I guess I'm finally tired enough of eating premenstrual cravings for dinner every night and can cook again, but I still don't feel like busting out a carefully-metered recipe at 10:00 on a work night. So I'll just describe and you can figure it out.
Pork tenderloin medallions, 1" thick, S&P. Sear in a pan, finish to medium in the oven, rest for a few minutes. (I don't believe in trichinosis, because this isn't the 1800s. I eat pork a little on the less-than-well-done side.) Deglaze pan with some budget pinot noir and some pomegranate molasses (leftover from January RFJ). You can add some golden raisins or a mince of dried apricots, if you like. This is a lovely thing to do.
Roasted golden beets: scrub the dirt off the skins, salt and toss in olive oil. Roast until tender. Toss with a drizzle of walnut oil, some toasted pumpkin seeds, a splash of white balsamic and a pinch of Maldon.
Blue grits: 50-50 coarse grind yellow corn meal and blue corn meal (I couldn't find coarse-grind blue cornmeal) . Heat some milk with a pinch of salt to a dull roar, drizzle in the corn meal (stirring) until porridge-like. Simmer on low for a few, then stir in a handful of frozen corn kernels and crumbled blue cheese (I used Danish). Spread this out on a silpat or some parchment, cover loosely with foil and bake until the bottom is crispy-cheesy (like 15 minutes). The crispy, browned crust on the bottom is manna from heaven and is, alone, worth this effort.
This is how I think all recipes should be written, anyway. If you spend as much time in your kitchen as I think you should, you would need only see a list of ingredients to make something incredible edible.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Pork medallions with golden beets and blue grits
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23 comments:
Hey, the second in the row!!! Good morning Guapa!
I'm glad you are back (so quick, by the way) to the Arena/kitchen/blogging! No blue cheese for me, thanks! But this porky must have been great :D
I love how all of the flavors work together in this dish.
Love the recipe! I think it should be so simple. The grits look amazing! The golden beets look so pretty. Do they aste the same as the regular ones?
This sounds like a dish I might be able to throw together on a week night..oR at least the weekend :D Sounds delish :d
Damn! You take great food photos.
Love the way you wrote this one. (despite the absence of F bombs)
Peter - Heathersperanto is just derivative of Trailerese.
Núria - I didn't need much of a break, I just felt bad that I didn't do anything over the weekend.
Emiline - I ate the leftover grits and beets for brekkie today. Blue cheese goes great with beets too. :)
Ben - I made up the word "suavecita" based on "Rico Suave" by Gerardo (you're prolly too young to know that song). I started calling my Catalan friend Rosalia "suavecita" after one time when spent the evening drinking cheap wine and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes laced with hashish. That was a LOOOOOOONG time ago!
Judy - I think the golden beets taste a little less sweet than red beets, but that might be psychosomatic. :P
Valli - This dish is deceptively easy and doesn't take much time. If you whack the beets into the oven right when you get home you can spend a bit of time relaxing or getting your mise en place.
Syd - Is it strange that I was too lazy to cuss? This felt like writing an outline, which means I really have been working too much.
nice dish.
i don't know if you saw, but i made your damn pork and citrus dish. i hope you're happy.
Your pork looks wunderbra, Michelle. You prolly think I copied you, since I also made pork tenderloin medallions that night, but truth be told, I cooked this on Tuesday and just didn't feel like blogging.
Have you ever made the blue grits into patties? Like a corn fritter with the delicious crispy parts on both sides?
Love your blog/photos and recipes!
You had me at trichinosis, this is now on my menu for next week.
Well said. The one thing I dont like about food blogging is writting out the actual recipe and remembering.I'm horrible at that.Plus I fear some crazy will write me and complain how their dish didnt turn out. I have heard of that happening! Plus I just throw a lot together after reading up on it.
I purchased golden beets but they went all soggy and limp before I could get at them.
I totally agree with you! Trying to write up a recipe the next day - and work out how much of something I used - or how long to cook it for... when the answer is - as much as is needed! So much depends on so many things...
And just how many grams is a heaped teaspoon anyway...?
Great post!
We had an ad campaign here in Oz to encourage people to eat more pork...The slogan was "get some pork on your fork!"...hmmm..you would be a great ambassador. I love your combinations Heather and only recently discovered golden beets. "bloody fantastic mate"...
Jen - I have made johnny cakes and hoe cakes ("well, hoes gotta eat too!"), but never from blue corn. I must! They'd be great with honey, I bet. Thanks for the nice words. :)
Brittany - "you had me at trichinosis" made me lol.
Coco - I cut the greens off the beets when I get them home, so I won't be too lazy to cook the greens (which always go nasty first). I think I might stick to this format for recipes for awhile.
Kittie - As a scientist, I have always preferred metric measurements. Grams are always grams! But scales are a pain in the ass, admit it. :)
Petah - I am the Porky Queen. I proclaim it! Golden beets are also nice, but SO low on the food chain.
Here's to no recipes. Crazy make-em-ups all the way.
I thought you went on hiatus and you're already back with another delicious dinner? :-)
You can't leave, you belong to us! muaaarrgghhh *evil laugh
btw: i almost died laughing today reading the comment you left on my blog.
Heather,
Try polenta frites with goat cheese!
Awesome!
That looks so good Heather! I love the addition of raw pumpkin seeds as a garnish! Yum!
yeah lets boycott the writing of recipes!
Have a great weekend, Chickita banana.
No worries about trichinosis any more - they have discovered a cure - so pig out!
Agree on the recipe thing...just throw the damn stuff on the counter, have a cocktail, and get to it. This is especially wonderful dish, Heather. I love pig and grits.
I totally agree with you - how recipes should be written.
Hey, Heather - I wanted to ask you a question about advertising on your site, which is brilliant.
I'm at jenny at blogher dot com
Thanks, everyone! I might stick to this for awhile. It's a lot less daunting to try to blog regularly this way!
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