Crock-Pot Dinners: Pork Tenderloin

Recently Clint and I attended a wedding back in Longview, TX. The wedding was beautiful--held outside in a vineyard--,and I really enjoyed seeing and hanging out with some old friends. I wish I could have spent more time with everyone. While noshing away at the reception, a few friends from high school and I began talking about the joys of crock-pot cooking. Working as a teacher, being able to toss a few things into the crock-pot in the morning and come home to a "home cooked" meal is awesome. What's even more awesome is the fact that Clint is usually the one tossing the things in the crock-pot, so crock-pot days (or weeks, as we've deemed this one) essentially mean I have very little cooking to do when I get home. Since we just got back from Spring Break, I'm definitely ok with a few diminished household duties.

As we were planning this week's menu--yes, we're that couple. If you're not in the habit, I highly recommend it, both from a diet and financial standpoint--, both of us agreed that a week of crock-potting would be a welcome change. We both love cooking, but especially right now (when both of us are so busy with school/work), it's nice to not have to spend an hour in the kitchen every night. Tonight's dinner was our first attempt to do pork in a crock pot. I was a little hesitant just because I wasn't sure how a tenderloin would stand up to 4 hours of heat (especially since tenderloin is a fairly quick-cooking cut). I can now say with 100% positivity that the pork tenderloin we ate for dinner tonight ranks in the top 3 pork tenderloins I've ever eaten. I can't actually remember numbers 1 and 2, but my dad is a beast in the kitchen and on the grill, so I'm assuming that his get the top 2 spots. In fact, as Clint and I sat down to dinner, I remarked that the whole meal reminded me of summer. A mix of squash, zucchini, and red onion cooked en papillote (sort of) in a skillet accompanied the tenderloin and its jus. It was perfect. A great way to herald the coming summer (38 days left of school!)

Originally I found this recipe online, but because I'm a tinkerer by nature, we had to make adjustments. I've also included the "recipe" (if you can even call it that) for the veggies. They're about as easy as you can get, and they look/taste great.

Pork Tenderloin (easily serves 4, or with ample leftovers)

Ingredients
1 (2-3 lb) pork tenderloin, trimmed of excess fat
1 envelop dry onion soup mix 
1 1/4 C water
1 1/2 C red wine (we used the left overs from the Norton we picked up at Enoch's Stomp)
3 Tbsp minced garlic

3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp rosemary
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Supplies
Crock-pot
Crock-pot liners (if you're a frequent crock-potter and you're not using liners, shame on you! It means no clean up.)
Heavy-bottomed saute pan

Process
1. After the tenderloin has been trimmed to remove all excess fat, pat dry the meat and season on all sides with salt and pepper.
2. On medium high heat, sear off all edges of the tenderloin. You're not cooking the thing, so don't spend too long on this. You just want a little color and to seal in the juices.*
3. Place the crock-pot liner in the crock-pot and put the tenderloin in the pot.
4. Add the dry ingredients covering the top of the loin.
5. Add the wet ingredients and garlic to the pot. Try to get as much of the garlic to stay on the loin as possible.
6. Cover and cook on low for 4-4.5 hours.
7. Remove the loin and let rest for about 10 minutes on a large cutting board. It will be very juicy, so expect a little juice to run over the side of the board. If you want to avoid this, make a ring around the loin using rolled up paper towels about 3-4 inches away on all sides.
8. Slice the loin in 3/4 inch slices and plate with the au jus on top (or in a cup on the side for dipping)
9* If you are trying to dress this up, after pulling the loin, put the au jus in the saute pan over medium high to high heat reducing it slightly. Then, use  about 1 Tbsp corn starch tempered with hot water (add the water to the starch, not other way around) to thicken the sauce stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until desired consistency. You don't have to do this, but it will thicken the sauce a bit so that it is a little more noticeable on the plate.

*You don't necessarily have to sear the loin to ensure a juicy cut, but the searing also adds a little color and prevents the finished product from taking on the gray-ish color that pork can acquire during cooking.

