Are You Gonna Eat That?

Marinated Stuffed Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Whoah, what a mouthful that title was…regardless, this was delicious, and the whole meal was made for under $20…

2 Pork Tenderloins, medium size (on sale for like $6 at Safeway!)

1 bunch of fresh spinach (cleaned)

3 cloves garlic (smashed, pressed, whatever)

1/4 of a red onion, diced

Marinade:  

1/2 c. olive oil

2-3 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar 

Butterfly both tenderloins, generously salting and peppering both sides.  Place in plastic bag and add 1/2 c. olive oil and 2-3 tbsp. of Balsamic Vinegar.  Let marinade overnight.  

Stuffing.  Add around 1 tbsp. of olive oil to sautee pan.  Add chopped onions and garlic.  Let cook until onions become soft.  Add spinach (be sure it’s been dried after it was cleaned) and cook until spinach wilts, 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Lay out tenderloins flat and spread the cooked spinach mixture evenly across the surface.  Sprinkle generous portion of Feta Cheese over the spinach topping.  Roll both tenderloins closed and secure with string or bamboo skewers. 

Grill on a medium grill for about 20 minutes, or until pork reaches desired doneness.

Technically, i screwed these up on the grill, overcooking one side, as these butterflied tenderloins are kind of hard to turn and sear on all sides.  But when I let them rest and then carved them, the base was charred, but had this great “crispy bit” char flavor akin to a bbq pulled pork sandwich.  I actually would prefer one side overdone, as teh rest of the pork was fork tender and unreal flavor-wise…

I also served this with grilled asparagus (with a little olive oil, salt and pepper) and grilled corn, which turned out to be unbelievably awesome.  I just put the whole ears in the coals and let them hang out for a while.  Make sure you soak the ears before you put them on the coals though…

Garlic Pepper Citrus Marinade (for Pork?)

I bought a humongous pork tenderloin about 2 months ago and froze it.  Since the weather is going to be nice this weekend, I thought maybe i’d pull it out and grill it up.

The marinade I partially stole and made my own:

Lime Juice

Orange Juice

Chopped garlic

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Red Bell Pepper

Bay Leaves 

I haven’t decided if I’ll smoke this (and what type of wood to use), but Mesquite may actually dampen the citrus and work out well… 

Restaurants to Try in PDX...

 A co-worker gave me all these choice coupons for local restaurants:

Equinox:  www.equinoxrestaurantpdx.com - I like the weird combos this place has going.  A bit heavy on the Italian-style dishes, but hey, who doesn’t like italian food?

23Hoyt:  http://www.23hoyt.com/ - what a pretentious fucking name.  A bit steep, but go figure, it’s NW 23rd…

D.F. :  www.dfpearl.com - Looks pretty good - I love wild boar tacos, but I’m hesitant when I see ceviche at a mexican restaurant (it’s a Houston bias).

Urban Fondue:  www.urbanfondue.com - Melted fucking cheese!

Saucebox:  www.saucebox.com - This was like the 2nd bar I ever went to in Portland.  The food is supposed to be dynamite, but the chick I met at this place that night was busted beyond belief.

Le Hana:  www.lehana.com: High-end Japanese food.  Hmmmm…

Clark / Lewis: http://www.clarklewispdx.com/ - I’ve been trying to convince people to go with me here.  It’s obviously a bit pricey for the $8/hour crowd, but goddammit, what an awesome presentation of local cuisine…

Buttermilk Fascinations

I’m getting sick and fucking tired of hearing about how everything needs to be braised/steamed/marinated in fucking buttermilk.  Seriously people, buttermilk is pretty awesome, but I don’t feel like it does anything to meat besides adding a snippet of body to the flavor.

Case and point:  I ate at Lovely Hula Hands on Mississippi last weekend, and it was pretty decent.  I had this pork shoulder braised in this buttermilk thing that was supposed to have lemon and sage.  Well, either they forget the lemon and sage, or the buttermilk overpowered it, because I found it to be somewhat lacking in flavor.  Texture, consistency of the pork was absolutely stunning, but I could’ve achieved that over low coals and a buttload of hickory chips…and I would’ve actually had some fucking flavor.

Sidebar:  A little buttermilk in eggs is awesome.  Buttermilk biscuits are awesome.  Buttermilk in anything and everything you can think of?  Not awesome…

Also, what’s with this new Sunchoke explosion?  I see this shit on cooking shows, and literally, within like a fucking week, whatever exotic ingredient was featured starts popping up all over town and in all sorts of restaurants.  It worries me that people are that fickle to the trends of the Food television glitterati…

Modified Portuguese Kale and Sausage Soup

I’ve made this before and it turned out stellar, but here’s the modified version that I tried last night:

2 cartons low-salt chicken stock

2 cups water

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

3 yellow potatoes

1 small head cauliflower

1 bunch Kale (whatever species you want)

2 9 inch sticks of smoked Andouille

2 Tbsp. Cajun seasoning

Sautee onion and garlic in about a Tbsp. Olive Oil in a big stew pot.  Add 2 cartons of stock, plus water.  Let steep for about 5 minutes. 

Chop potatoes into 1/4 inch chunks.  Chop cauliflower into manageable pieces.  Slice andouille into semi-thin rounds.  De-vein (depending on preference) Kale and rough-chop into a pile.

Add everything to pot.  Bring to a boil.  Taste for salt and pepper.  Add cajun seasoning.  Let simmer for 2 hours.  Enjoy.

The original recipe I used called for linguica instead of andouille, but i think both worked well.  I do, however, like the nice red color that linguica added to the stew. 

The original recipe also called for cayenne, rather than cajun seasoning, but since I just ran out of cayenne, the cajun seasoning worked fine.

Finally, the original recipe called for 3 cartons of chicken stock, but I found that was making the soup a tad too salty.  If you like a heavy salt dose, go with three cartons, otherwise, dilute with some water to preserve the flavor balance.