le blog de tranny

[our baby rosemary tree, which my dad and i plan on planting in the backyard so that we can have a live outdoor christmas tree for future christmases]

On Christmas eve I made stuffed pork loin for my parents. I’d been pondering what to cook that evening throughout the week prior, and ultimately decided against cornish game hens (been there; done that) and a roast chicken (perhaps too austere?) in favor of a dish from my archive of childhood memories — stuffed pork loin. Growing up, my dad used to bring home prepared stuffed pork loin from the Albertsons down the street from our house. Pre-seasoned and pre-stuffed, the loin only needed some time in the oven, and my dad would make mashed potatoes and green beans to go on the side. It was pretty good for a supermarket stuffed pork loin, but maybe my palate was less sophisticated back then. Anyway, Albertsons stopped carrying the pre-stuffed pork loins while I was in high school, so it’d been a while since I’d eaten this beloved meal. My dad even resorted to buying pork loin and stuffing on the side because I missed it so much, but it just wasn’t the same.

Preparing the stuffing was pretty straightforward. Instead of using chunks of bread, you want fresh bread crumbs since there’s only so much you can stuff into that little loin. With a fine, granular stuffing (as opposed to a chunky one) you get a more even distribution of stuffing flavors in each slice of pork loin. I made my stuffing with rehydrated porcini mushrooms, sauteed shallot and garlic, parsley and s&p. I used a mixture of mushroom soaking liquid and veal stock to wet the stuffing.

[porcini, shallot and parsley stuffing]

Dan Dan stopped by to see my parents’ new digs.

[doing a demo for dan dan]

Fresh thyme smells pretty good. Freshly picked thyme (my parents bought me live herbs!) smells fucking AMAZING. It’s crazy how shriveled the leaves on fresh thyme are in comparison to live thyme.

[live thyme]

For the veg side I took a page (or rather, three recipes combined) from Deborah Madison and braised some carrots and leeks with thyme, celery seed, parsley and bay leaf in a mixture of honey, water and cider vinegar.

[sauteing the carrots and leeks before adding the braising liquid]

I decided not to butterfly and tie the pork loin because that seemed kind of complicated compared to Mark Bittman’s straightforward method of stabbing the pork loin through the middle with a sharp knife and using your fingers to widen the opening.

[stuffing the pork loin]

After stuffing the pork loin I rubbed the outside with a paste of minced garlic, fresh rosemary, fresh sage, olive oil and salt.

[prepared pork loin]

I browned the pork loin on all sides (including the ends) over very high heat in the cast iron skillet. This gave it a nice herb crust.

[browning the pork loin]

Then I transferred the skillet to the oven and baked it at 375 degrees F for about an hour, until the internal temperature of the pork reached 160. When I removed it from the oven I transferred the pork to a serving platter and tented it with foil. While it was resting I removed some of the more charred bits from the pan then deglazed it with BRANDY! (Ina Garten says brandy and pork go well together. I have to agree.) Then I added mushroom soaking liquid and a little bit of chicken broth (since the “fresh veal stock” I got at Bristol Farms was bland as shit). I seasoned it to taste with s&p and reduced it into a nice gravy.

[deglazing the shit out of that pan. creem freesh.]

Squirting out some stuffing. I like that.

[stuffed pork loin]

I also made a quick dessert while all of this was happening. My dad had requested blueberry pie so I made a pretty good one using a simple technique that I think I’ll use for all fruit pies from now on. The entire point of baking the filling in the pie is if you want to have a top crust, right? Well I don’t really give a shit about that, so I made an open-faced blueberry pie! It’s really easy: all you have to do is pre-bake the crust (which I bought in the frozen food aisle — oops!) and then make the filling separately and then pour it in the crust and let it set. Basically I took half of my blueberries and made a sauce out of them by simmering them with sugar, cinnamon and fresh orange juice. I thickened it up with some corn starch + water. When the sauce had reached the consistency I wanted, I stirred in almost all of remaining fresh blueberries (reserving a few for the garnish) and cooked them in the sauce for just a few minutes so that they still had their blueberry structure.

I let the filling cool a little bit then poured it into the pre-baked pie crust and let it sit at room temperature for a while.

I also started making the same salad I made over Thanksgiving, at my mom’s request. It’s a riff on the salad Caro made for our friend Thanksgiving, but different. I started off by simmering some cranberries with some sugar and water until they started to fall apart a little.

[simmering cranberries with sugar and water]

I let the cranberry mixture cool completely before continuing to work with it. My mom has this really delicious sweet thick balsamic vinegar (which you can make by just reducing regular balsamic vinegar on the stove), so I thinned it out with some of the cranberry liquid and then whisked in some dijon, s&p, then some extra virgin olive oil to make a vinaigrette.

I tossed some butter lettuce in the vinaigrette then added peeled chopped apple and persimmon, crumbled blue cheese, coarsely chopped walnuts and some of the cranberries, which I extracted from the liquid with a slotted spoon. My mom loves this salad. Hopefully this is enough of a recipe for you, ma!

[persimmon, apple and cranberry salad with walnuts and blue cheese and cranberry-balsamic vinaigrette]

I decided to try out some new herbs for my braised carrot and leek side dish, which already boasted some flavors I don’t normally cook with. So I had my parents pick up some fresh tarragon and marjoram.. The tarragon smelled kind of like soap to me, which was a turn-off, but I ended up chopping some of each and sprinkling it over the carrots and leeks. It tasted fine!

[live tarragon and marjoram]

[braised carrots and leeks with fresh marjoram and tarragon]

My dad makes his mashed potatoes using the Cuisinart, which makes them very gluten-y but I like that sometimes.

[mashers]

[herb crusted pork loin with porcini stuffing]

The gravy, which I thought was a little on the salty side when I was tasting it, ended up saving the day! I think the pork would have been a little bland on its own despite my zealous seasoning.

My dad accidentally dropped the leftover pie on the floor and ended up inventing a new dessert — upside-down blueberry pie! I have no idea what physical forces resulted in the crust overturning so cleanly, but there you have it. Upside-down blueberry pie. Special equipment required: a clumsy dad.