Easy Summer Vegetables (Comfortably serves 2)


Ingredients
1 yellow squash, sliced about 1/4 inch thick 
1 zucchini squash, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
1 small to medium sized purple onion (I know they're technically called red onions, but come on, they're clearly purple) cut into about 8 large chunks
Olive oil
2-3 Tbsps Texas Seasoning Salt (recipe available on blog) or Tony's seasoning

Supplies
2 medium sized pieces of non-stick aluminum foil
Saute pan
Medium mixing bowl

Process
1. Heat saute pan on medium high heat. 
2.  In a medium mixing bowl combine squashes and onion with enough olive oil to lightly coat (1-2 Tbsp) and seasoning salt, mixing with hands or wooden spoon to ensure even coating.
3. Dump mix onto 1 sheet of aluminum foil, collecting veggies toward center.
4. Place other sheet of foil on top and seal edges with at least two folds on each side, tight enough so any liquid will not escape. (This is a poor man's en papillote--usually used for fish/poultry, I think it works great on veggies)
5. While you can toss the whole bundle on the grill if so inclined, we usually just pop the whole thing into the saute pan and cook for about 4 minutes before flipping (carefully) and cooking an additional 3 minutes.
6. Carefully, remove the bundle, unwrap, and serve.

As far as actual in-the-kitchen cooking time, this whole meal took about 15 minutes to come together. We also had some rosemary bread to soak up the au jus. We're bread people, so every meal usually has some sort on the plate, but because of this sauce, you'll want/need something if for no other reason, then to become a vehicle for sauce-to-mouth transmission.

Reading Reading Lolita in Tehran in Louisiana

Being on Spring Break has its advantages. I can stay up past 10:00; my brain can finally function enough to finish Reading Lolita in Tehran, and I actually have time to devote to a blog posting. Earlier on my page I compared Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evonavich to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Comfortingly simple and highly consumable. I'm not about to make any gastronomic comparisons for Azar Nafisi's novel, but I will say that, like some of the best of both books and food, it requires time to digest.

The nonfiction narrative chronicles Professor Nafisi's life as an academic in the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, unlike most memoirs, her story is presented bibliologically (not a real word--I know) instead of chronologically. It is, as the subtitle suggests, A Memoir in Books. What that means is that Nafisi has structured her novel around her memories of teaching, reading, and responding to various authors, disregarding the constraints of a time line in order to tell a story that, for a reader, is poignantly stirring. The book follows Nafisi as she reads several controversial authors with her classes in the University of Tehran as well as with a small "class" of girls that meets in her home regularly after the Islamic regime has essentially forced Nafisi and so many others out of the university classroom. As she writes about her experiences with each author, the reader learns about the intricacies of a life in a state of constant oppression. (To clarify quickly, this blog is not designed to be and will not become a political soapbox; therefore, I plan on spending very little time discussing one of the central issues of the book--the cruelties of the Republic's regime. Nonetheless, it does merit recognition for the sake of Nafisi and so many others who have been physically, emotionally, spiritually, or metaphorically silenced by the current politico-religious situation.) Nafisi begins with the titular reference to Nabokov's Lolita. And though the title suggests that the entirety of the book is devoted to Nafisi's experiences reading this explosively shocking book in the reactionary state of Iran, the book moves past Lolita and Nabokov. In fact, I think the most moving portion of the narrative, for me at least, was her discussion of reading Austen in Tehran. Austen? Controversial? Pshah...right? But as Nafisi explains, Austen is quietly controversial. She subtly imbibes her prose with a thread of dissent. It's the harsh wit in Elizabeth Bennett's assessment of Mr. Collins. The cold cruelty with which she invites her readers to mock Sir Walter and Elizabeth Elliott's self-indulgent philosophies. It's quiet and subdued, but it is there, lurking, waiting to be released by the canny reader. If you're still questioning the idea that Austen is controversial, think of her as going without underwear while wearing a skirt. From the outside, she appears prim, proper, and perfectly appropriate, but every once in a while a gust of wind sneaks up and exposes something no one was expecting.

