Maple Syrup Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Simple Couscous

The holidays are approaching soon. Keeping myself busy with research, hoping to discover some new physics and publish papers. The past week, I have been working on a new project from 10 in the morning to midnight. As a PhD student, we work long hours to acquire data and emit hypotheses of the obtained results. This is what I enjoy the most about research and I'm glad that I chose the right field of research: nanotechnology. You are welcome to visit Ananda's blog (A Pinch of Love) about her journey as a physicist. She will be defending her thesis this week. Something that I will have to do eventually within 2 years to obtain my PhD degree. Here is a fun video that I found on Youtube, which summarizes my research and its impact to society:

Holidays are all about going back to our hometown, seeing our family and friends, and have a good meal together. When I think of family food, pork tenderloin is one of these ingredients that takes a few minutes to sear the sides and then finish the cooking process in the oven. In the past, I prepared pork tenderloin with two different methods: wrapping the tenderloin with prosciutto or coating it with herbs. This time, I went for a sweet and savoury combo using maple syrup to glaze the pork tenderloin. You can also use honey as a substitute, and recently I heard that cola provides tasty flavours. I served the pork tenderloin with a side of couscous cooked in vegetable broth. I'll think of a more creative dish with couscous next time, I guaranteed.

Serves 8
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 25 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 pork tenderloins
2 tbsps thym
salt and pepper
about 1/3 cup flour for coating
1 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/3 cup maple syrup

Couscous
1 cup couscous
1 cup vegetable broth (or any other broth)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Season both pork tenderloins with thym, salt and pepper. Coat them with flour.

3. In an ovenproof skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Sear each side of the pork for 1 min. Remove pork from skillet. Set aside.

4. Add butter to skillet and add in chopped onion, cook for 5 mins until translucent. Add in Dijon mustard and maple syrup. Bring to a simmer and cook until thick, about 1 min.

5. Bring pork back to skillet, turn to coat. Roast for 15-20 mins or until slightly pink and the meat thermometer reads 160F.

6. Meanwhile, prepare couscous. In a saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Remove from heat. Add in couscous and allow to sit for 5 mins. Afterwards, fluff the couscous with a fork.

7. Remove from oven. Cover with aluminium foil and let the pork rests for 5 mins before cutting. Serve with couscous.

Goat Cheese and Pancetta Stuffed Baby Bella Mushrooms

What is your favourite finger food?

On Easter, I invited a couple of old friends who came to visit Montreal for the holidays. Since I haven't seen them in years, the best approach is to spend as less time in the kitchen as possible and spend more time catching up. Serving finger foods is the appropriate theme for this evening get-together. Finger foods are anything that can be eaten without the need of utensils, quick and simple to serve. It can be meatballs, puff pastry rolls, mini-sandwiches or even freshly cut vegetables. 

Recently, I received some helpful pointers from my catering and foodie friend on making the most satisfying and crowd pleasing stuffed mushrooms. Mushrooms contain over 90% of water and the rest is dry matter. It is not always pleasant to bite on watery mushrooms which would dilute the flavour of your stuffing. To extract the most flavours out of your stuffed mushrooms, it is best to expel as much water out of the mushrooms, not at a point to completely dry out, but still retains some moisture. The trick is to bake the raw mushrooms without filling for a couple of minutes. Let it cool and some of the liquid will spill out. Stuffed the mushrooms and do a second bake until fully cooked, this is how you make the perfect savory finger food. 

These stuffed mushrooms are soft and tender, a little salty from the pancetta, a little sweet from the bell peppers and red onion, a little gooey from the cheddar and a little creamy from the goat cheese. So how many would you eat?

Makes 20 stuffed mushrooms
Preparation Time: 25 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

20 baby bella mushrooms or large white button mushrooms
80g pancetta or prosciutto, finely diced
1/4 cup green or red bell peppers, finely diced
3 tbsps red onions, finely diced
1 garlic, minced
1/3 cup goat cheese, softened to room temperature
1/3 cup cheddar cheese, grated
Chopped parsley for garnish

Procedure

1. Clean mushrooms and pat dry with paper towel. Carefully remove stems from mushrooms. Finely chopped stems and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 400F.

3. Line a parchment paper on a baking pan, and place mushroom caps, hollow side down. Brush caps with olive oil.

4. Bake for 10 mins until slightly softened. Let it cool. Some liquid will spill out from the caps once cooled.

5. In a skillet, cook pancetta to over medium heat until it starts to crisp. Add in bell pepper, red onion, garlic and chopped stems. Cook until softened, about 5 mins. Cool.

