International Food Blogger Conference 2012 Portland

Categories

Roasted Fennel-Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sage-Lemon Vinaigrette

By mlb, on October 28th, 2009%

title

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 except, uh, use fresh sage in the vinaigrette and get a spoon. Because you will be tempted to slurp . . . → Read More: Roasted Fennel-Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sage-Lemon Vinaigrette

5 comments   Autumn, Cookbooks, Fruit, Herbs, Pork, Winter

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

By mlb, on October 26th, 2009%

title

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 chicken was done, I threw in some garlic cloves and a handful of walnuts)
Optional: your favorite brine recipe (mine . . . → Read More: Yes, I Do Believe that Pancetta, Parmesan & Sage Butter is a Good Thing

3 comments   Autumn, Comfort Food, Holiday, Poultry & Fowl, Vegetables    

Experiments in Pulled Pork — Sandwiches (and then Enchiladas)

By mlb, on October 20th, 2009%

pork title

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 well for me to turn it on low in the AM before leaving for work (7:00 AM) and . . . → Read More: Experiments in Pulled Pork — Sandwiches (and then Enchiladas)

3 comments   Autumn, Comfort Food, Gadgets, Mexican, Pork, Sandwiches & Wraps, Winter

Fruit & Nut Granola with Lavender

By mlb, on October 10th, 2009%

granola title
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 one sitting. Unless you are jwa, and then who knows? It could happen…

I added dried lavender because why . . . → Read More: Fruit & Nut Granola with Lavender

3 comments   Breakfast, Fruit, Nuts