And while the readerly portion of myself enjoyed the constant references to books, authors, and philosophers that I grew to know and love in school, the human and woman in me connected to Nafisi's distress of living a life of falsehoods, forced piety, and restriction that she neither asked for or welcomed. One of my favorite passages in the book occurs as Nafisi is wandering a quiet garden on a walk through Tehran. She is considering her life in this new Iran, and remembering her schooling in the United States. As she recalls this walk, Nafisi explains
     "I had a feeling that day that I was losing something, that I was mourning a death that had not yet occurred. I felt as if all things personal were being crushed like small wildflowers to make way for a more ornate garden, where everything would be tame and organized. I had never felt this sense of loss when I was a a student in the States. In all those years, my yearning was tied to the certainty that home was mine for the having, that I could go back anytime I wished. It was not until I had reached home that I realized the true meaning of exile. As I walked those dearly beloved, dearly remembered streets, I felt I was squashing the memories that lay underfoot" (145).
Hearing her Reading her speak about the difficulties of finding/losing her sense of home helped me to understand how difficult living life under that sort of regime could be--not in the overt, obvious problems like having to wear the veil or losing your rights as a woman and academic. I think anyone could easily see how difficult those problems would be to overcome. But losing that sense of security and comfort of place that most of us associate with the image "home," that would be trying beyond any dress code.

It took me a very long time to read this book. It was difficult. It was dense. At times I felt as if I were trudging through a quagmire of emotion and memory that Nafisi herself could not quite sort out to her liking. But it was worth it. Sometimes we as readers need to be challenged. We need to put down the peanut butter and jelly, reach out, and overwhelm our senses. We need to experience life beyond comfort, equality, and home, if for no other reason than to enjoy and appreciate that which surrounds us daily. We need to experience something that is painful so that we can remember how good comfort is. And we need to read something that is overwhelmingly about a lack of empathy, something Nafisi explains is "to [her] mind the central sin of the regime, from with all the others flowed," in order to remember just how similar we all are in this world (224). And I think that experience is exactly what we look for and need in our reading. It is what makes reading so vitally important--a richness of experience. We have the opportunity to travel and reach far beyond out native land because we, as readers, have the capacity to experience life outside of ourselves. It is this idea, the ability to reach outside of oneself that constitutes what I consider to be Nafisi's most poignant expression of hope and possibility in the book:
     "I have a recurring fantasy that one more article has been added to the Bill of Rights: the right to free access to imagination. I have come to believe that genuine democracy cannot exist without the freedom to imagine and the right to use imaginative works without any restrictions. To have a whole life, one must have the possibility of publicly shaping and expressing private worlds, dreams, thoughts, and desires, of constantly having access to a dialogue between the public and the private worlds. How else do we know that we have existed, felt, desired, hated, feared?" (339).

Easy Chicken Piccata

Like I've mentioned before, Clint and I both grew up on traditional southern comfort food. So when I began to learn to cook, a large number of the dishes I started with were not exactly diet friendly--heavenly, yes, but oh so heavy. Once Clint and I met and began cooking together on a regular basis, both of us realized that we needed to learn some staple, go-to recipes that are easy and yummy but also healthy. We're still on the look out for those kinds of recipes, but we have developed quite a collection of lighter meals that don't sacrifice on flavor.

One of our favorite weeknight dishes is Chicken Piccata. If you've never made this, you're really missing out. It packs tons of flavor without being overly heavy; furthermore, it only takes about 15 minutes to whip up. If you've never even eaten Chicken Piccata, it's a lightly breaded chicken breast served with a lemon and caper sauce. We like to serve it with Brussels sprouts sauteed with pecans and Parmesan cheese and a crusty bread. Oh so good!

