On Saturday, November 10, I was feeling a little peaked. So I decided to put on my apron and whip up a bodacious meal.
I approach cooking as an engineering exercise. The secret is a good formula and the artful display of passion. A good formula is essentially a good recipe and great ingredients. And a good formula needs passionate delivery. Pay attention to details.
Now as to the menu. I had a choice. Go with a previous menu and attempt to perfect it.
Or be a man and try something totally new. I decided to perfect a previous menu. Maybe it was because I was wearing an apron.
So with that said, I decided to revisit my pork tenderloin menu. I had previously wrapped the pork with prosciutto and then grilled it. The prosciutto was too thin, so it fell a part on the grill. I also decided to step things up by adding some seafood to the menu. The sliced tenderloins were served with dungeness crab and prawns.
Here is the menu:
1) Grilled pork tenderloin wrapped with prosciutto.
Tenderloins are tapered. They have a big end and a small end. Buy two of them and tie them together so that they form a uniform thickness. This will help result in a consistent heating.
The tenderloins need to be brined before cooking. I use {salt, apple cider, sage, and pepper}. Brine for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
Grill the tenderloins at low temperature until they look done. Now wrap them with prosciutto. Do not use the normal, extremely thin slices.
Let the prosciutto wrapped tenderloins grill with love, off to the side as you proceed to grill the prawns and veggies.
2) Grilled prawns
When I pulled the pork from the brine, I added the prawns into the brine. So when I was preparing the pork for the grill, the prawns was taking a swim in the same solution as the pork. I like to grill prawns with the shells on. I also like to eat prawns with the shells on. That is what real men do.
So I basted the prawns with butter as they were grilling. Do not leave them on too long.
3) Grilled veggies.
I chose asparagus and spring onions. I marinated them in {olive oil, basil, chili powder}.
4) Garden salad.
We constructed a basic garden salad with a nice herbed feta. I used Chevre Herbs de Humboldt from Cypress Grove Chevre. Very nice.
5) Cheeses
Caprino Cremoso with Truffle by La Bottera. An Italian goat cheese, topped with truffles. This cheese is awesome.
Leyden with cumin by Uniekaas. A yellow cumin spiced cheese made in the Netherlands from semi-skimmed cow’s milk. The cumin went especially well with the pork.
Berkswell Sheep Raw Milk by Neals Yard Dairy. Berkswell cheese is made by the Fletcher family at Ram Hall farm, near Berkswell, West Midlands. It is made from unpasteurized ewes’ milk. I am a huge fan of this dairy, especially having tried a number of their cheeses and I love them all.
Blue Du Bocage by Pascal Beillevaire. A goat’s milk blue. This is an awesome blue cheese that matched up perfectly with the pork.
6) Dessert
We went with Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. I picked out three flavors:
Oatmeal Cookie Chunk. The best raw cookie dough is oatmeal, chocolate chip. This ice cream has it all.
Peanut Butter Cup. It is tough to beat peanut butter and chocolate.
Chocolate Fudge Browne. An intense chocolate experience.
7) Beer
The German’s are the best at cooking pork, so I went with a proper brew.
I decided to try a new offering from Belgium: Straffe Hendrik Brugs Quadrupel. 11% alcohol, brewed by Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan.
A rich, intense, dark Belgian Ale. This is a wonderful beer that I will surely consume again some time in the not too distant future.
Oh, I almost forgot. I decided to attend a wine tasting at Beltramos before I assumed my chef’s duties. They were pouring a nice selection of Bordeaux. After I had finished properly tasting and enjoying the wines, I found that I had the proper chef’s attitude. Ready to rock. Here is the list:
1995 Troplong Mondot St. Emilion
2000 L’Hermitage St. Emilion
2005 Beausejour Duffau St. Emilion
2005 Palmer Margaux
2008 Rauzan-Segla Margaux
2008 Leoville Barton St. Julien
2008 Pontet-Canet Pauillac
2005 de Fargues Sauternes
This stuff was amazing. A nice marmalade finish. I picked up a couple of bottles for the holidays.
2005 Climens Barsac