Pork Tenderloin - Double whammy tenderloin weekend

About two weeks ago, I was checking the expiring meat at Wal-mart and saw a nicely priced pork tenderloin. I had never made a pork tenderloin but probably a year ago, Adam and I watched a great Alton Brown show where he went through the method of cooking a pork tenderloin. I bought it, froze it, and talked to Adam about cooking it. He recommended that I use the Alton Brown recipe.

I finally got around to thawing and cooking the tenderloin and it was FABULOUS! In this installation, I used the Pork Wellington recipe by Alton Brown. It is such a great recipe! I look forward to using it again. Come on Wal-mart, keep those cheap expiring meats coming!

Don't forget to add puff pastry, prosciutto, and fresh thyme to your shopping list. And pork tenderloin if you don't already have one. Oh yes, and some dried apple (but I forgot and in a pinch ended up using fresh diced apples, and dried thyme). Target had the first two ingredients, but no fresh thyme. And if your tenderloin comes in packs of two, like ours did, then you can make my next posted recipe, Honey Lime Chili Grilled Pork Tenderloin, also by Alton Brown. It was also exquisite!

Mmm, the puff pastry just takes it to another level. It looks like fancy catered wedding food.

Pork Wellington recipe from Food Network
By Alton Brown
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pork-wellington-recipe/index.html

Recipe listed here as well, in case the unthinkable happens and Food Network shuts down or something.

Prep Time:30 min
Inactive Prep Time:10 min
Cook Time:30 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon water
1-ounce dried apple rings
1 whole pork tenderloin, approximately 1 pound
4 1/2 ounces thinly slice prosciutto ham
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed completely
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

Directions
Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and heat to 400 degrees F.

Whisk the egg and water in a small bowl and set aside. Place the apple rings into the bowl of a mini food processor and process for 30 to 45 seconds or until they are the size of a medium dice. Set aside.

Trim the pork tenderloin of any excess fat and silver skin. Slice the tenderloin down the middle lengthwise, creating 2 separate pieces. Lay the tenderloin pieces next to each other head to tail, so when laid back together they are the same size at the ends.

Lay out a 12 by 16-inch piece of parchment paper on the counter and arrange the pieces of prosciutto in the center, overlapping them enough to create solid layer that is as long as the tenderloin. Top with a second piece of parchment, and using a rolling pin, roll over the prosciutto to help adhere the pieces to each other. Remove the parchment paper and sprinkle the prosciutto with the salt, pepper, and thyme. Set the tenderloin down the middle of the prosciutto. Spread the dried apples in between the 2 pieces of tenderloin and push back together so the apples are held between them. Using the parchment paper to assist, wrap the prosciutto around the tenderloin to completely enclose in a package.

Sprinkle the counter with flour and roll out the pastry to 12 by 14 inches. Spread the mustard thinly in the center of pastry and lay the prosciutto wrapped tenderloin in the center of the pastry on the mustard. Fold the puff pastry up and over the top of the tenderloin, then roll to completely enclose, brushing the edges of the pastry with the egg wash in order to seal. Turn the tenderloin over so the side of the tenderloin with the double thickness of pastry is underneath. Pinch the ends of the pastry to seal.

Brush the entire pastry with the egg wash. Place the tenderloin on a parchment lined half sheet pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the pork reaches an internal temperature of at least 140 degrees F.

Remove the tenderloin from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Cheesecake Bites in general and plum and apple specifically

This is a new little nugget of joy I discovered. I love these cheesecake bites. They aren't as big as a whole slice of cheesecake, which is too rich anyway, and you can bake some decoratively placed fruit on the top for added visual and gastronomic enjoyment.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Okay, it's not my photo, but they looked kind of like this, and you could make yours like this. The recipe is pretty general and you can play around with how you add the fruit, and what kind of fruit you'd like to add. Or whatever's in season.

**Personal preference**: I also really hate it when they are in the wrappers. NOTE: No wrappers in above photo. Save everyone some time and sanity (and your money!) and just bake them right into the pan. There is enough butter in the crust that you don't need to grease it. And Pam has yucky stuff in it anyway, the artificial butter flavoring that is in everything these days really isn't good for you and the imitation butter chemicals don't do nice things to your body.)

For some reason, I wanted to make little cheesecake bites about a month or two ago. They turned out GREAT! I had written them on the back of an Adeline drawing from Nursery. (Oops, I should probably be saving some of those for her book of memories or something.) Also, I had written it in crayon! It was the only thing I could find nearby for about ten minutes, so I gave up in exasperation. And plodded on.

Actually, the first time I made these, the crust was... okay. Nothing to write home about. So I didn't write down that part. I looked up another crust and made them for our Relief Society activity a few days ago and it turned out YUMMY! imho.

Here's the recipe. It's got a little issue. The crust recipe I used is for a big 9'' crust, which makes more than 24 cupcake-sized cheesecake bites. And the cheesecake part of the recipe only makes 12. I wanted to make 24 so I doubled the cheesecake part. If you just want to make 12, then you are going to have to halve the crust part of the recipe. Sorry, I'm keeping it confusing. I know I could convert them to both be the same, but the crust recipe is a great recipe if you were making the whole enchilada, er, cheesecake, and not just the bites. And if I made them both for 24, and you only wanted 12, then you'd have to do the math and divide BOTH recipes. I'm just leaving it as is. And sorry for the many tangent.

