Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Pork medallions with golden beets and blue grits


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.

23 comments:

Núria said...

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

Emily said...

I love how all of the flavors work together in this dish.

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

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?

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

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

Syd said...

Damn! You take great food photos.

Love the way you wrote this one. (despite the absence of F bombs)

Heather said...

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.

Anonymous said...

nice dish.

i don't know if you saw, but i made your damn pork and citrus dish. i hope you're happy.

Heather said...

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.

Jen said...

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!

Brittany said...

You had me at trichinosis, this is now on my menu for next week.

glamah16 said...

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.

Laura Paterson said...

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!

Anonymous said...

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"...

Heather said...

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.

peter said...

Here's to no recipes. Crazy make-em-ups all the way.

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

Heather,
Try polenta frites with goat cheese!

Awesome!

Thistlemoon said...

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.

Zoomie said...

No worries about trichinosis any more - they have discovered a cure - so pig out!

Catherine Wilkinson said...

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.

Cynthia said...

I totally agree with you - how recipes should be written.

Jenny said...

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

Heather said...

Thanks, everyone! I might stick to this for awhile. It's a lot less daunting to try to blog regularly this way!