6. In a medium bowl, mix pancetta mixture with goat cheese and cheddar.

7. Line an aluminium foil on a baking pan, and then transfer cooled mushroom caps, hollow side up. Spoon a tablespoonful of the filling into each mushroom cap.

8. Turn oven down to 375F. Bake for 10 mins until mushrooms are softened and golden. Sprinkle with parsley.

"Saltimbocca" Pork Loin with Lemon Sauce

Saltimbocca is a classic Italian dish consisting of thinly-pounded veal scallopine wrapped in sage leaves and prosciutto. The veal is cooked in a skillet and afterwards, a white wine based sauce is made by deglazing the skillet. There are various versions of preparing saltimbocca depending on the regions of Italy. It is common to use chicken breasts and pork loins as a substitute for veal.  

For this dish, I did not thinly pound the pork loin, instead I left it as a whole, rubbed in sage powder, covered with slices of prosciutto, and roasted in the oven. After roasting, all these drippings left on the baking pan are used to make a flavourful lemon white wine sauce. Simple, juicy and flavour-packed, no wonder saltimbocca translated means jump in the mouth!

Serves 4-6
Preparation Time: 5 mins
Roasting Time: about 30 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb pork loin
10-12 slices of prosciutto
about 2 tbsp ground sage
Ground pepper

Lemon Sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp white wine
about 1 tsp cornstarch
about 1 tsp cold water
2 tbsp lemon juice

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 425F.

2. Rub pork loin with ground sage and ground pepper. Lay slices of prosciutto on a surface, overlap the slices along the long edges.  Place pork loin at the center, fat side down.

3. Wrap pork loin with prosciutto and seal the edges. Lightly oil baking pan, place the wrapped pork loin seal-side down. Roast for about 30 mins until the internal temperature reaches 155F.

4. Transfer to a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Let it rest for 15 mins before slicing.

5. Meanwhile, prepare lemon sauce.

6. Drain fat from pan. Pour in chicken broth and white wine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, scraping up browned bits. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch with cold water to make a slurry. Stir into sauce with lemon juice and simmer until thick.

7. Slice pork loin. Serve with rice, mashed potatoes or white bean purée.

Pork Tenderloin in a Wild Blueberry Red Wine Sauce

Pan searing is one of these techniques which can be considered effortless. All you need is to coat your meat with herbs, then get it brown and crusty on the outside, and finish the cooking process in the oven. Juices left after roasting make a great sauce. Don't forget to rest your meat after roasting for a juicy, tender and flavorful result. 

Pork tenderloin is a great piece of meat. It is very lean and healthy, great to serve for a party dinner. Recently, on Best Recipes Ever, I was eager to try out the red wine blueberry sauce. I'm a big fan of using wines for cooking (not for drinking) and wild blueberries for baking. I can't miss the opportunity of trying out these two ingredients in one dish. This sauce was a slightly sweet, slightly tart and blueberry-ish, a wonderful compliment to the pork tenderloin.

Q: What side dish would you serve along with pork tenderloin or roast beef? 

Serves 4
Adapted from Best Recipes Ever
Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 40 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb pork tenderloin
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Wild Blueberry Red Wine Sauce

3/4 cup dry red wine
1 cup frozen wild blueberries
1 1/2 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp cold water

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. With a sharp knife, remove the silver skin from the tenderloin to ensure that it doesn't curl during cooking.  Rub thyme, salt and pepper over pork.

3. In an ovenproof skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown pork all over, about 1-2 mins per side.

4. Roast for 30 mins or until slightly pink and meat thermometer reads 160F.

5. Transfer meat to cutting board and cover with aluminum foil. Rest for 5 mins before cutting.

6. Meawhile, prepare the wild blueberry red wine sauce.

7. Drain any fat left from skillet. Pour in red wine and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir and scrape up brown bits from bottom of the pan. Boil until slightly reduced, about 3 mins.

8. Add in blueberries, sugar and lemon zest. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and cold water to make a slurry. Stir into sauce and simmer until clear and thick, about 1 min. Serve.

Tourtière (Québec Meat Pie)

The past week, I spent my holidays with my brother in Varadero, Cuba. Exploring both the paradise part and the cultural part of Cuba, it was simply an unforgettable and worthwhile experience. Unfortunately, Cuba was cold for 3 days, so beaches were out of the question. The weather did provide us the opportunity to explore towns around Varadero and meet some great locals. I'm amazed how easy you can enter someone's house simply by asking. Before our departure, we brought a pack of 24 2/HB pencils and candies in case we get hussled by the locals. I'm surprised that husslers are not that common around Varadaro, but do watch out once you are in the capital of Cuba, Havana. The moment you get out of the vehicle, they will start to bother you. Prepare to give your stuff away.

