Help! I lost a recipe

[mrsmaalox]

I hadn't done this one in a long time and now I can't find it---it's for pork medallions on sauteed spinach. I've searched my books and googled, but nothing. I'm gonna wing it but I'd love it if anyone has suggestions. I know the last step is to drizzle it all with balsamic vinegar :)

[JoeChalupa]

Sounds delicious. Wish I could help.

[CubanMustGo]

1. Sautee Spinach.
2. Cook Pork Medallions.
3. Place Pork on Spinach.
4. Serve warm.

[mrsmaalox]

1. Sautee Spinach.
2. Cook Pork Medallions.
3. Place Pork on Spinach.
4. Serve warm.

But what about the balsamic vinegar???? :lol

[CosmicCowboy]

I'm not too keen on just dumping balsamic vinegar on at the last minute.

I would use a cast iron skillet for the pork tenderloin (whole, or cut in two pieces to fit the skillet) and then sear it on all sides while preheating oven to 375. Remove the tenderloin after searing. reduce heat to medium.

I would add 4 parts balsamic vinegar and 1 part brown sugar and mix with the leftover olive oil and crumbles from searing the tenderloin plus salt/pepper to taste and reduce. I would glaze the tenderloin with this sauce and cook in the oven (baking pan and rack) for 20 minutes or until internal temp of 145.

Meanwhile sautee the spinach with bacon, diced onion and garlic.

Let the tenderloins rest for 5 minutes and then slice into medallions and serve over the spinach. Drizzle the remaining glaze from the skillet/baking pan over the medallions for extra flavor.

[mrsmaalox]

Okay CC I'm gonna use some of your guidelines. Minus the bacon cuz it makes veggies too rich for me. Question: you cook balsamic vinegar? I was taught that it wasn't to heated. If you've done it and it tastes fine, I'll try it

[CosmicCowboy]

Yeah, you can reduce balsamic vinegar in sauces no problem.
shoot for about 1/3 reduction. You just need to stir and watch it closely. The balsamic vinegar/sugar sauce is a knockout but it's kind of like caramelizing sugar..your timing has to be good to get the right syrupy consistency and yet not burn it.

[Slomo]

...Question: you cook balsamic vinegar? I was taught that it wasn't to heated. If you've done it and it tastes fine, I'll try it

Depends what you want to do. A balsamic vinegar reduction is a very good sauce for certain type of meat. CC's suggestion is OK.

It's similar to olive oil. You can cook with it, just be more careful about the temperature, than with other oils.

[The Franchise]

This conversation is making me hungry.

[CosmicCowboy]

Oh yeah. Keep the exhaust fan on high and don't sniff the steam.

once you get the basic balsamic reduction down you can really play with it...use different juices, ginger, add hot sauce to the sugar/balsamic, etc.

Make sure you use the skillet and not a sauce pan...it like lots of surface area. when it sticks to the back of the spoon it's done.

[mrsmaalox]

Wow guys thanks for the tips. This is turning out pretty darn close to what I was looking for. And the man I cook for (my 15 yr old son) just poked his head out of the inner sanctum and hollered, "Hey mom what smells so good?" :D

[ORION]

Wow guys thanks for the tips. This is turning out pretty darn close to what I was looking for. And the man I cook for (my 15 yr old son) just poked his head out of the inner sanctum and hollered, "Hey mom what smells so good?" :D
I'm suprised he could smell dinner with all the weed he was smoking

[mrsmaalox]

I'm suprised he could smell dinner with all the weed he was smoking

Ha!! No way :nope

[grjr]

This conversation is making me hungry.

These pretzels are making me thirsty.

[BlackSwordsMan]

write a song about it

[CubanMustGo]

Wow guys thanks for the tips. This is turning out pretty darn close to what I was looking for. And the man I cook for (my 15 yr old son) just poked his head out of the inner sanctum and hollered, "Hey mom what smells so good?" :D

Glad I could help.


:downspin:

[mrsmaalox]

Glad I could help.


:downspin:

Crazy :lol

[CosmicCowboy]

Just don't be a wuss on the reduction or it will take too long. Heat is your friend. At LEAST medium and maybe more depending on your cook top. Simmer is for weenie poser cooks.

Wooden spoon and keep raking the fond off.

