Happy Hour at Home - Montparnasse Cocktail

This cocktail is a real find!  I'm obsessed with Calvados and love to find new ways to use it.  I learned about this cocktail from David Lebovitz's blog and Instagram, where he has been posting French cocktails.

I have a dream to go to Normandy where Calvados is made (and to Brittany where the similar Lambig apple brandy is made).  Until then I'll enjoy this cocktail.

Here's how I made it.

Montparnasse Cocktail Recipe

1.5 oz Calvados

0.75 oz elderflower liqueur

0.5 oz lemon juice

0.5 oz sparkling hard cider

Garnish:  apple slice 

Combine the Calvados, elderflower liqueur and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker with ice

Shake until well chilled

Pour into a cocktail glass and top with cider

Garnish with an apple slice

Tart of the Month - Apple and Caramelized Onion

If I've learned one thing from my Tart of the Month series, it's  this: Keep frozen puff pastry on hand and you can whip up a tart for dinner, breakfast or appetizers any time. 

We are moving to a new house at the end of the month so we have been very busy for a while now. So this tart is extremely easy and uses ingredients we always have on hand.  It's just apples, onions, sour cream and puff pastry. 

Here's what you need for these easy, tasty tarts:

Tart of the Month - Apple Pie

For Thanksgiving this year I was in charge of making apple pie. I know this is not technically a tart, but I prefer apple pie with crumble topping, rather than a double-crust pie, so it's very close to a tart.

I used The Food Lab's easy pie dough recipe to make the dough ahead of time and kept it in the fridge for a few days, then assembled and baked the pies the day of our dinner.

The dough is very easy to make in the food processor. I've been afraid to attempt pie crust in the past but I'm finding it pretty simple these days.  As long as you keep things very cold it isn't scary at all!

Here's what you need for two apple pies with crumble topping:

Short & Sweet Sunday - Pork Chops & Apple Sauce

Pork chops and apple sauce is one of the meals I most remember eating as a kid.  We'd have "shake and bake" bone-in rib chops coated in breadcrumbs and baked in the oven.  

This is a boneless rib chop. I coated it in panko with a little thyme and fried it in a pan.  The oven would have been even easier.  I made the apple sauce (which couldn't be easier) and served it with thin asparagus.  If you like you could purée the apples into a smoother sauce, but I like the chunky apples.  

Apple and Onion Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

What a nice fall dish!  I like to grill pork tenderloin, but this stuffed version is cooked indoors in a pan and turns out beautifully.  This recipe comes from Clean Eating magazine.  I wish they'd put their recipes online.  I had to try a few tricks to get it cooked through at the end but the results were delish.

All you need is a pork tenderloin, an apple, two onions and some oil, salt and pepper. 

Thinly slice the onion. 

Heat a little oil in a large pan.

And add the sliced onions.

Let them caramelize for about 15 minutes.

Then thinly slice the apple.  I used a Granny Smith and didn't bother to peel it.

Add the sliced apples to the onions.

Toss the apples with the onions and cook for about 5 minutes until the apples are slightly softened.

Put the onions and apples aside in a bowl to cool slightly.

Now for the pork.  Butterfly it. This sounds more complicated than it really is but you just have to slice  the pork until it's flat.  

Make a slit lengthwise along the edge of the tenderloin without cutting all the way through.

Rotate the tenderloin so the slit is at the top and slice again.

Open up the tenderloin so it's lying flat.

Keep slicing until it's completely laid flat and relatively the same thickness all over.
Confusing? Here are some other instructions that might help.

Once the pork is flat, salt and pepper the inside.

Spread the apple onion mixture over the pork.

And add a little more salt and pepper.

Now you're going to need some string.  Butcher's twine is best.  Cut about six 12-inch lengths.

Now start rolling up the tenderloin.  Roll one long end over.

Then slip the twine under the middle of tenderloin and tightly knot it.

Continue tying the tenderloin at regular intervals to keep the filling inside.  

Cut off the long ends of the string, then salt and pepper the outside of the stuffed pork.

Now heat some more oil in the pan over medium heat and place the pork, knot side down in the hot pan.

Flip the tenderloin a quarter turn. You want to sear all sides but cook it slowly so the inside cooks as well.

Flip again to brown all sides.
Now if you cook it low and slow, you should be able to get the inside cooked.  But you can cut it in half to check how it's doing.  

Mine was still quite pink in the centre so I seared the cut ends as well.

I cut it again and still wasn't quite comfortable with the doneness so I put it back in the pan with a little apple juice just to make sure it was fully cook.  Pork can be a little pink but if it's stuffed like this it's harder to get cooked through.

Finally it was done and I served it up with some sage and rosemary squash.

This was a little more finicky than I expected but the results were worth it.  The caramelized onions and apples give it such a nice, rich, seasonal flavour.