apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

;-) Yes, I have cooked at home this week. Last night I cooked dinner of steamed talapia fish topped with green onions and seafood sauce, twice-cooked pork with eggplant in black beans, watercrest soup, and steamed rice.

Though I was craving brie with french baguette on the side of fontina fondue...and concord grapes!

eh!

We had pork tenderloin last night. Our marinade is simple simple - we let it sit in dark mushroom soy sauce (which we're trying to use everywhere we can - we bought it by mistake), olive oil, plain old French's mustard, and garlic powder for just about a half an hour, turning ocassionally. Then it gets dropped in the saute pan for somewhere around 15 minutes. Melt mushrooms in the drippings while it rests and deglaze with Noilly Prat, then hit it with a tablespoon or so of cream. Last night it was served over English muffins.

We bbq'ed on Sunday a pork shoulder and then shredded it and had bbq pork sandwiches as well as some home made mac and cheese. It was delish, tonight we have chicken in the fridge, have yet to decide what to do with it.

cakekick,
Dark mushroom soy sauce is a staple of the Chinese kitchen and is used alongside regular (light) soy sauce. Though I'm sure it can go anywhere, my mom's "rules of seasoning" put dark soy into marinades for red meat only. She would also rub it on the skin-side of chickens (and turkeys) before roasting to enhance the colour.

That pork tenderloin in the picture looks way undercooked. I know they say you can eat pork nowadays when it's still pink, but that tenderloin is almost raw!

It's actually the photo tint; it wasn't that pink in person. It was cooked to over 160ºF. But yeah, when in the browser it does glow a bit!!

We do tenderloins in the oven all the time. We usually rub them with a mixture of dried herbs, a squirt of honey, smushed garlic and a bunch of Zatarain's Creole Mustard.

Yum.

I'm relieved (greatly) to learn that the pork wasn't that pink in person. I'm a gauche "well-done" meat person, myself.

What I'm really interested in is the pureed squash -- it looks soooo good. (Shopping list will have another butternut squash this week, I made butternut squash soup last weekend...)

This menu is total heaven for me: Pork Tenderloin (I have a strong affinity for the pig!), Butternut Squash (could anything say "Fall" any better?), and goat cheese (I LOVE its versatility).

I can not wait to cook this...or pass the recipe on to the boyfriend so he can cook ;)

We tried this last weekend and it turned out fantastic! It was also fun to light up the grill on a cold night, especially since the boyfriend did all the outdoor cooking while I did inside prep with a nice glass of wine. I'm planning a dinner party in a few weeks, and I might do this again!