems that every day our neighborhood is infused with the aromas of people grilling out and watching the kids play outside in their shorts makes me think that the end of the school year is right around the corner, not Spring Break.

To celebrate this early taste of summer I created a new cocktail. Well, okay, I hate to say “created” as someone, somewhere has probably come up with this flavor combination before, but it’s new to me. You will need to make a couple of things first though. You will need to make the Ginger Lime Syrup and Homemade Sweet and Sour Mix, both recipes follow the main recipe. The Ginger Lime Syrup I originally created as a flavoring syrup for homemade soda and while it makes an okay Ginger Ale, it makes a much better mixer for cocktails. But if you have a Sodastream, or another such carbonator, give it a try. Of course you could use store bought sour mix, but why? It tastes nasty and leaves a strange aftertaste in your mouth. Besides, it masks all the other wonderful flavors in this drink.

While, techniquely this drink really would be considered a collins because of the addition of soda to top the drink I’ve called it a “Sour” which I’m sure will annoy those sticklers out there. Either way its still a good drink. I also haven’t added the egg white, which is often customary in a classic sour and which gives a “Sour” its creamy smoothness.

Gingered Bourbon Sour
makes 1 drink

2 oz. Bourbon, your favorite brand (whiskey would be fine also)
2 oz. Ginger Lime Syrup, recipe below
3 oz. Homemade Sour Mix
Club Soda
Lime, or Lemon slices

Fill a highball or Collins glass with ice. Pour in the Bourbon, ginger syrup and sour mix. Give a quick stir then fill with club soda and garnish with lemon or lime slices. After finishing the first one, enjoy another, and maybe another…only if you aren’t planning on driving anywhere!!

Ginger Lime Syrup
makes approximately 3 1/2 cups

2 cups Water
1 1/4 cup Sugar, granulated
3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
3 oz. fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp. Coriander seed, lightly cracked
3 Limes
1/8 tsp. Salt

Combine water, sugars, ginger and coriander in a sauce pot, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, covered. Remove from heat and allow to steep 10 minutes more. Meanwhile zest and juice the limes. Add the zest and salt to the ginger mixture and steep 5 minutes longer. Strain and cool. Once room temperature add the lime juice and refrigerate until ready to use. Will hold for 2 weeks.

Homemade Sweet and Sour Mix
2 cups Lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 1/2 cups Simple syrup (1:1 water to sugar ratio)
1/2 cup Water
1/3 cup Lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/3 cup Orange juice, freshly squeezed

Combine all ingredients and strain to remove any pulp and/or seeds. Refrigerate until needed. Will last for about 1 week, but tastes best within a day of making.

Related posts:

1. Rhubarb Refreshments
2. Bourbon Peach Slush

I can’t believe how beautiful it was today, up here in Wisconsin. The sun was shining, the temperature hovered in the mid 60′s and the neighborhood was inundataed with the aromas of people cooking out and enjoying the day. Not what I usually think of as a normal day in mid March. Not that I’m complaining. It was great! The best part is renewing old friendships that kind of go by the wayside during the winter months was most of us seem to hibernate as much as possible. Friends that we spend almost every weekend with, during summer, become strangers in those long, cold winter months. That is until the big snow storms when we all meet up, as we are digging ourselves out, and discuss how we can’t wait for summertime and resumption of our weekend rituals (which usually consist of endless games of Washers and copious amounts of beer).

With this unexpected good weather the wife suggested we do steaks on the grill. Being me, I never turn down the opportunity to cook up…and eat a steak. But this was the first major grill out of the season and I wanted to make it something special and to me that meant Bistecca alla Fiorentina.

Now, when us Americans think of Italy the last thing that often comes to mind is grilled steak, but let me tell you the Italians know how to do it right. We’re not talking some lame old 10 oz. filet or 12 oz. NY Strip. Heck no! We’re talking Porterhouse, and not just any old Porterhouse but a 2+ inch, 2-3 pound behemoth, grilled until it develops a wonderfully dark, crispy crust yet still rare inside so that you can taste the beef as it was meant to be.

Here in the US it is almost impossible to truly replicate the Italian Bistecca alla Fiorentina. The reason is the breed of cattle used over there is the Chianina steer which hasn’t really seen widespread breeding here. Also, over in Italy, most of the cattle is still allowed to graze and isn’t force fed a lot of growth hormones and drugs. This means that the meat has a more pronounced flavor but also will be more prone to drying out when cooked past medium rare as it doesn’t contain the amount of marbling that our beef does.