Anyhow, this is a brief summary of my trip. It was definitely a well deserved break. I will write one or two posts about Cuba.

Obviously, we can't leave Cuba without buying any rums and Cuban coffee, so we brought back one 1kg of coffee and 4 bottles of rums: one aged 3 years, two 5 years and one 7 years. Expect some recipes involving rums for 2011!

Food bloggers are still writing about their holiday meals, so I guess I'm not too late writing about mine also. Apart from making a successful Yule log, I also wanted to bake our classic Québec meat pie. I never made one before and it was on my to-do list for years. A few days before my departure to Cuba, my friend's parents came to town from Taiwan. This is their first visit to Montreal, what a great opportunity for me to provide them a little taste of Quebec's tradition.

I was searching for a Tourtière recipe and found a really good and convincing one from a recent post on Simple Bites. At first glance, the recipe requires over an hour to cook the ground meat. Usually, when cooking for that long, it becomes blend and hard to chew. This is not the case if you add some water during the cooking process which helps soften the meat. This is standard for all meat pies. An unusual ingredient is rolled oats. I didn't know what was it purposes until I tested it out. It seems that the rolled oats acts as a binder to hold the ground meat intact.

The original recipe is for two pies. I adjusted to make it for one pie and I only had puff pastry available in the fridge. I'm pretty amazed of the final result; the flavors match perfectly to the ones I used to eat. I'm glad that my friend's parents were very satisfied. This recipe is definitely a keeper for next Christmas!

Makes 1 pie
Adapted from Simple Bites
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 1 h 30 mins
Baking Time: 20-25 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground pork (and/or ground beef, ground lamb)
3/4 cup cold water
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 tsp black pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp sage
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Salt
1/3 cup quick oats (or old-fashioned rolled oats)
2 puff pastry sheets
1 egg, beaten for glaze

Procedure

1. In a large pot, combine pork and cold water. Bring it to a boil. It should be a bit soupy.

2. Turn heat to medium-low heat. Add onion, celery, bay leaves, thyme, sage, rosemary, nutmeg and cinnamon. Cover and cook for 1 h 15 mins, stir occasionally. If necessary, add a few tbsp of water if mixture dries out.

3. Halfway of the cooking process, season with salt to taste.

4. Stir in quick oats and cook for 1-2 mins. Remove bay leaves and cool until warm.

5. Meanwhile, roll out one puff pastry sheet to line a 8'' x 8'' baking pan and the other puff pastry for the top crust.

6. Preheat oven to 400F.

7. Transfer meat mixture onto the puff pastry and spread it evenly. Brush outer edges with beaten egg.

8. Place top crust and pinch edges to seal. Trim edges and cut a few slits in the top crust to vent the steam. Brush top crust with beaten egg.

9. Bake for 20-25 mins until golden brown. Serve with ketchup.

I wish everyone Happy New Year and all the best wishes for 2011!

My 200th post - The Chinese Feast

Olé! Olé! This is the official 200th post on Random Cuisine. I'm currently writing this post in the bus as I'm heading to Ottawa to visit my PhD superviseur. This is the start of a whole new chapter of my scientific career and an opportunity to explore new branches in nanotechonology, the field of research which I really enjoy doing research on.

In October, I was really pumped to start my new research and I had planned my farewell party three weeks before the departure date. A few days before the farewell party, I received an e-mail from the institute that I can't work due to "security issues" and these issues should be cleared by the month of February. I felt heart broken, but at least my life as a graduate student is not ruined. I can still pursue research at McGill with my Master's superviseur while the institute resolved these bureaucratic issues. Well, the new graduate students of my "old" research group are glad that I can share my scientific know-how. My friends are also glad that I continue organizing weekly cooking sessions which  have been running for over 2 years now. As I can't officially start working in Ottawa, occasional visit like the one right now and e-mail exchange with my PhD superviseur are the only possible solutions. Life is full of ups and downs. We have to live by our choices and let the dice rolls.

Despite these unfortunate circumstances, I didn't want to cancel the "farewell" party after weeks of planning the menu and food preparations. Here is the final version of the menu:

Soup

Ginseng Soup

Appetizers

Vietnamese Rolls

Pork Dumplings

Vegetarian

Mixed Chinese Vegetables

Singapore Noodles

Choy Sum (Chinese Leafy Greens)

Meat

Sweet Glutinous Rice

Curried Pork Chops

Sauteed Beef with Sugar Snaps

Shrimp in Rice Wine Sauce

Stuffed Eggplants in Oyster Sauce

Roasted Turkey

Desserts

Hong Kong Egg Tarts

The menu is a tour of some traditional dishes usually found in real Chinese restaurants. These dishes would not be realized without the help of my brother and my parents. I can guarantee you this Chinese feast can feed up to 50 guests. At the end of the night, everyone was really full and ended up bringing 2-3 large tupperwares of leftovers home.

