Sunday Pork Roast

I was starting to wonder when I would be able to get this post up.  I’ve been battling the flu for the past 5 days and I really haven’t had the energy to do much.  All the energy I did have was channelled towards writing a proposal response at work – because we all have to find ways to put food on the table.  With 4 days in Dallas for training and a side trip to San Francisco wedged in there, I was afraid I would go more than a week without a post - a dangerous proposition for a new blog trying to win a regular following.

But thanks to American Airlines for a 2 hour delay at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport that I am able to get some writing time in.  Sure there are interesting distractions like the skater boy who is telling another waiting passenger how to get 100’s of XBOX games on a flash drive to the lady beside me who is complaining to a sympathetic friend on the other end of her cell phone that her husband is the most pathetically passive man in this world and how she will divorce him when she gets back to San Francisco.  But enough of that, it’s time for me to focus on this post.

For K’s family, Sunday is roast day.  At least that was the case before everyone went off and started their own family. We haven’t necessarily picked up this tradition, partially because we are mercy to our own whims and partly because a roast dinner can be a lot of work and lot of food for 2 people.  But from time to time, we crave for the comforts of roasted meat and lush rich gravy.  We do beef a lot but we also like pork.  So here’s a simple and quick pork tenderloin roast dinner that should take no more than 30-45 minutes to prepare and cook.

The menu and ingredients (for 2 people with leftovers):

Roast Pork Tenderloin

• Pork tenderloin 1.5-2 lbs well seasoned with salt and pepper

Mushroom Peppercorn Sauce

• 2 cups Chicken stock
• Cremini or button mushrooms (6-8 mushrooms) – thinly sliced
• Small onion – thinly sliced
• 1 table spoon of Black peppercorns cracked coarsely with pestle and mortar (or coarse ground pepper if you don’t want to fuss)
• ¼ cup of cream
• 2 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon of butter

Rosemary Honey Glazed Carrots

• 1 bunch of carrots – washed and peeled
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 tablespoon of butter

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

• 2-3 yukon gold potatoes – peeled and cut into quarters
• ¼ cup of light cream or sour cream
• 2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
• Tablespoon butter

The mise en place

Crack peppercorn or coarsely ground will do.

Again, remember the mise en place.  Get everything prepped and gather all your ingredients together before you start cooking. It will allow you to finish everything at the same time and cook in an efficient manner. 

Follow these steps in sequence and dinner should be done in 30-45 minutes.

Sear the tenderloin to a nice golden brown

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Put potatoes in pot of cold water and bring to boil and cook until soft (about 20 minutes)
3. In the mean time, using a cast iron skillet or any heavy bottomed oven safe pan, heat to medium high, add a bit of oil and sear the pork tenderloin on 1 side (about 2 minutes)
4. Turn the tenderloin over and immediately put into the oven (this will take about 15 minutes to my preferred medium and about 18-20 minutes for medium well to well)
5. Put some water in a sauté pan and bring it to a boil, put the carrots in and let it boil for 3 minutes, then drain the water and put the pan back on the stuff on medium heat.
6. Add a tablespoon of butter, the 2 sprigs of rosemary and drizzle some honey (about 2 tablespoons) – let this slowly cook for about 5 minutes and then set aside
7. By this time, your potatoes should be done - drain the potatoes and set aside 
8. Melt some butter in your sauce pan, add the garlic and cream and let the cream warm up a bit.  Put the potatoes back into the pot and mash it all together.  Season with salt and pepper.
9. By this time, check on your tenderloin, it should be done by this point – take it out of the oven and set the tenderloin aside and cover with a piece of foil to let it rest.
10. Put the same skillet you cooked the pork in back on the burner and turn it to medium-high heat.  Add in the sliced onions, cracked peppercorns and mushrooms and sauté until softened and brown (about 5 minutes)
11. Add the flour and sauté for 2-3 minutes until the flour is cooked and browned a bit (be careful not to burn it)  - I like to cook the flour to a dark brown which gives it a nice rich nutty flavour
12. Add your chicken stock and stir this while your gravy thickens and comes to a boil
13. Add your cream, stir for a 30 seconds and take it off the heat – your gravy is done
14. Cut the roast on a bias, plate with mash potatoes, carrots and gravy 
15. Enjoy!

Butter, honey and rosemary - you will love these carrots

It sounds like a lot of steps but really it’s pretty simple to do as long as you do all the cutting and prepping in advance of cooking. This should give you a pretty good pork roast dinner in 30-45 minutes.