As there really aren’t many ingredients to producing Bistecca alla Fiorentina this is really going to more of a “how-to” so I won’t be following my normal, standard recipe format.

First we need to gather up everything we need. Your top priority is finding a butcher you can trust and ordering your Porterhouse. While I often recommend purchasing “Prime” meat if you want the ultimate in flavor for this application “Prime” is really too well marbled. Ask your butcher to cut your Porterhouse from “choice” preferably Angus. Or better yet, if you can get your hands on a cut from a local farmer raising grass fed steer then jump on it! More important that weight is the thickness. You want a cut that is 2-3 inches (or approximately 3 fingers) thick. This will yield a Porterhouse that will weigh somewhere in the range of 2 1/2-4 pounds. You will also need a pepper grinder (please no pre ground pepper), some sea salt (kosher will would also be acceptable but stay away from table salt as it is both too fine and fortified with iodine which leaves an off taste) and a bottle of good, extra virgin olive oil. You will also need a bag of lump, hardwood charcoal, or if you are really feeling ambitious then hot coals from a hardwood fire that you allowed to burn down. Please forgo the charcoal briquettes for this and don’t even think about gas. Yes, I use a gas grill, as well as a charcoal grill, and yes you do get a better flavor from charcoal. You are going to have paid a hansome sum for that Porterhouse you just bought. You…and the steak deserve to do this up right. Don’t skimp on quality on any of these ingredients because that’s all there is. No garlic, no herbs and no way to hide poor quality ingredients.

Six hours before you are ready to cook, remove the steak from the packaging, place on a cooling rack set over a plate or sheet pan and return to the fridge. This will allow the surface of the steak to dry out somewhat, helping the in the development of the nice crust.

Three hours before cooking remove the steak from the fridge and allow to warm to room temperature. This step is very important in ensuring that the meat cooks properly.

15 minutes before you are ready to cook light the lump charcoal, using a chimney starter. Please avoid the use of any form of chemical firestarter as it can contribute off flavors to the steak. Once the coals are ready pour them out into the grill. Spread the coals out so that you will be grilling over a medium high heat. Replace the grate and allow the grate to heat up for 5 minutes. Clean the grate and place the steak on top.

You’ll notice that I did not oil either the grill or the steak nor did I season the steak before cooking. When I first learned this style of preparation I was confused as it went against just about everything I had learned about grilling, but trust me it works. You will grill the Porterhouse for 8 minutes on the first side, adjusting it’s position after about 3 minutes and then every 2 minutes after that. We are not looking for the traditional “grill marks” that mark an expert grillsman, but instead are looking for a nice consistent crust all over. After 8 minutes, flip the steak, season with a sprinkling of salt and fresh ground black pepper and cook for another 8 minutes, again spinning the steak regularly. Flip, and season this side of the steak then, holding the steak on edge, sear all the sides that didn’t get well seared before.

Stand the steak upright, with the bone in contact with the grill and grill for 4 minutes. Finally, give each side another 3-4 minutes on the fire, seasoning after each side comes off of the flame. In all, it will take about 25 minutes minutes for a steak this size to reach rare to medium rare. Cook longer if you want it more done.

Now comes one of the most important steps; allow the steak to rest for, at least, 10 minutes. This gives the muscle fibers time to relax and allows the moisture to redistribute throughout the meat. If you don’t allow this resting time and slice the meat immediately you will lose most of the juices to the cutting board.

Once well rested, remove each lobe of meat from the bone and slice against the grain. Arrange on plates and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Use a light touch or the oil will overpower the beautiful steak flavor. Offer your guests fresh ground black pepper and the sea salt, but chances are they won’t need it. Enjoy!!

Related posts:

1. Coriander Crusted Pork Chops with Lime Glaze
2. Pulled Pork
3. Beef Skewers with Onion Balsamic Glaze

Alright, I’m a bad blogger. I can’t tell you how many people have contacted me wanting to know what is going on, why I’m not blogging more often, and even a few who were concerned about my well being. Well…okay, not a lot of people, but more than I expected. I’m not going to offer up any excuses other than it has been me not being very motivated. I promise I’ll try to do better.

