Roasted Fennel-Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sage-Lemon Vinaigrette

Okay, this is seriously the best thing I have done with a pork tenderloin in like, years. Oh my god. Make this now. It was so good in fact, that I didn’t even get a decent picture of it for the title shot here. I just took it to the table and that was the end of that. So, above is a shot of the wine that we had for dinner. A zinfandel. It was good too.

The original recipe used bone-in pork chops but I substituted a pork tenderloin. I also did this indoors as opposed to outside on the grill, mainly because I was lazy. No matter, jwa & I were still rewarded with a delicious pork meal! I don’t really know what else to say about this . . . → Read More: Roasted Fennel-Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sage-Lemon Vinaigrette

Yes, I Do Believe that Pancetta, Parmesan & Sage Butter is a Good Thing

The idea for this meal came from here — a recipe from Bon Appétit magazine in which a turkey is slathered (under & out!) with the butter mix of the title. It has been decided — this will also be our Thanksgiving turkey this year. So, of course we had to try (well, of course we did!) the butter mix on a chicken to make sure it was good.

The verdict: yes, it’s good. If you can’t wait for Thanksgiving, do yourself a favor and make a half recipe and apply it to a chicken.

Pancetta Sage Roast Chicken
1 3.5 – 4.5 whole chicken
olive oil
1 sprig rosemary + a few sage leaves
1/2 a lemon
Assorted root vegetables (we used potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and about 30 minutes before the . . . → Read More: Yes, I Do Believe that Pancetta, Parmesan & Sage Butter is a Good Thing

Experiments in Pulled Pork — Sandwiches (and then Enchiladas)

The main recipe here is originally from the Portland restaurant Meat Cheese Bread. It was in our local paper, in the weekly food section. I saw it, made Homer Simpson type sounds as I thought about how good it must be, and promptly decided to give it a try.

That said, I tweaked it a bit. Not so much for taste or anything, more due to what ingredients I had and the level of time on a Wednesday that I had to devote to this. Mainly, I crock-potted it while working, so that when I came home, the house would smell so good that I would almost fall over after stepping through the doorway.

One Saturday or Sunday, I will try this in the oven but it did work pretty . . . → Read More: Experiments in Pulled Pork — Sandwiches (and then Enchiladas)

Fruit & Nut Granola with Lavender

So here’s a Barefoot Contessa recipe I came across about a month or so ago, when I found the Lentil and Sausage Soup recipe. I am always looking for a new idea for granola makin’, so I decided to give it a shot. I did read through the reviews on the Food Network site and a lot of people said the bars (for these were originally Granola Bars) would not stay together and made good granola. There you go — granola.

Since I didn’t necessarily want these to stay in bar form (I wanted the crumbles!), I omitted the butter. A little healthier too. However, there is a lot of honey in this recipe, but it’s not like you are going to sit and eat all of this in . . . → Read More: Fruit & Nut Granola with Lavender