Weeknight Chicken Piccata 

Ingredients
4 small/medium sized chicken breasts
3 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp light butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2/3 C boiling water
1 chicken bouillon cube
4 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp capers in liquid


Equipment
Cutting board (not wood)
Plastic wrap
Meat tenderizer
Large zip-lock bag
10" saute pan

Process
1. After trimming chicken breast of any excess fat/skin, place a sheet of plastic wrap on the cutting board, on top of that, place the chicken breasts (smooth side down) and an additional sheet of plastic wrap on top of the chicken.
2. Use the meat tenderizer to lightly beat the chicken, starting from the center and working outward, to about 1/3 of an inch thick
3. Combine flour, salt, and paprika in plastic bag.
4. Add flattened chicken breast to bag, and shake rapidly to lightly coat the entire breast.
5. In pan, melt butter and olive oil together over medium heat, add garlic once butter melts.
6. Once combined, place chicken in skillet, cooking for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden and juices run clear--make sure it's cooked through, but don't overcook the chicken. It will end up dry and tough.
 7. While chicken is cooking, boil water and add bouillon cube until incorporated.
8. Pull chicken from pan and cover with foil to keep warm.
9. Add chicken broth and lemon juice to saute pan, stirring frequently until the pan in deglazed.
10. Add in capers and simmer for 1 minute.
11. If sauce is too thin, increase heat to medium-high heat, allowing sauce to come to boil and reduce for about 1-2 minutes.
12. Add an additional Tbsp of butter to sauce, stirring until incorporated.
13. Add chicken back into pan and spoon sauce over.
14. Slice lemon and place on each chicken breast.

I highly recommend serving the chicken with crusty bread and a green vegetable. The dish is quite lemony, but the saltiness of the capers works well to cut through the tang. Enjoy!

Texan Seasoning Salt

 Being in Louisiana, we buy and use Tony Chachere's (Sash-er-y's) Creole Seasoning quite frequently. I love that garlic-y, peppery flavor that food takes on when this salt is employed. That said, occasionally, a Texas girl is  in need of a different flavor to wake up her palate. Because of this (and because I get to go home way less frequently than I would like), I began to consider trying my hand at making my own seasoning salt that would feature some of the more common spices and flavors prevalent in the Great State. About 5 months ago I stumbled upon a recipe in The Cheese Lover's Cookbook & Guide by Paula Lambert. If you're unfamiliar with this book, Lambert is the founder and owner of the Mozzarella Company in Dallas, Texas. Her book, which I found at The Cook's Nook--for all kids from the View (Longview that is)--is full of sweet, savory, salty, creamy recipes for cooking with cheese. It also includes recipes for making your own cheese, something I fully intend to do, but have yet to have the courage to attempt.

As I was perusing the book I found a section called "Basic Recipes" that included a seasoning salt recipe that she claims that she has been using "forever." After examining the ingredients, I decided that this recipe could be just the thing to bring a taste of home down I-20 and into Monroe, LA. I first made a batch up in October of 2010. After using it a few times, I decided to include it as part of my Christmas gift basket for family members. While I don't know if all of the recipients have used the salt, I feel certain that just a few uses will ensure that this seasoning salt will be a staple in your pantry. I store mine in an airtight Tupperware container in the cabinet beside the stove for easy access. Her recipe, which I've changed ever so slightly, is quite large, so I usually halve it for our personal use. But if you're making it for gifting, a full recipe can comfortably fill 4 half-pint mason jars.

Texas Seasoning Salt

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups Salt--I use Morton's
1 1/4 cups Kosher Salt
6 tablespoons of black pepper
1/2 cup cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup chili powder

The Process
Be sure to use fresh spices from the store because they have much more flavor, and they'll last longer once mixed together. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well using a whisk. There is a lot of pepper and other strong spices in the mix, so be careful not to sneeze. Once mixed well, store in an airtight container. The mix should last for about a year. 

If you're wondering what you would use this for--it's an excellent base seasoning for chili, pot roast, taco meat, hamburgers, etc. In fact, I use it for seasoning chicken breasts that are going to be sauteed (for wraps or a light meal with rice), as well as seasoning meat for any kind of casserole. Enjoy!

Macaroni and Cheese Goodness

As promised, this blog is not simply about books. I also eat, and, because I like food so much, I learned to cook. In fact, my college friends will tell you, I cook like a mother...well, we'll just leave it at mother. I don't claim culinary greatness along the ranks of Bourdain, Flay, Besh, or even Art Ginsberg (Mr. Food). That said, I do claim a macaroni and cheese recipe that will knock your socks and panties off.

