Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• Pork tenderloin
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 Tablespoons Herbes De Provence
• 1 cup preserves (fig, peach, plum)
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


Directions:

Season pork tenderloins liberally with salt and pepper, then with Herbs de Provence, pressing to get the herbs to adhere to the pork.

Place the pork on a rack or in a large skillet, fat side up, and roast in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes (or until no longer pink). Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.

While the pork is resting, combine preserves, water, and vinegar in a small pan and bring to a simmer.

Slice pork into thick pieces, then spoon the sauce/glaze over the slices. Serve with mashed potatoes, grits ... anything you'd like!

Myrtle's Note:  If you study the photos on the original recipe, my "preserves" look nothing like Pioneer Woman's.  I would like to improve on that, but Marie liked what I made with peach preserves.  I believe the fig ones used were more ... homemade ... less processed.  I also used a thermometer on the pork (to 145 degrees), so my cooking time was 25 minutes.  I used only one pork tenderloin, but the whole amount of sauce.  Since my jar preserves were just not looking right, I allowed the sauce to cook at a rapid boil for about 10 minutes or so to reduce it as much as possible.



Source:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/herb-roasted-pork-tenderloin-with-preserves/

Hassleback Potatoes

Ingredients:

• Russet potatoes
• Butter
• Cheddar Cheese
• Gourmet Gardens® Minced Garlic
• Sea salt
• Cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.


Directions:

Choose potatoes that are uniform in size and shape (long and flat-ish work well).  Clean and dry the skin.  Make thin slices from one end to the other, taking care to leave a good portion of the skin intact on the side and the bottom ... perhaps almost a quarter inch up from the bottom, so about 1/8th inch is still connected on the sides.

Fill each cut with either butter or cheddar cheese, alternating between the two.  Be careful not to break the skin of the potato where the slices are still connected together.  As you wedge in the butter and the cheese, the potato will begin to curl, as if it is doing a back-bend!

Place your potatoes on your roasting pan so that they lean against each other instead of falling over.  I prefer a stoneware pan.  Smear a generous dollop (or two) of minced garlic along the tops of your potatoes.  Then salt and pepper to taste ... remembering that potatoes can handle a generous portion of salt! Finally, shred or crumble more cheese on top.

Roast for 45-55 minutes.  Larger potatoes will need more time lest you end up with too firm slices.

Myrtle's Note:  I tried three "recipes" and the first two were completely inedible and the third was far too underdone for enjoyable consumption.  I did not follow a recipe, here, focusing merely on what might add flavor.  Really, any way you wish to season them would be fine, such as using olive oil and herbs instead of butter, cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper.  I am such a huge fan of the ease of flavor Gourmet Gardens® provides.  Whilst I have been using freshly minced garlic in curry, stew, and chili, you couldn't get the balance of garlic across a hasselback cut potato unless you opted for powder or meticulously shoved bits of fresh garlic into each cut.  Smearing garlic paste is much easier.

Crash Hot Potatoes

Ingredients:

• whole new potatoes 
• olive oil
• kosher salt/sea salt
• McCormack® Peppercorn Medley
• rosemary 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.


Directions:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender.

On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato.

With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with more olive oil.

Generously sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped rosemary (or chives or thyme or whatever herb you have available.)

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Myrtle's Note:  I don't have a potato masher and my red potatoes were a bit large anyway, but my messy outcome was still tasty.   I totally agree with Pioneer Woman in that the simplicity makes these even tastier.   I am not a potato skin person, but I ate every bite of these.  

Source:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/