A Tale of Two Loins

Saturday night is when our small group meets and we share a meal. This week my assignment was ‘main dish’. After being plagued by indecision, I looked through the Meijer ads and decided on pork loin. There are so many things you can do with one of those . . . oh, the choices. Because we number 14 adults and 6 kids, I bought 2 half loins and decided to do them differently.

I’ve mentioned before one of my favorite ways but I also wanted something more . . . interesting. While wandering the grocery aisles, I picked up a jar of inspiration . . . well, actually it came in a burlap sack. I bought some basmati rice and I cooked that with some onion, garlic, carrots and a splash of olive oil. Then I mixed in some (and then some more) jerk seasoning from mathuaerknedam (who doesn’t post enough ) a good scoop of apricot preserves, lime zest and a little more onion and garlic.

Then I cut my pork loin in a ‘Z’ cut (cut the top in one direction until 1/2″ from the edge, cut the bottom from the opposite direction until 1/2″ from the edge and lay flat). I spread the rice mixture all over the pork and rolled it up and rubbed pressed garlic over the top. I covered it and baked it in a glass pan at 350F for about 1.5 hr then opened it up, smeared apricot preserves all over the top and baked it uncovered for about 15 minutes. Then I removed it from the oven and let it rest. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics of the lovely finished product b/c I cut the ends off to keep for us and took the rest to the small group and didn’t stay b/c we had sick kiddos

The other loin I made with garlic rubbed all over and rosemary sprinkled on top (baked similarly w/o the apricot) and I made some chunky applesauce to go with it. The applesauce was made with 5 braeburn apples, 1 golden delicious apple, sugar, a squirt of lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. I cooked it for about an hour but it wasn’t getting very saucy in that time so I added a couple spoons of unsweetened store brand applesauce. It was tasty. We had a discussion about how frequently people combine pork and apple — I actually don’t often, but it makes a tasty combo.

Hazelnut Encrusted Crab Cakes with Berry Sauce

If you read yesterday’s post on stuffed mushrooms, you may have wondered why I talked about *cans* of crab meat (as in multiple) but used only half a can for the mushrooms. Here is the reason. The rest were used to make crab cakes.

This is probably one of my top three favorite recipes ever. It came from my Grandmother, who loved to putter in the kitchen and try new things, not Grandma Smith.

I was out of celery and white pepper so they were left out but it’s still good. I wish there were leftovers for lunch today but it only made 14 small ones and people were fighting over the last one at dinner. Also, huckleberries are particularly difficult to get in the Midwest and I used all the huckleberry jam I got for Christmas in 2005 (side note of praise — this company was so great that when I called them to cry that one jar had arrived broken, they sent me another right away, no poking through the glass slivers to salvage the huckleberries!!) So, I used some seedless Marionberry jam (not to be confused with Marion Barry who was in a jam) I had a bottle of wine that was given to us as a gift and I knew nothing about it but I was a surprised to find it a fizzy sweet wine. Sauce still tasted good.

Crab Cakes with Huckleberry Sauce

2 cups or 1 lb Dungeness crab, flaked
1 egg
1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 Tablespoons finely chopped celery
4 Tablespoons bread crumbs
1 ½ teaspoon Old Bay Spice
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
½ cup finely chopped hazelnuts
Huckleberry Sauce (recipe below)

Whip the egg and add all other ingredients, except the nuts. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate for 15 minutes to one hour. Form into 1 inch balls, flatten and roll in hazelnuts. Saute in virgin olive oil about 2 minutes on each side.

Serve with Huckleberry Sauce.

If you wish, you may refrigerate overnight and reheat to eat or serve cold. After sauteeing, drain on paper towels.

Huckleberry Sauce:
½ cup huckleberry jam or syrup
½ teaspoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons dry or semi-dry white wine

Heat jam over low heat, add lemon juice and blend. Add wine just before serving.

I like to use the same basic recipe to make salmon cakes from leftover baked or grilled salmon.

Recipe of the Day — Apricot Glaze

Today I share with you my ‘secret recipe’ for my favorite glaze for ham, pork loin, etc. Are you ready?

Smucker’s Apricot Preserves (the stuff with chunks of apricot)

That’s it. You can heat it in a pan with a tsp of sugar so it gets all drippy and easy to spoon or brush onto the meat. I add it about 15 minutes before I think the meat should be done.

I also cook my hams and pork loins differently than most instructions — most say to bake uncovered and then to cover when you pull it out of the oven; I generally keep mine covered until I add the glaze and let it bake uncovered for the last 15 min and then when it comes out I cover again and let it rest 10 min or so before slicing. Sometimes I spread more preserves over the sliced meat on a platter. Mmm, yummy!

We’re going against tradition and having ham, not turkey, for Thanksgiving. Gorf & Egana are joining us so hopefully they don’t take home our coughing germs!

Recipe of the Day — Plum Orange Jam

Terri — here it is! It’s from the Ball Blue Book.

5 cups chopped and pitted plums (about 3.5 lbs)

1 Tbsp grated orange peel

1 pkg powdered pectin (Sure-Jell)

5.5 cups sugar

1/4 c. orange liqueur (Cointreau or Grand Marnier)

Combine plums, orange peel and pectin in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam (even the foam will ‘gel’ a bit and tastes good on toast!). Stir in orange liqueur. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. Yield: about 6 half-pints.

My notes: This is a great recipe. The first time we made this I also baked bread that day and I vividly recall we ate more than a whole loaf of bread — and we only had 4 eaters at that time! Beloved Child #1 especially loved it.