Please, sir, may I have s'mores

Last weekend my sister hosted some cousins of ours from France! I'd never met them, but we became fast friends. What better to bring people together (with a language barriar!) than food! Tom invited everyone to Caseus for their annual BBQ night.

They loved tasting Southern American food. It was all new to them. We had smoked brisket sandwiches, pulled pork burgers, ribs, cole slaw, sugary baked beans, and potato salad. We also had a flight of some local  beers and a bottle of wine from America. To top it all off, we all shared a mason jar filled with strawberry shortcake and a chocolate chip s'mores dessert served with a jar of milk (pictured.)

Pork dork

Just finishing everything up before plating

Never again can I eat a plain pork chop served with green beans like I grew up with (Sorry, mom!) Pork tenderloin has opened up so many new ideas for me and they’ll all delicious! I went to the store to get a plain pork tenderloin for my gnocchi dish yesterday, but came out with a provolone and spinach stuffed pork loin. I usually don’t purchase meat that is pre-seasoned or stuffed because, let’s face it, everything is better homemade. However, I just couldn’t pass up the look of these cute little loins. Not to mention the price, which was a fraction of what it would have cost me to buy a whole tenderloin, spinach, and provolone                                                                                separately. So off I went, against my                                                                                      standards, to cook a dinner that tastes 100%                                                                          homemade.

Looks a bit of a mess, but sooo tasty!

I seasoned everything with salt and pepper as I went. Also, all was cooked in my cast iron pan, except for the gnocchi, which was boiled then brown in a pan (Try it!) After peeling and dicing a sweet potato, I browned it along with chopping onion and sundried tomato. FYI, my new favorite thing to do with sundried tomatoes is to crisp them up in a hot pan! I then set the browned veggies aside to cook the rainbow chard with chopped garlic in a hot pan drizzled with olive oil. Then I seared the pork and cooked it until the inside is slightly pink. I never use measurement or timers, so regretfully, I can’t tell you these things. Lastly, I used the fat from the pork to make a butter cream sauce. I used my fingers to take leaves of some sage and throw it in the sauce. I like to use my fingers when cooking with                                                                     herbs because it’s nice to smell them (Like I've                                                                       just picked them from a garden!)

I plated the gnocchi first, then the sauce on top, then the potato mixture, then the chard, then the pork, then sprinkled Parmesan on top. The purple you see is some chopped radicchio, but I don’t recommend it. It’s too bitter and overpowers the dish (I was trying to get rid of leftovers, oops!) We drank a light Malbec with the meal and discussed our day. On to dessert!

My tender loins

When I buy tenders of a pork’s loin, I always go to Trader Joe’s. They have cheap-ish marinated pork tenderloins that are the perfect size for a two-person dinner. However, last week Stop & Shop was running a special on them, so I decided to try it.

I don’t think I can ever go back to ‘ol Joe again after the dinners I made with my newfound loins!

They came in a pack of two (not unusual for pork tenderloin.) These were not marinated, so I seasoned both of them (garlic, onion, salt, pepper). I set one aside for dinner and the other I sealed in a zip-lock bag with white wine vinegar to marinate.

For the first dinner, I seared, and then roasted the pork. I then sliced them into medallions and served with linguini and a salad. I tossed the linguini with fresh small mozzarella balls, chopped spinach, and garlic and pepper diced tomatoes. 

A couple of days later I used the other tenderloin that had been marinated. I decided to grill it with yellow and green squash, onion, and cherry tomatoes. This was a brilliant idea! The pork had in incredible flavor, was tender from the marinade, and was cooked perfectly pink in the middle. Tom also threw down some blue cheese on the side (went great with the pork!)

For dessert? I used the ice cream maker. I made ice cream with a package of Oreos & cream instant pudding and my leftover Easter candy. Take that, Ben & Jerry!

Take that take out

Almost every Friday evening I can be found having dinner at Caseus. Last Friday, however, I ate at my grandparents’ house. Caseus is known to serve food items such as mac & cheese, pork, and local tomatoes. My grandmother, not knowing this, ending up making exactly that! She also baked apples to go with the pork and, let me tell you, there ain’t nothing like a home cooked meal.

The preparation differed completely from Caseus. The pork was chop, not butt. The pasta used was different and the cheese was a mix of mozzarella and cheddar mixed with milk. Caseus uses “raclette, gouda, comte, and more cheese.” Caseus prides itself for their local heirloom tomatoes, while my grandmother uses cherry tomatoes from her backyard. One dish is certainly not better than the other, but the coincidence was pretty astounding!