Portly Pork Tenderloin and Hasselback Potatoes

Today I spent the morning looking through two years worth of cooking magazines that I've been storing in various places around the house. I decided it was time to get rid of the magazines so I tore out all the recipes that sounded good and am now left with a stack of torn out pages that will eventually be organized and placed in a nice binder-key word eventually :)

The plan was to make pork tenderloin tonight and I was going to make a recipe using some swiss chard I was going to pick up at the farmer's market. Instead, I happened upon a recipe for Apple and Leek Stuffed Pork Tenderloin in last fall's issue of Eating Well. Since it just so happened that I had one random leek and a lonely apple in the fridge, I decided to give it a whirl.

Apple-&-Leek- Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
The online version of the recipe is found here
* My version, I made a few changes, is below. I didn't make the sauce that's supposed to go along with it because it involved apple cider and apple brandy, neither of which I had.

• olive oil
• 1 cup chopped leek, white and light green parts only, rinsed
• 1 apple, , peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (I didn't have fresh so I used dried)
• salt
• freshly ground pepper,
• 1-1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed
• Craisins (I added these for some color!)

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 450°F. (I never set mine higher than 425)

-Heat  oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add leek and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.

-Add apple, thyme, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apple is beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. (This is also where I added the Craisins.)

*Side Note: After Brett ate this tonight, his recommendation is that if you don't like leeks, either use less, or use onions instead because he thought the leeks overpowered the apples)

-To butterfly the tenderloin, lay it on a large cutting board. Holding the knife blade flat and parallel to the board, make a lengthwise cut through the center of the meat, stopping short of the opposite edge so that the tenderloin remains in one piece.

-Cover with plastic wrap. With a meat mallet, rolling pin or heavy pan, pound the pork to an even 1/4-inch thickness.

-Spread the apple mixture in the center of the pork, leaving a 1-inch border all around.

-Starting at a long side, roll up the pork to enclose the filling. To keep the stuffing from falling out during roasting, fold in about 1 inch of the two short ends. Tie kitchen string firmly lengthwise around the roast to secure the two ends. Then tie it crosswise with string at 2-inch intervals. Lightly brush the roast with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper (I used McCormicks. No judging my use of string...it may not be pretty, but it got the job done!)

-Heat oil in the skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and brown the roast on all sides, about 4 minutes total.

Transfer the roast to a rimmed baking sheet (I put a cookie cooling rack on my baking sheet to elevate the tenderloin just a bit)  Place in the oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 145°F, about 15 minutes.

-Let rest on a clean cutting board for 5 minutes before cutting and removing the strings.

-Slice and serve!

Up next, Hasselback Potatoes:

Not gonna lie, I mainly just made these because I think they look cool :)

*Original recipe found here

Ingredients:
red potatoes
garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper

Scrub the potatoes and thinly slice vertically as shown below. To avoid cutting all the way through, place the potato on a spoon- the edges of the spoon will stop the knife.

Thinly slice the garlic and place the slices between slices of potato:

Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper:

Bake at 425 for 45 minutes or so until the tops are crispy and the middle is soft:

Serve with butter or sour cream if you must, or ketchup!

**As a bonus for reading, I'll let you in on a little bonus recipe: Chili Lime Corn**

Cook your corn on the cob as usual. Then squeeze fresh lime juice over each ear and sprinkle with chili powder- as much or as little as you like!

Enjoy!
--Lindsay--