Not long ago I had a craving for something pizza-like, big surprise I know, me being the king of pizza delivery. What was surprising is that I didn’t exactly want pizza. Yes, I even shocked myself. I wanted something crispy, and chewy, savory and loaded with carbs. Something with a lot of flavor, just like pizza. Then I remembered a German dish that I had had before, Zwiebelkuchen, kind of a cross between a quiche and a pizza. Yes, I know, it sounds strange, but stay with me for a minute. Zwiebelkuchen come in many different forms from thick and eggy to thin and crispy with just a thin layer of custard to hold everything together…just like the cheese on a pizza. Made with lots of sauteed onions, and usually some kind of pork, this dish packs a wallop in the flavor category, and although a little time consuming (you make a yeast dough that needs to rise) it’s pretty simple. Serve it like you would a quiche, with a side salad for a light lunch, cut it into smaller pieces and serve as an appetizer or cut it into large wedges like I do and eat it as you would pizza.

This recipe makes a more pizza-like Zwiebelkuchen as opposed to the thicker, deeper quiche style.

Zwiebelkuchen (German Onion Tart)

1 package active, dried, yeast
2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups All purpose flour
1 Tbl. butter
1 cup water, warm
6 slices Bacon, chopped (preferably thick cut)
2 mdium onions, sliced
1/4 tsp. Caraway seed
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper, freshly ground
1 each Egg
1 each Egg yolk
1cup sour cream
2 Tbl. milk (optional)

Combine the yeast with sugar, salt and 1/2 cup flour in a bowll. Blend in the butter and warm water and mix to combine. Add enough of the remaining flour flour to make a soft dough (you will need most of it) then turn this onto a lightly-floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, turn to coat then cover and set aside to rise in a warm place for about 30-45 minutes.

After this time, pat the dough into a lightly-greased, 12 inch pizza pan or a jelly roll pan. Cover and set aside as you prepare the filling.

Place bacon in large, preheated skillet and cook until crisp then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Using the remaining bacon fat, saute the onions until tender but not browned. Add the caraway then remove from the pan and sprinkle over the dough. Top with the crispy bacon. Bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the egg, the egg yolk and the sour cream together. This will give a custard that you can spoon on top, leaving areas devoid of custard, which is how I like it. If you want something a bit more uniform add the milk to the egg mixture and pour over the onions, spreading it out to cover completely. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Bake 10-12 minutes longer, or until the top is golden brown and the sour cream mixture has set. Serve warm or room temperature, sliced into wedges.

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I’ve been a very bad blogger recently. I mean really bad!!! I can’t believe it’s been almost 1 1/2 months since I’ve posted. I apologize to those of you out there that regularly follow my blog. No I haven’t died or dropped off of the face of the Earth. Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing quite a bit of travelling for work. As such, I haven’t been able to spend the kind of time I would like with my family so I’ve tried to limit my computer time recently to spend more time with them. And to be honest my last bit of travelling has left me both physically and emotionally drained and I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything on the computer other than some mindless surfing. While I still have a bit of travelling left to do, things should start to mellow out a bit for me and, hopefully, I’ll be able to start posting more regularly again.

Just because I haven’t been posting recently doesn’t mean that I haven’t done any cooking, although on the road it’s pretty much been restaurant food every day, mostly fast food, sad to say. It certainly doesn’t help me in trying to reach my next weight goal that the doctor has imposed upon me. Looks like I’ve got some catching up to do there also. Unfortunately, recipes like the one I am posting today sure don’t help. We’re talking crabcakes (bound with mayo and Ritz crackers), poached eggs, and a decadent Hollandaise sauce loaded with bacon. It doesn’t get any more heart-stopping…and tasty…than that. This recipe certainly isn’t everyday fare, that is unless you have some sort of death wish, but occasionally it’s okay to go all out and live a little.

Crabcake Benedicts with Bacon Hollandaise
serves 4

12oz crabmeat, picked over to remove any stray shell pieces
1/4 cup mayonnaise
30 Ritz crackers, crushed
1/2 Onion, small, finely diced
1/2 stalk Celery, finely diced
1/4 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning (optional)
Salt
Pepper

3 slices Bacon, thick cut, diced
8 Tbl. Butter, clarified
2 each Egg yolks
2 Tbl. White wine
pinch cayenne pepper
lemon juice, fresly squeezed

8 each Eggs
Vegetable oil

In a medium bowl, combine the crabmeat with the mayonnaise, crackers, onion, celery and seasonings. Mix well and allow to chill for 1/2 hour.