Growing up, my family cooked typical Southern fair: cornbread, mashed potatoes, smothered venison, deep-fried turkey, amazing smoked brisket, homemade jams, jellies, relishes, pickles, etc. As I've aged, I have learned to appreciate the glories of "old world" foods. I now cook Greek, Italian, French, and English foods just as frequently as my Southern favorites. I promise some of those recipes are forthcoming. But sometimes the best food is that which tastes inevitably of home. It's really a bit unlikely that macaroni and cheese has become such a comforting, homey food for me. While we kicked it old school with cornbread, and homemade jalapeno dills, I grew up on Kraft macaroni. The tiny macaroni noodles with powdered cheese product used to make me supremely happy. But at some point in high school, I decided that I was an excellent cook. One of the first dishes that I claimed expertise at was macaroni. In point of fact, I don't think I had ever actually made macaroni when I first promised an excellent homemade macaroni and cheese to a group of my closest guy friends. In my head I thought, "how hard could it be?" After hours perusing online recipes, I decided to try my hand at the dish. While the ensuing product is definitely not what my macaroni has morphed into today, I was hooked from the moment I sunk my fork into the creamy, whitish, everything-that-blue-box-macaroni-is-not bite.

In college I acquired minor fame for my macaroni, and because of this, my macaroni recipe has spread--like a virus--all across this state and, actually, the world. It has traveled to LSU in Baton Rouge, Jackson, Mississppi, and even Paris, France with friends who grew addicted to the stuff over Monday night dinners with good food, good people, and good wine. Now, my extended family begs me to bring a dish every time I make a trip to Arkansas. So I figured, why hold out? Give the people what they want! And today, I think the people want good, gooey, rich, creamy macaroni and cheese.

Homemade Macaroni Shells and Cheese

Ingredients
12-16 oz pasta shells
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk (if you have it and don't feel guilty, go whole, if not, whatever you have will do)
1/2 stick butter
8 oz cream cheese, softened (you may use the light cream cheese, but the result isn't quite as creamy)
8 oz velveeta cheese, at room temperature
1 can cream of mushroom, celery, chicken, etc. soup (whatever you have on hand)
Salt & Pepper
Grated cheddar cheese
*Fresh bacon bits and green onions are optional (But it tastes WAY better with them)

Equipment 
large stock pot (to cook pasta)
3 qt. sauce pan
wooden spoon
casserole dish or 2 quart, deep baking dish (I have a deep, circular corning ware dish that is perfect)

Process
1.In large stock pot bring 6-7 cups of heavily salted water to a rolling boil. 
2. Once water is boiling, add shells to water, trying to introduce the pasta slow enough that the water does not lose boil. Cook pasta about 10-12 minutes.
3. While water begins to boil/pasta is cooking, warm milk in sauce pan on medium heat. stirring frequently (dairy burns easily), add butter to milk until fully incorporated. The process is similar to making a bechamel sauce, but there's no flour because the soup and cheeses thicken it quite well.
4. Add soup to milk/butter mix stirring frequently. Once the soup is heated through, add chunks of Velveeta then cream cheese, stirring constantly to prevent burning or sticking.
5. Once pasta is done, drain and pour into baking dish (do not rinse pasta--you will wash away all the starch that helps the sauce stick to the noodle).
6. After sauce is smooth, check seasoning, add pepper as needed.
7. Pour sauce over noodles and stir through to ensure even distribution.
8. On top of pasta, add shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you think is good), fresh bacon bits, and chopped green onions.
9. Bake the dish for approximately 20 minutes on 350 degrees, until cheese on top is fully melted.

*This dish can be made in advanced. Simply follow steps through 8, store in refrigerator, and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. If making in advanced, I usually go with 3/4-1 cup milk to ensure that it remains creamy through the reheating. Also, if you're using a shallow baking dish (like a standard rectangular Pyrex) use 3/4-1 cup milk to maintain creaminess.

This dish sounds really rich, and it definitely is. But I assure you, it's worth it. The macaroni is hearty enough to serve as a main course, but if serving as a side, it can easily serve 6-8. Furthermore, if you're looking for an easy Chicken Spaghetti recipe, replace shells with spaghetti noodles (adjust cook time accordingly), add precooked diced chicken and sauteed onions, bell peppers, and garlic to the dish. Cook for approximately same time and top with cheddar cheese and onions; I would omit the bacon for the Chicken Spaghetti.

