New Site

Hello,
I have a new blog now which combines all of my interests into one domain.
It is http://www.homeinthekitchen.com/


Hope to see you at my new location!

Fennel and Onion Roast Pork Loin with Mushroom creamed Mustard Greens and Honey

I saw this recipe on Rachael Ray’s new show on cooking channel, Week in a Day Cooking.

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/rachael-ray/roast-pork-and-potatoes-recipe/index.html

However, I did not have everything for her exact recipe, so I substituted some things. However, it turned out wonderful. The pork was very moist and the mustard greens were creaming and just a bit bitter. That is why I drizzling some honey on top of the pork and greens; the sweetness balanced out the spicy and bitter flavors. I made this on a snow day too, so a very good cozy dinner to eat by the fireplace.

Ingredients-

Pork:

2 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) boneless pork loins

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 medium onions, very finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or finely chopped
½ teaspoon of crushed red peppers
Tablespoon of dried rosemary

Tablespoon of dried sage

1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed

1 cup white wine (I used Rex Goliath’s chardonnay)

Honey for drizzling

Mustard Greens:
1 Can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom

1 Campbell’s can full of water

½ cup of white wine (once again Rex Goliath’s chardonnay)

Salt

Pepper

1 ½ large bag of mustard greens, chopped

What I did:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a food processor place the onions, garlic, red pepper flake, rosemary, and sage. Then run processor on low while you stream olive oil into it. You should get something like chopped onion paste.

Rub down the pork loin with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Place the pork loins on a roasting rack. Add the fennel seeds to the top of the pork loins and press into the meat in a single layer. Pile the onion paste evenly over the pork loins.

Roast the meats for 1 hour.

Take the meat out and pour the wine evenly around the pan, and then shake the pan to loosen the cooked bits on bottom of pan. Add the pork back to the oven and roast another 20 minutes, until a thermometer inserted in the loin reads 160 degrees F.

Let the meat rest.

In a skillet heat up some olive oil on medium high heat, then add the can of cream of mushroom with a can full of water and whisk until smooth in the pan. Add salt and pepper. Add mustard greens and wilt down in the mushroom gravy. Once greens are mostly wilted add a splash of white wine. Now let the sauce and greens cook for about 4-5 minutes. You must allow the alcohol to cook out or the greens will be too bitter. You can taste test the sauce, and when it tastes the way you want it, pull the greens off of the heat.

To serve place a good amount of greens in the center of a plate, add four sliced medallions of pork on top, and then drizzle a stream of honey over the entire plate. I also had some honey whole wheat bread on the side that I had made that day in my bread machine. Honey whole wheat goes very well with the drizzle of honey over the spicy/bitter greens and moist pork.

All in all a very good snow day!

Food Update

I had taken a break from posting to my food blog, but I find that I miss the first person perspective. I like to write like I am talking to people, because that is my favorite thing to do: tell people about food.

I have also taken a break from my Examiner online writing job. Graduate school started to take up a lot of my time. School always comes first for me, so that's how that went. I hope to write more for my Examiner.com page as well now that the semester is winding down. How perfect that it is the holiday season and i will be cooking a lot anyways. Such a fun time of year. Apples, pumpkins, holiday spices, turkey, cranberries...and then on into candy, cookies, fudge, chocolate of every kind, along with my family's Christmas crab dinner. Such a plethora of food!

Hopefully I can find a balance between the first person blog writing and article writing so I still continue to enjoy sharing food ideas with others.