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!

Pork loin with Plum Sauce

This is another dish made by my mom. She saw this recipe on FoodNetwork, by Sandra Lee. She tried it the very next day. I think it looks great, and I will definitely have to try it. She said it was very good, and her and Dad could not stop eating it.

Ingredients:
½ cup Chardonnay
2 tsp corn starch
½ cup Plum Sauce
Small pork loin

How to:
Mix Chardonnay & cornstarch in crock pot until dissolved.
Season pork with salt, pepper, & minced garlic
Pour Plum sauce in the crock, mix then add pork
Cook on high 4 hours, low 6 hours.

I'm wondering if this could be used as a base recipe for a Chinese like pork dish. Maybe add some ginger while cooking, and then a dash of soy sauce when finished. I will have to experiment and see what happens.

Rosemary Thyme White Wine Pork

This is another pork dish I tried in the slow cooker. It turned out pretty good. I made sure to have plenty of onions this time. I love slow cooked onions, they absorb all the juices and flavor an can be just as yummy as the main dish.



Ingredients:

Pork loin
2 medium onions, quartered
teaspoon garlic powder
teaspoon oregano
teaspoon thyme
teaspoon Rosemary
2 bay leaves
bottle of white wine
pepper



How to:
I put the pork loin, onions, seasonings, and the bottle of wine in the slow cooker on low for 7 hours. The house smelled heavenly when I got home. The white wine really added a great taste to the pork, and made it very tender. And the onions burst with flavor!


I hope you try a pork loin in the slow cooker, experiment with the spices you like, make sure you have enough liquid to keep it moist and they always turn out so good.

Memphis Rubbed Pork Loin

This is a slow cooker recipe I tried because I started to eat pork again, and I simply love it! I have a new found respect for the pig. My mom's favorite rub for pork is her Memphis rub. I have included the recipe for it as well as what i did to create this yummy pork dish.

Ingredients:

pork loin

2 or 3 medium onions (pictured above I only had a small onion, but the more onions the better)

handful sized sprinkle of Memphis rub (recipe to follow)

teaspoon oregano

teaspoon garlic powder

pepper

water to come half way up the pork

2 bay leaves

What I did:

I put the pork loin in the slow cooker, along with the onions and all seasonings, water and bay leaves. I let it cook on low for 7 hours. Make sure you have enough water or some sort of stock in your slow cooker if it cooks hot, or the meat will be dry at the end. I learned this the hard way, lol.

Memphis rub:

¼ cup paprika
1 ½ tbsp black pepper
1 ½ tbsp firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 ½ tsp celery salt
1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1 ½ tsp dry mustard
1 ½ tsp ground cumin

Roast Pork with Cherry Sauce

This is a roast pork dish that my mother made. I do not eat pork, but it turned out so well I had to blog the recipe anyways. The only changes Mom made is to puree the whole cherries in the cherry sauce. The recipe my mom used was found in the December 9-15 2007 issue of American Profile: Southeast Edition. The website is americanprofile.com, and the original author is Bobbie Bankston from Midland, Texas.

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
1 (3 to 4 pound) boneless pork loin roast
1 (14 ounce) can red tart pitted cherries packed in water
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup cider vinegar
12 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter

How to:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Combine salt, pepper and sage in a small bowl; mix well. Rub on pork roast. Place roast in an 11-by-7-inch baking dish, fat side up. Bake, uncovered, 1 hour and 15 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 160F.

3. Drain cherries, reserving liquid. Add enough water to cherry liquid to measure ¾ cup. Pour ½ cup into a medium saucepan. Add sugar, vinegar, cloves and cinnamon. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered 10 minutes. Remove cloves and cinnamon and discard.

4. Combine cornstarch with reserved ¼ cup liquid and stir until cornstarch has dissolved. Using a whisk, stir cornstarch mixture into hot cherry liquid. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in lemon juice, butter, cherries. (My mom pureed the cherries a little before adding, makes for a less chunky sauce). Cook 1 minute longer to heat thoroughly.

5. Place pork on cutting board and let stand 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with cherry sauce.

If you want a more sweet/tart sauce, use less sugar.