While at my parents for my dad's 88th birthday, we cooked some amazing meals, here are some recipes!

REC: Roast Pork Tenderloin with Dried Cherry Port Sauce

This was such an easy dish to make and tasted like a million bucks.

I know it's more of a fall dish but Ken wanted this for his birthday dinner and we were happy to oblige!

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Dried Cherry Port Sauce

pork tenderloin, silver skin removed*
Salt
pepper
thyme sprigs
2 T oil

*The tenderloins we had, from Costco, came 2 per a pack, tied together. We untied them and prepared them:

Preheat oven to 400. Season tenderloin with salt and pepper. Place thyme sprig in between tenderloins and tie together with kitchen string, tying more sprigs to the outside. Brown well in a large skillet on all sides.

Transfer to a jelly roll pan and roast for 10-16 minutes or until 135-140 degrees. Let rest while preparing sauce.


Dried Cherry Port Sauce

1 onion, halved and sliced
1 c ruby port
3/5 c dried sour cherries
3/4 c prunes
1 T fig balsamic vinegar (or balsamic vinegar)
2 T orange marmalade
salt and pepper
1 T olive oil
3 T butter, unsalted

In the same skilled used to brown pork, saute onions in oil until browned and soft. Add port, marmalade and fruit, stir until marmalade is dissolved. Simmer until somewhat reduced, ~10 minutes. Swirl in butter and pour over carved pork slices.

It might be a good idea to double the sauce, or even triple it. It was that goooooood.

 
REC: Spinach Salad

This is a delicious version of a spinach salad. Apparently the recipe is from the PTA cookbook that was created when my mom was president of the PTA. My 6th grade teacher brought this salad to a potluck and my mom asked for the recipe. Mrs. Emerson said, "It's in your PTA cookbook!". smileys/smile.gif

It's a combination of two recipes, the dressing from Shirley Guio and the salad from Sue Anderson

Spinach Salad

Korean dressing:
1/2 c oil
1/3 c ketchup
1/3 c sugar
1/4 c cider vinegar
1 T A-1 sauce
1 T brandy
1 small chopped onion

Salad:
2 bunches baby spinach
1/2 # bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 can water chestnuts, sliced
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1/2 c fresh or defrosted peas
1 Vidalia onion, sliced

Mix together dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Add water chestnuts and let marinate until ready to serve (8 hours is best). In a bowl toss together salad ingredients with water chestnuts and dressing to coat. Top with bacon and serve.


We ate all of this salad before even finishing the roasted potatoes, it was that good!

 
Light as air, REC: Sourdough Pancakes

I cannot believe how delicious and light and fluffy these pancakes were. They were fantastic with just butter, or Christopher Kimball's maple syrup, OR TJ's wild blueberry syrup.


Sourdough Pancakes

1 c. sourdough starter
2 T oil
1 egg, beaten
2 T sugar
3/4 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 - 1 cup milk, as needed

Mix one cup of sourdough starter with the oil and stir well. Add beaten egg and sugar and mix well. Then add flour.

In a separate bowl combine baking soda with salt in a small amount of the milk and quickly stir into the batter. The batter will begin to foam and rise in the bowl. Let the batter stand while bacon or sausage is cooked (7-10 minutes). Stir the batter, add more of the milk if it is too thick for your preference, and take on a hot griddle.

From Don Alexander, Santa Fe, NM

 
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