To make start making the Hollandaise sauce render the bacon until brown and crispy. Remove from heat and drain off the bacon fat, combining it with the clarified butter. In a medium sized pot bring about 1″ of water to a simmer. Place the yolks in medium sized mixing bowl along with the wine. Place the bowl over the simmering water and cook the eggs, whisking constantly, until the eggs are thick enough to hold a line drawn through them. This is known as the ribbon stage. Remove from the heat and very slowly, a bit at a time, drizzle in the butter-bacon grease mixture, whisking constantly so that the fat is emulsified into the egg yolks. Add the cayenne and squeeze of lemon juice and taste for salt, adding a bit, if necessary. Place in a warm, but not too hot spot as you finish the dish.

Divided the crab mixture into 8 equal patties. Heat some vegetable oil in a large skillet, over medium high heat and cook the crabcakes, in 2-3 batches depending on the size of your skillet, about 3 minutes per side. Meanwhile poach your eggs, again in batches if necessary.

As everything finishes up stir the crispy bacon into the Hollandaise sauce. Place two crabcakes on each of 4 plates. Top each with a poached egg and spoon some of the Bacon Hollandaise over top. Enjoy and then make an appointment with your cardiologist!

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I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Ours was fantastic!!! Fun yet mellow. Not quite as relaxing as I had hoped it would be but it never is when you have a 5 year old. She was so wound up for the morning that she expected us to entertain her all day, a theme that has been playing out more often recently. I’m not sure what it is; it isn’t that she doesn’t have an expansive imagination. I’ve watched her carry on 4 way conversations where she plays the part of each one of her dolls. I guess it’s just easier to have Mom and Dad do the entertaining than to do it herself. But when we do the entertaining we short change ourselves as listening to her carry on full conversations, where she plays all parts, is quite amusing, often insightful, many times downright hysterical and sometimes just a bit scary. But, I digress… Overall it was a great Christmas, and although it would have been nice to share parts of it with family, it was very nice doing our own thing.

New Year’s was rather pathetic at our house this year. The wife and kid were in bed by 10pm and I was on the computer, putzing around when I noticed that it was already 12:15am. Yes, I missed New Year’s, but I can’t complain because the day before my wife and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary with a nice romantic dinner, of steak and grilled crab legs, to the sounds of “Phineas and Ferb” playing in the background. Oh well, there’s always next year.

For our Christmas dinner, we decided to do Roast Duck and while normally eating half a duck is no problem for me, with all the other dishes we had we ended up with a decent amount of duck leftover. A few days later I found myself in the mood for breakfast at dinner and knowing that we had duck that we had some duck to use up I decided to marry it with some of the winter squashes we seem to have multiplying on our baker’s rack.

Duck and Butternut Squash Hash
serves 3-4

1 1/2 to 2 cups Duck meat, cooked
2 cups Waxy potatoes, small diced (Yukon Gold or Red skinned work great)
2 cups Butternut squash, peeled and small diced
1 small Onion, peeled and small diced
1 clove Garlic, peeled and minced
2 Tbl. Vegetable oil
3 strips Bacon, preferably thick cut, cut into thin strips
3/4 cup half and half
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Bring 2 small pots of salted water to a boil. To one pot add the diced potatoes and to the other pot add the diced squash. Par cook the potatoes and squash until almost done. They should still have a bit of crunch to them. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat and add the oil. Once hot add the bacon and cook until crispy. Remove the bacon leaving the fat in the pan. Add the potatoes and cook just until starting to brown. Add the squash and the onions and cook until all the vegetables are tender, about 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic and duck and cook for 2 minutes. Add the half and half and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Mash the hash down, slightly crushing the potatoes and squash and form into a large patty just smaller than the size of the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook, undistrubed for 5-6 minutes. Flip the hash over (don’t worry you won’t be able to do this as one large patty just try to get most of it flipped over) and reform into a patty again mashing it down slightly. Allow it to cook until the bottom starts to crisp up, another 10-12 minutes. Watch to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Divide among plates flipping the hash over so that the browned, crispy part is on top. Serve plain or like I do, topped with poached eggs and accompanied by buttered toast for scooping up the hash.

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Just a quick post tonight and a great little recipe for your Christmas Dinner. First, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!! I hope your holidays are full of family, friends, fun and lots of great food! I’m looking forward to our quite Christmas with me, my wife and daughter so we don’t have to deal with travelling. If you do have to travel I wish safe journeys and a quick stress free trip. It looks to be a relatively quite weekend weatherwise, at least here in the USA, so hopefully no one will have any difficult driving or flight delays.

I my last post I promised a Cranberry Chutney to go along with the pork recipe I posted. The cranberries in this chutney are tempered by dried cherries, helping to mellow out their tart, cranberry kick. The recipe is given a very subtle exotic accent by the addition of coriander and green cardamon. If you can’t find green cardamon pods then you can use ground cardamon or even skip it all together although I like the faint Indian flare it gives this chutney. Besides pork, this relish would pair perfectly with duck, goose, turkey, and lamb.

