So today at work I got a solid day in. Missed the gym, but got 2,000 words written on Idolwood’s final stages of character development in the afternoon. And I came home ready to get to some serious cooking.
I’ve made the Herbes du Provence before, and it’s dead easy so long as you have the herbs and a decent mortar and pestle for the fennel seed. Last time I did it on a pair of pork chops for myself, but I really wanted L to have a taste of it, and she doesn’t care for chops. Luckily, pork tenderloin is right in line with what she does enjoy: Buttery and tender. Like my voice.
While I was getting the herbs ready I had three heads of garlic roasting in olive oil in the oven. Once the herbs finished up, I sliced the silverskin away from the tenderloin and drizzled it over with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, then rolled it in about half the herbs pictured above, patting and rubbing it in with extra care paid to the ends – after all, they’re the best part, might as well be the most heavily herb-crusted, right?
This done, I called up Dawn at Le Petit Marche in hopes of getting some baguettes, but she’d sold out earlier in the day. Good for her, and (as it turned out) good for me – I ran up to Joseph’s Market to pick up french bread and came home with salad fixings, including a beautiful bulb of fennel to slice up as a complement to the dried fennel in the rub. Grabbed some lima beans as well – frozen, but L’s been working hard on the 2011 taxes, so I wanted her to have a quick side option. The original plan had been for roasted sweet potatoes and onions, but between the time issue and the addition of bread I thought that might be a little much.
Once home I threw the pork on the grill on indirect heat and set to the garlic paste. I immediately ran into trouble, as the garlic didn’t provide as much as I’d hoped. Additionally, I put in a bit too much salt and sugar when estimating and eyeballing. I was about ready to call it quits and just set up a flavored butter when I realized the recipe called for extra water as needed. I’m normally leery of thinning the sauces, but this was just what it needed! Two tablespoons of distilled water and an extra 1/4 cup of parsley, throw it in the food processor, and voila!
(I promise you, it tastes better than it looks. Because it LOOKS like ambergris mating with slugs. But it was delicious.)
We pulled the tenderloin inside and rested it in a ceramic cloche while L finished up the salad. Mom brought by a great dry Reisling (recommended, once again, by the wonder that is Dawn) and homemade pfefferneusse cookies for a dessert. We enjoyed the wine and some cheese over the french bread before slicing into the tenderloin.
Smoke ring? Check. Done throughout? Check. Moist? Well, let’s say moist enough. I think an extra five minutes and I would’ve lost it, but I wanted mom and L to be comfortable with the doneness. Left to my own devices it would’ve been in ten minutes earlier and still a luscious pink just on the inside.
Overall, though, a rousing success. Next time I think I want to roll the garlic paste into the tenderloin before rubbing it in the herbs – create a one-two punch and keep the meat a shade moister. We’ll see what happens.
For now, though, L is back to her paperwork. I’ve got a few fingers of twelve-year MacAllan and setting the word processor to stun for another (hopefully) 500 – 600 words before bedtime. I’m enjoying this trend and I’d like to keep with it.
