"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." - James Beard
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.
Matt brought home a squash surprise from the market. The vendor said it was like a spaghetti squash combined with a sweet potato. Sounds interesting, let's try it!
This squash is called Stripetti and it's a cross between spaghetti and Delicata squash. I did a little research and found this recipe on Epicurious that is for delicata squash and adapted it for the spaghetti-style squash.
Here's what you'll need:
Besides the squash you'll need a couple of tablespoons of butter, a cup and a half of apple juice or cider, and some fresh sage and rosemary.
Normally I bake spaghetti squash but I saw this microwave method online and thought I'd try it. I wasn't thrilled with the results. I'm not sure if it was the squash or the method, but it didn't cook as evenly and the strands didn't scrape out as nicely as the last time I baked it.
Cut the squash in half. This isn't easy. The shell is very hard so you have to be careful. With a large, sharp knife you should be able to slice it lengthwise.
Then scoop out the seeds. Place half the squash in a tight fitting dish that'll fit in the microwave.
Then fill that half with water.
Then top with the other half of the squash.
Put it in the microwave on high for about 10 minutes then squeeze with an oven minute to see if it's softened.
Mine needed several more minutes to get soft and still the top half was not as soft as the bottom and I put it back in for a few more minutes.
Meanwhile, grab a sprig of sage and one of rosemary and remove the leaves from the stems.
Coarsely chop the herbs.
Place about 2 tablespoons of butter in a large pan.
And melt over medium heat.
Add the herbs. You don't want to brown them but just release their flavour.
Once the squash is softened, scrape out the strands with a fork.
Scrape the squash into the butter and herbs in the pan, and add the apple juice.
Let simmer until the apple juice is absorbed and the squash is mostly dry. You can add a little more butter if you like.
This tasted very nice but didn't really use the spaghetti squash texture to its advantage.
Next time I'd try the same method with a delicata or butternut squash.
I served this with a stuffed pork tenderloin I'll tell you about next time. It was a great combination
Our garden is wrapping up for the year but we still have plenty of herbs and peppers out there.
In late September, a little snow pea plant started growing. So Matt brought it inside before the first frost.
At first it seemed a little wilty after being transplanted into a big pot, but it soon perked right up.
And now the peas are starting to grow. We should be able to get at least one meal out of this plant before winter. What a nice surprise!