Cheesecake Bites Recipe


NOTE: If you are going to make this soon, don't forget to get your cream cheese out now to start coming to room temperature, usually takes 30 min. Or you can try to be sneaky like me and microwave it to room temperature. I never plan that far ahead and hate waiting for it to be room-temperature. But this step to soften the cheesecake is super-important and will make for a better cheesecake, no lumps! Do not over-microwave! Cook for 15 sec intervals and check often! Don't forget that the rest of the ingredients should be at room temperature to keep from lumping and curdling, like the eggs (microwave for about 20-25 sec.) and the whipping cream (microwave for just 10 sec or so). That is like THE BIG SECRET of a good cheesecake. It's all about being a stickler pastry chef and making sure things are the right temperature.

Graham Cracker Crust
Yield: 24 cupcake-sized cheesecake bites or 9'' pie crust
Oven Temp: 350 deg F
Cooking Time: 2-3 min. for small cupcake size. (8-10 min for a large cheesecake.)
This needs to cook briefly before adding the cheesecake filling, so I would start this recipe first and make the cheesecake stuff while it's baking.

1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/3 c. butter, melted
1/3 c. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Mix ingredients together. Spoon about 3 Tbs into each cupcake space (or just until you can't see the bottom of the pan through the crumbs. Lightly press crumbs down so that they form more of a crust. It might still be a little crumbly, and that's fine. Bake at 350 deg F for 2-3 minutes. (Definitely set a timer so you don't get distracted and let them burn.)

Basic Creamcheese Filling
Yield: 12 cupcake-sized cheesecake bites
Oven Temp: 325 deg F
Cooking Time: 12-15 min.
After-cooking "chill" time: (Your cheesecakes need to chill out, man.) 2 hours or overnight.

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature (I just use Walmart brand, cheap cheap! And still tastes great!)
1/4 c. granulated sugar
2 tsp flour
dash of vanilla
dash of salt
1 egg, beaten, at room temperature
1 Tbs whipping cream, room temperature (Mine had gone bad so I just used milk.)
Fruit - I used some plums I had sliced and frozen and some fresh apple bits. I defrosted the plums and added a little sugar, but just pressed in the tiny apple cubes as is. You can get creative here and use what you have on hand. Sweeten if the fruit is tart and needs some sweetening.

Preheat oven to 325 deg F. Stir the cream cheese and the sugar in a medium-sized bowl for 12, and a large-sized bowl for 24. Stir until nice and soft and creamy and it just looks great. If lumpy, keep going. But sometimes the lumpiness can bake out, so again, don't think you have a huge disaster on your hands, keep cooking and hope for the best. Keep Calm and Cook On! (The first batch I made was as lumpy as all-get-out, and it still ended up looking/tasting pretty good. But the second batch was definitely better because I stopped being a lazy chef and started being a stickler.) This is probably the most important step. It's getting your cream cheese to behave.

Add the flour, vanilla, salt, egg, and whipping cream and mix until uniform. Spoon into prepared cupcake pan over the semi-baked crust, filling to about 2/3 full. Press the fruit into the cheesecake, being as creative in presentation as you like. (I like a fanning effect with the plum slices.) Bake at 325 deg F for 12-15 min. or until done. It's nice when it's getting the slightest golden color on the edges. Remove from oven, let cool for about 15 min, and remove from pan with a teaspoon, carefully sliding it around the edges and gently schooping. Haha, I typed it as schooping. I'm totally leaving that in here.

Then I let them cool completely on a plate. Because hey! You're probably going to be throwing saran-wrap over that plate and taking it to some party/function, and hey, less dishes to do! Cut out the middle man! I found that not all of them fit on the plate, so I put another layer of plastic wrap over the tops of the first layer and added another layer, and then finished it up with more plastic wrap so it wouldn't get stale.

Enjoy those cheesecake bites!

Apple Puffed Pancake - Breakfast for Dinner

Apple Puffed Pancake - A Brown Family Favorite!

Cinnamon and apples make it extra delicious.
For best results, I usually do 1 and ½ times the amount and increase cooking time. A spiral apple corer/peeler works great for this recipe.


Yum! One of my favorite things ever and reminds me of growing up.

Prep: 15 min.
Start To Finish: 40 min.
Yields: 6 servings (meh, more like 4. You will want a few slices!)

6 eggs (9 eggs)
1 1/2 c. milk (2 c. milk)
1 t. vanilla (1 ½ t. vanilla)
1 c. all purpose flour (1 ½ c. all purpose flour)
3 T. sugar (5 T. sugar)
1/2 t. salt (3/4 t. salt)
1/4 t. ground cinnamon (1/2 t. cinnamon)
1 stick (1/4 lb) of butter (1 stick of butter plus ¼ c. olive oil)
2 apples - peeled, cored & sliced (3 or even 4 apples – I love it apple-heavy)
3 T. brown sugar (5 T. brown sugar or nicely evenly sprinkled on top)

1. Preheat oven to 425 deg F.
2. In a large bowl, mix eggs, milk, flour, granulated sugar, vanilla. Salt, and cinnamon until blended. Batter will remain slightly lumpy.
3. Melt butter in a 13x9 in. baking dish in the oven. Add apple slices to baking dish. Return to oven until butter sizzles. Do not let the butter brown.
4. Remove dish from oven and pour the batter over apples. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top.
4. Bake for 20 min. in the middle of oven, or until puffed and lightly browned. Makes 6-8 servings.

Time to bust out the spiral apple slicer! This will save time.