Peanut Butter and Stephanie Plum Jelly Sandwiches

Let's be honest. Even the best home cooks need a day off. The kind of day when even a grilled cheese sandwich is too much effort--those are the days for PB&J. No, it's not fancy. It's not creative or shocking or unexpected. But that's the beauty of PB&J. It is familiar, predictable, and everything that you hoped it would be--because you didn't hope for much. Even so, there's something inherently comforting about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (unless of course your have a peanut allergy, then this post is clearly not for you).

Lying in bed about a week ago, pondering the beauty and simplicity of a good PB&J, I realized that I had a whole stack of PB&J books tucked away in my digital library. Sitting just inches away from my pillow, filling  up my precious Kindle space, 16 Stephanie Plum novels sat waiting for the day when I needed a simple, predictable, yet comfortingly familiar peanut butter and Stephanie Plum jelly novel. 

If you're not familiar with my favorite Jersey girl, Stephanie Plum is the disaster-prone brainchild of best-selling author Janet Evanovich. She's no Snookie; I doubt she could stomach the antics of "The Situation," and, in point of fact, I absolutely love that about her. While maintaining the hair, the trash (and trash talk) that makes Jersey, Jersey, Stephanie Plum somehow makes New Jersey palatable to a Southern girl that otherwise can't fathom that amount of stuffed cabbage and mob ties outside of The Godfather. On top of that, she's a hopelessly worthless bounty hunter who is perpetually broke, insanely lucky in love, and in possession of perhaps the fastest metabolism known to man--scarfing down scores of burgers, fries, shakes, meatball subs, greasy pizzas, doughnuts, and other various and sundry caloric devils in disguise in each chapter. Stephanie Plum novels are never going to garner the attention of literary critics in search of the next Jane Eyre, but I love them nonetheless. And this is coming from a girl who adores Jane Eyre. In fact, I think my favorite thing about the series is the simple fact that it freely relegates traditionally crucial story elements--like plot points, foreshadowing, symbolism, etc--to the margins and instead focuses on creating one of the most reader-relatable heroines I've encountered in years. She's no pinnacle of intelligence, class, decorum, or physical/mental health; she is, on the other hand, in one way or another, each and every woman I have every encountered. She craves doughnuts. She fails epically at dieting, and she makes mistake after agonizing mistake in her love life--something that her drives her poor mother to the sauce (marinara, gravy, alfredo, chianti, brandy, merlot, etc.) at least once in every novel.

But I digress. The main point here is that Stephanie Plum novels make me love this genre a little more than I used to. They made me realize that there is a place in the literary world for "light" reading, for comfortable reading, just like there's a place in my kitchen and my stomach for a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The Start of Something New

I have a confession. I'm a blog virgin. A blirgin. I've tried diaries and journals, but I feel so self-conscious. Besides, I'm not exactly a fascinating human specimen.  That said, I'm vowing now, this time will be different. Anyways, I'm not writing about myself. As the name suggests, I'll be writing about food and books--two things that I love more than just about anything else in the world (enter obligatory nods to my wonderful husband, family, dog, etc. that all trump my love of books and food). But seriously, from the time before I could walk without assistance, my whole life has revolved around the dinner table and the bookshelf. My family eats. It's what we do. When we're happy, sad, celebrating, mourning, or just moving from point A to point B, we have food in hand, in mouth, and usually a little on the shirt. I read. It's what I do. In fact, parts of my family made fun of how much I read when I was younger. Those family members probably won't appear in these posts. However, my affinity for reading has directed my entire educational and professional life. It's why I majored in history, why I decided to get a M.A. in English, and why I took a job teaching English II at a local high school. And now that I work with teenagers all day, a good book and a good meal go a long way toward mending my soul and de-numbing my mind.
 I don't promise to update regularly. I don't promise that the recipes will be earth shattering or that the books will be best sellers. But I can promise that I will be honest. I will tell the truth about the books I read, the food I cook, and how my life is changed by both.