Pretzel-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

A few weeks ago I went out to dinner at a local restaurant/winery, and I ordered a pretzel-crusted pork medallion.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the entree, and whenever that happens it almost always translates into an attempt at recreating the entree in my own kitchen.  Earlier this week my kids helped me in the kitchen, and we decided to give it a try.  I enjoyed creating this recipe because there were many opportunities for them to get involved.  Gabe was responsible for the crust and mashed potatoes while Grace was given the asparagus and honey-Dijon glaze.
The finished meal was a hit with everyone, and the kids had many things to discuss during dinner.  They critiqued the dish, and we talked about what we might change the next time we make this dinner.  We originally tied the medallions with kitchen twine, but we felt it was unnecessary.  So here is our edited recipe for Pretzel-Crusted Pork Medallions.

Pretzel-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

1 (1-2 pound) pork tenderloin, room temperature

glaze:
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Whisk together in a small bowl.

crust:
1 large soft pretzel (we used a homemade version, recipe coming soon)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter

Place soft pretzel in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until pretzel resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Remove and place in a medium bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

assembly:
Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a baking sheet with foil and then place a rack on top.  (A small cooling rack works well.  Spraying it with nonstick spray will help during cleanup.)  Slice the pork tenderloin into 3 ounce medallions.  Place on rack and brush all sides with prepared glaze.  Place in heated oven for 7 minutes.  Remove and add crust mixture to the top of each medallion.  Return to oven for 12-18 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 145°F.  I often give the medallions a squeeze, if they feel firm to the touch they are ready.  Remove and let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Apple Tart

My parents have a small orchard between their house and the barn where they grow a handful of apples in different varieties as well as cherries, peaches, and pears.  This year the apple trees are so overloaded with fruit that the limbs are weighted down so heavily they are beginning to break.  When I took a trip to visit last weekend I brought a load of apples home and made them into apple pie filling that I canned.  A few days later my dad brought another load of apples for me.  So I made half a dozen into applesauce for the base of this tart and sliced four more for the beautiful spiral on top.  I have so many more apples left I'll be looking for recipes to try in the next few weeks.

tart shell:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons ice cold water

Use a pastry cutter to combine flour, salt, and shortening until mixture has pea-sized bits throughout.  Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of water over flour mixture and combine with a fork.  Add additional water until mixture begins to come together.  Gather dough with hands and form into a disc.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or more.  Flour work surface and place cold dough on top.  Let rest 10 minutes if very cold, and then roll out thinly and line tart pan.  Trim edges.

applesauce:
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (found at williams-sonoma)
2 tablespoons sugar
6 tart apples
1/4 cup water

Peel, core, and roughly chop the apples.  Add all ingredients to a large saucepan and bring up to a boil. Turn to a low simmer and cook for 30-40 minutes or until apples have broken down.  Mash any lumps with your spatula or spoon.  Let cool completely.

To assemble:
4 medium apples, cored and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
butter

Spread applesauce in prepared tart shell.  Smooth out and then arrange apple slices decoratively on top of applesauce.  Sprinkle sugar on top of apples and dab with butter.  Bake in a 350°F oven for 35-40 minutes.  Serve with ice cream.

Vegetable Quiche with a Rosemary Crust

I've been on a mission the past few months to come up with some new items to enjoy for breakfast. The kids really enjoy muffins, pancakes, waffles, and other bready breakfast items, but I need food that has more fuel and staying power than that.  So, I've been trying to make a few things that I can have in the fridge to grab for my own breakfast while still giving them the options that they enjoy.  I recently made this quiche for dinner and then I had the leftovers for breakfast the next two days in a row.  It was yummy and satisfying and I wasn't required to do any additional work to feed myself a healthy breakfast during those busy weekday mornings.

Vegetable Quiche
for the rosemary crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 cus plus 2 T vegetable shortening
1 T fresh chopped rosemary
1 egg
3-5 T ice cold water
1/2 T white vinegar

Stir the flour and salt together and then cut the vegetable shortening in with a pastry cutter until mixture looks like coarse meal.  Add rosemary.  In a separate bowl beat the egg with 3 T water and vinegar until it comes together.  Add half of the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a fork adding more water as necessary until it comes together and just starts to form a ball.
Lightly dust your work surface with water and turn dough out onto surface and form it into a ball and lightly knead until it just looks incorporated.  Form into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more.

for the filling:
1 T butter
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup red pepper, diced
4 oz spinach
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
5 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 parmesan cheese, plus 1 T for top
1/2 cup jack or cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Melt butter in a medium saute pan and add the onion and cook until it begins to soften.  Add garlic, red pepper, and seasonings and cook an additional 5 minutes.  Add spinach and cook until spinach wilts...remove from heat and allow to cool.  In a medium bowl beat the eggs, milk, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper.  Add cooled vegetable mixture and cherry tomatoes.