Cranberry and Dried Cherry Chutney
serves 8-10

6 pods green cardamon
1 tsp. whole coriander
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 Tbl. vegetable oil
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
12 oz. fresh cranberries
1 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup crystallilzed ginger

Lightly crush the cardamon pods and remove the seeds, discarding the outer pod. Coarsely grind the cardamon and coriander together then add the ground cinnamon. Reserve. In a medium sized pot heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic, and spice mixture. Cook for 2-3 minutes to toast the spices. Add the cranberries, sugar and orange juice. Bring to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the cranberries start to break down. Add the dried cherries and cook 5 minutes longer. Add the crystallized ginger, cook 1 minute then remove from heat. Allow to cool and store in the fridge. While it is ready to eat as soon as it is cool, the flavors will more fully develop and meld if allowed to sit overnight, in the fridge.

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Tis the season for food bloggers to post crazy. It seems that even those bloggers that normally only post a few times a month churn out tons of posts between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And who can blame them. The season is made for cooking…and eating. There are posts on making cookies, making candies, creating holiday themed cocktails or cooking up snacks and appetizers for holiday parties. And while there are also lots of wonderful posts on creating memorial Christmas meals for the whole family there seems to be a lack of posts concerning those who aren’t spending the holidays with extended family but still would like to cook a nice meal.

That is exactly what we are doing this year. It will just be me, my wife and my daughter. While we have family only a short distance away (1 1/2 hours) we decided it would be nice just to spend a holiday with just “us”, something we’ve only done once before with our daughter. I will miss the hustle and bustle of an extended family Christmas, but it will give us a chance to make some of our own traditions and, as Christmas approaches, I find myself relishing the idea of quite, low key Christmas with just the 3 of us.

But that means no huge, roasted Turkey, Crown Roast of Pork, or Rib of Beef. Instead we are thinking smaller. Pork Tenderloin fits that bill perfectly. They normally weigh in about 1 1/2 – 2 pounds, just the right amount for a meal for 2-4 people. And better yet, they don’t take very long to cook-less than 1 hour, start to finish, including prep time. Accompanied by a dried fruit relish or chutney (look for a recipe with a twist on Cranberry relish later this week), creamy brasied cabbage and roasted root vegetables, you have the makings of a simple, yet elegant Christmas dinner that doesn’t have you spending hours in the kitchen (not a bad thing when you are cooking for a crowd, but it can be tedious when cooking for just a few people). Make the meal special by serving a nice bottle of American Pinot Noir or ratchet up the festive level and serve one of my favorite Champagnes, Billecart Salmon Rose. It will run you about $80-90, but it’s well worth it, and besides, it’s Christmas.

While I’m crusting pork in this recipe, the same procedure works just as well with lamb or chicken breasts. In fact, I think the first time I made this it was to crust Rack of Lamb at one of the first high end restaurants I ever worked at. Yes, this recipe is pretty traditional. It surely won’t win any awards for creativity or trendiness, but there is a reason the classics are classics. It’s because they work. Enjoy!!

Mustard Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin
serves 2-4

1 1/2 – 2 pounds pork tenderloin
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 1/2 Tbl. rosemary, fresh, finely chopped
1 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
3-4 Tbl. Dijon mustard
salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbl. vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Place a skillet over high heat. Meanwhile generously season the pork tenderloin with salt and pepper. Add the oil to the pan and when hot add the pork tenderloin. While the pork is cooking combine the bread crumbs, rosemary, garlic, and a bit of salt and pepper. Cook the tenderloin until it is seared on all sides.

Once seared on all sides remove pork from pan and pat dry to remove excess oil. Liberally coat the entire tenderloin with Dijon mustard, brushing it on with a pastry brush.

Then roll in the bread crumb mixture to crust all sides of the pork.

Place on a pan and roast, in the oven to an internal temperature of 140°F. Once the pork reaches 140°F remove from the oven, loosely tent with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 8-10 minutes. This will leave you with pork that is still a little pink inside. Personally I like it this way and am loathe to return to the days when pork was cooked until grey, dry and lifeless, but if you are squeamish about pink pork then cook it to 150-155°F, but remember this is pork tenderloin and not very fatty. Cook it too far and you will have a dry tough piece of meat on your hands.

After resting, cut the pork into slices about 1/4″ thick and serve.

No related posts.