Cooks share recipes for pork tenderloin, chai, salad dressing, chicken marinade, applesauce muffins
Good morning, online companions in this glorious month of May. Today’s requests are repeats, so please peruse in case you missed them before. Some among you are searching for curry lusciousness, lemon vinaigrette and lemon desserts, along with these restaurant specialties: cauliflower soup at Giardino, Thousand Island dressing at Aubrey’s and the “Sauce of Reduction of Balsamic Vinegar’ on the involitini at Boccaccia.” And please remember to provide an assortment of easy recipes and complete menus for a husband who is “batching it” for a while.
Today begins with an answer for the reader who is lamenting her gluten-free life, after many years of loving bread at Niedlov’s and the like. Polly Curtis wrote, “I’m responding to the request for a gluten-free bread recommendation as I have recently found one I like. It’s a multigrain sourdough made by a company in the San Francisco Bay area called Young Kobras, and it can be purchased locally at Bread & Butter (3955 Dayton Blvd.) or directly from the company’s website (youngkobras. com).”
We are still in the market for a homemade gluten-free bread recipe as well.
BACON-WRAPPED TENDERLOIN
Margaret McNeil “saw the request for bacon-wrapped tenderloin in last week’s paper. Following is a recipe my family calls Marinated Pork Tenderloin. Bacon-Wrapped Marinated Pork Tenderloin would be a better name for this delicious dish. I love cooking this when we have company because all the work, except the cooking, is done the night before. Like so many of the recipes I’ve shared, this one is also on my blog. This link will take you directly to the page if you’d like to read more about it: margarets morsels.com/blogs_source/eating-high-on-hog/eatinghigh-on-hog.html.”
Marinated Pork Tenderloin
8 to 10 slices uncooked bacon 2 large pork tenderloins
1⁄2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon onion salt
1⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon vinegar
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
Wrap bacon around tenderloins, and secure with toothpicks; place in a baking dish. Combine remaining ingredients, and pour over tenderloins. Place in refrigerator, and let stand overnight, turning often.
Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes; turn oven to 350 degrees and bake an additional 45 minutes. Yields 8 to 10 servings. Variation: I think it would be OK to reduce the amount of sugar by half, but I wouldn’t omit it entirely. The sugar helps with tenderizing and browning the meat.
HOMEMADE CHAI
In answer to the young fiddler who wanted to make homemade chai, Rose Secrest provided her version in a recent collection.
Chai
4 Assam tea bags
2 cups water
2 cups soy milk
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Boil tea bags in water for 2 minutes. Add soy milk and spices. Heat.
Note: To prepare spices, you can make a large quantity of the spice mixture for convenience. For less convenience, grind whole spices.
SOMETHING EXTRA
These two recipes are from the Little Something Extra section of Bright School’s “Fork Knife Spoon” cookbook. The first is a do-ahead pleasure; it’s better after 24 hours. The second recipe doesn’t just give ingredients for the marinade, which you will double, but also tells you how to grill the chicken for maximum juiciness and taste.
Chunky Blue Cheese Salad Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
½ teaspoon white pepper
4 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon salt
Dash cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic 6 ounces crumbled blue cheese
2 tablespoons grated onion
(optional)
Buttermilk to alter thickness (optional)
Combine mayonnaise and sour cream. Add remaining ingredients. For best flavor, refrigerate for 24 hours.
Marinade for Grilled Chicken
1 cup white vinegar
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sea salt or kosher salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ cup vegetable oil
Mix vinegar, Worcestershire, salt, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper and celery salt until well dissolved. Marinate chicken pieces 2 to 8 hours. Discard marinade before grilling the chicken.
Make a second batch of the marinade, this time including the oil, to use as a basting sauce while grilling the chicken. Apply the sauce every 2 minutes to both sides, and turn the chicken every 5 to 10 minutes. Apply 1 final coating 5 minutes before removing from the grill.
CUSTOM MUFFINS
Although it’s not a sweet bread that our gluten-free requester was wanting, this one from Daisy LaNieve is a nottoo-sweet muffin made with almond flour. “If you have ever made pumpkin muffins in the fall, this writer says that applesauce is an ideal substitute for the pumpkin.”
Almond Flour Applesauce Muffins
2⁄3 cup applesauce 2 large eggs
¼ cup honey
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar 1 ½ cups almond flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chocolate chips (you may substitute nuts)
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine the applesauce, eggs, honey, melted coconut oil, vanilla and apple cider vinegar.
Add the almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.
Scoop ¼ cup of batter into each muffin liner.
Bake for 19 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
The muffins will brown significantly. Don’t worry — you haven’t burned them!
Be sure to use room-temperature ingredients, so the melted coconut oil doesn’t solidify when mixed.
To quickly get your eggs to room temperature, place them in a bowl of warm water for 2 to 3 minutes.
Feel free to use any chocolate chips you like. I prefer mini chocolate chips to get a little chocolate in every bite.
You may use chopped walnuts or pecans in place of chocolate chips for a less sweet version.
Feel free to use agave, honey or maple syrup for the sweetener. I’ve tested all three and you won’t notice much of a difference between them.
Source: iheartvegetables.com
TO FINISH
On the morning of this writing, I am planning on lunch with a friend, Ana, who is vegan. Whenever she comes, I am reminded that a vegan diet may have limitations, but it surely does turn the cook in healthy and colorful directions. And this is a good thing, for vegans and their friends.