To assemble:
Roll out dough and line a 9-inch pie pan, prick crust with a fork.  Bake at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until slightly brown.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees.  Add egg mixture to crust and bake for 45 minutes or until center is set and knife comes out clean when inserted.  Remove from oven, sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie is one of my very favorite desserts. I love it, but it is so much better with a big swirl of raspberry sauce served on the side. Divine! So anytime I make key lime pie I have to make a raspberry sauce to go along with it. It is a good thing I have a great raspberry supplier (thanks AnnaLee)! My aunt picked an entire flat of raspberries for me the last time I went to visit and I made it into all things raspberry...jam, sauce, pie, etc.
I also took some of the sauce to serve alongside this key lime pie last week when we went to a friends' house for a fish fry. It was delicious!

Key Lime Pie
1 10-inch graham cracker crust (I used premade)
3 cups sweetened condensed milk (a little over 2 cans)
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup key lime juice (about 20 limes)
1 T lime zest (zest from about 3-4 regular limes)
whipped cream
raspberries, lime, or mint for garnish

Combine milk, sour cream, lime juice, and zest. Pour into prepared graham cracker crust. Bake for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let cool. Refrigerate until chilled. Top entire pie with whipped cream and garnish with raspberries, lime slices, or a sprig of mint. Serve with raspberry sauce.

Raspberry Sauce
1 pint fresh raspberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 T cornstarch
2 T lemon juice
1 cup water

Heat pot or medium heat. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add raspberries to the pot and pour sugar mixture over. Stir in the lemon juice juice and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Once mixture is cooled, but not cold, strain it through a fine sieve. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or you can freeze it.

Double-crust Blueberry Pie

Today Gabe and I stopped by the Farmstand down the road and picked up a few pints of blueberries. They were so yummy that Gabe insisted I put some in his little snack cup as we rode home. It's a good thing we live so close otherwise there might not have been any berries left.

I was excited about making a pie since I haven't made any since last fall when the apples were in season. I was thrilled with the outcome and Joseph even exclaimed "Wow!" when he walked in the door tonight. We thought about sharing a piece along with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream - but two bites in I went over and cut another slice for myself, knowing one would never satisfy both of us and Gabe.

Double-crust Blueberry Pie
adapted from Luscious Berry Desserts by Lori Longbotham

Crust
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 T cold vegetable shortening

Filling
3 pints tiny wild blueberries or 2 pints larger blueberries
3/4 c sugar
1/4 (heaping) c cornstarch
1 t lemon zest
2 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 T butter
1 T milk

For the crust:
Using a pastry cutter combine the flour, salt, shortening, and butter until the largest pieces resemble small peas. With a fork, stir in one tablespoon of water at a time until the mixture clumps together when squeezed gently. Divide and form into two discs and chill for at least 30 minutes.Remove from refrigerator and roll out first disc and place in bottom of 9 inch pie pan. Roll out remaining dough into a large enough circle to cover the pie.For the filling:Combine berries, sugar, salt, cornstarch, lemon zest and juice, and cinnamon in a bowl. Place filling in the prepared pie pan, dot the top with the remaining butter, and cover with remaining pie crust. Make 3-4 slits in the top of the pie.Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, lower heat to 375 degrees, and bake an additional 30 to 35 minutes longer. Let cool completely - if you can! (I placed my on a pizza pan in case it bubbled over.)

Fruit Tarts

Whenever I go to my favorite grocery store I always stop and drool over the goodies in the bakery cases. The large tortes, decorated cakes, tarts, specialty desserts and more always look so beautiful and delicious. Yesterday I went in search of indgredients for a special lunch today. While walking by the case, I was inspired by their little fruit tarts and decided to try my hand at them.
I searched around for a recipe and came up with this one. These tarts are fun to make, although it can take a bit of time to pull together all of the components. Last night I made the pastry cream and the dough. These chilled out in the fridge until this morning. I then let the dough warm up for half and hour then blind baked the little tart shells until golden. They then had to chill. While that happened I cut up the fruit. The assembly was the best part of the process. I decided on strawberries. kiwi, and mango...mainly because that's what is available in October! These tarts turned out beautiful and delicious. The pastry cream inside was good - just sweet enough - and the crust was very yummy. I used apple jelly to give the whole thing a nice sheen.
These got great reviews and there was enough to send some along with our guests so they can enjoy them with dinner as well! (We even have some left to go with our dinner!)