Warning: the following images can make you drool. I simplify some of the recipes to 4-6 servings, the images might or might not be representative. I don't have all the recipes in hand, they will be updated in the future. Sorry for the incovenience...

Ginseng Soup

A traditional Chinese herbal soup which consists of ginseng cooked in homemade chicken stock. The soup tastes a little bit bitter and provide health benefits (according to my parents).

Vietnamese Rolls

A refreshing appetizer which consists of rice noodles, thinly sliced vegetables, and Chinese mushrooms (wood ear, shiitake, cloud ear) which are then wrapped in rice paper. These rolls can be dipped in either soy sauce or plum sauce. You can find this recipe in one of my past post found here.

Pork Dumplings

This appetizer is suitable for dim sum lovers, my mom loves to make it for breakfast when ground pork is on special. This filling is customizable, you can find alternative ones such as Assorted Mushroom Dumplings and Steamed Gyoza. Here is our family version of the filling:

Serves 6

Preparation Time: 1hour

Cooking Time: 10 mins per dumpling

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1lb ground pork
3-4 shrimp, deveined and deshelled

4 oz. nappa, finely diced

3 shiitake mushrooms, finely diced (optional)

1-2 tbsp Chinese chives, finely diced

1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Pinch of sugar

Procedure

1. In a large bowl, combine well filling ingredients. Cover and place in fridge for 30 mins.

2. Place a teaspoonful of filling in center of each wrapper. Moisten edges of wrapper with water. Fold in half to enclose filling and pinch edges to seal.

3. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Arrange dumplings in pan, avoid overlapping. Cook for 2 mins until light golden.

4. Add about 1 cup water to pan, cover and cook for 5 mins. Uncover and let liquid evaporates, about 1 min. Serve hot.

Mixed Chinese Vegetables

This will sure satisfy your vegetarian guests. This dish contains broccolis, carrots, fried tofus, lotus roots and, shiitake mushrooms cooked in a light soy sauce.

Singapore Noodles

Curried vermicelli noodles consist of a blend of vegetables. Meat such as chicken, pork and shrimp can be added to the dish. This recipe will be added soon...

Choy Sum (Chinese Leafy Greens)

A classic Chinese vegetable mainly found in Chinese market. You only need to cook these vegetables in boiling water with 2 crushed garlic cloves. It is fully cooked once it changes from light to dark green. These are usually served with a drizzle of oyster sauce and light soy sauce.

Sweet Glutinous Rice

This rice requires an overnight soaking before employing it. Once ready, the rice is then cooked in a rice cooker. Chinese sausages, dried prawns, shiitake mushrooms and soy sauce are then mixed with the rice to provide a sweet and salty taste.

Curried Pork Chops

This dish is a family favorite, all you need is to marinade the pork chops in curry and it is ready to use for your next meal. The recipe can be found here.

Sauteed Beef with Sugar Snaps

I love my mother's marinated beef. If you need to make a quick dinner, this is it and complement it with rice and vegetables.

Serves 4

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Marinade Time: 30 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 lb beef tenderloin, thinly sliced

Marinade

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp rice wine

2 tsp ginger, cut into matchsticks size

1 garlic clove, minced

200g sugar snaps or snow peas, ends removed

1/2 cup beef stock

2 tsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water

Procedure

1. In a bowl, combine marinade with beef. Cover and let it marinate for 30 mins.

2. In a wok, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add beef and sauteed for about 2 mins. Set aside.

3. Add in sugar snaps, sauteed for few seconds. Add oyster sauce and beef stock. Cover and cook for 2 mins.

4. Meanwhile, make slurry by mixing cornstarch and water.

5. Return beef to wok. Add in slurry to thicken. Mix well and serve.

Shrimp in Rice Wine Sauce

A classic Chinese dish which consists of shrimp cooked in a rice wine sauce.

Stuffed Eggplants with Oyster Sauce

This is Japanese eggplants stuffed with grinded shrimp and fish. All is cooked in a rich oyster sauce.

Hong Kong Egg Tarts - Dan Tat

What is the best way to end this Chinese feast? Even with a hyper full stomach, there is always room for desserts. See my post on Hong Kong Egg Tarts - Dan Tat for details.

This is all folks! I hope you enjoyed reading this one in a lifetime 200th post!