[CosmicCowboy]

Okay CC I'm gonna use some of your guidelines. Minus the bacon cuz it makes veggies too rich for me. Question: you cook balsamic vinegar? I was taught that it wasn't to heated. If you've done it and it tastes fine, I'll try it

BTW Bacon and Spinach are MADE for each other.

[Summers]

I'm not too keen on just dumping balsamic vinegar on at the last minute.

I would use a cast iron skillet for the pork tenderloin (whole, or cut in two pieces to fit the skillet) and then sear it on all sides while preheating oven to 375. Remove the tenderloin after searing. reduce heat to medium.

I would add 4 parts balsamic vinegar and 1 part brown sugar and mix with the leftover olive oil and crumbles from searing the tenderloin plus salt/pepper to taste and reduce. I would glaze the tenderloin with this sauce and cook in the oven (baking pan and rack) for 20 minutes or until internal temp of 145.

Meanwhile sautee the spinach with bacon, diced onion and garlic.

Let the tenderloins rest for 5 minutes and then slice into medallions and serve over the spinach. Drizzle the remaining glaze from the skillet/baking pan over the medallions for extra flavor.

Dang! That sounds good.


BTW Bacon and Spinach are MADE for each other.

:tu

[CosmicCowboy]

Depends what you want to do. A balsamic vinegar reduction is a very good sauce for certain type of meat. CC's suggestion is OK.

It's similar to olive oil. You can cook with it, just be more careful about the temperature, than with other oils.

Slomo, you really lost me on this one...olive oil had a higher smoke point than almost any of the normal kitchen oils (410F)

I use it all the time when sauteing with butter to mix 1//2 and 1/2 and extend the flash point where I don't have to watch it QUITE so closely and can speed up the process.

[mrsmaalox]

Just don't be a wuss on the reduction or it will take too long. Heat is your friend. At LEAST medium and maybe more depending on your cook top. Simmer is for weenie poser cooks.

Wooden spoon and keep raking the fond off.

Hey! You know i ain't no wuss :ihit

[mrsmaalox]

BTW Bacon and Spinach are MADE for each other.

Well I love a spinach salad w/bacon dressing, I just can't take the richness in cooked veggies.

[Summers]

Well I love a spinach salad w/bacon dressing, I just can't take the richness in cooked veggies.

I think a little bacon fat tones down the bitter taste of fresh spinach, but I usually don't have it handy. I sautee spinach in usually just butter, salt, and pepper.

I once accidentally fed the vegetarian kid I was babysitting a can of lima beans with bits of slab bacon in it. Truly, I felt guilty for doing it, but holy crap, that kid ate those beans like they were ice cream.

[CosmicCowboy]

Well I love a spinach salad w/bacon dressing, I just can't take the richness in cooked veggies.

Darlin you aren't COOKING the spinach. You start the bacon, add the onions, wait a little bit and add the garlic. When the onions are clear and the garlic starting to brown you add the spinach and toss/flip/stir till it's good and wilted and then pull it off. The spinach is wilted al dente.

[CosmicCowboy]

I think a little bacon fat tones down the bitter taste of fresh spinach, but I usually don't have it handy. I sautee spinach in usually just butter, salt, and pepper.

I once accidentally fed the vegetarian kid I was babysitting a can of lima beans with bits of slab bacon in it. Truly, I felt guilty for doing it, but holy crap, that kid ate those beans like they were ice cream.

Summers...

Buy the bacon ends at HEB. I forget the brand but they come in a 2# box that's red, white, and blue. I keep it in the freezer and slice off what I need and put it back in the freezer. It's really really cheap relative to sliced bacon and you get what you really need for cooking.

[mrsmaalox]

Darlin you aren't COOKING the spinach. You start the bacon, add the onions, wait a little bit and add the garlic. When the onions are clear and the garlic starting to brown you add the spinach and toss/flip/stir till it's good and wilted and then pull it off. The spinach is wilted al dente.

That's what I meant!!

[CosmicCowboy]

LOL

OK.

so hows it going?

[Summers]

Summers...

Buy the bacon ends at HEB. I forget the brand but they come in a 2# box that's red, white, and blue. I keep it in the freezer and slice off what I need and put it back in the freezer. It's really really cheap relative to sliced bacon and you get what you really need for cooking.

Thanks for the tip... I think I'll do that.

[CosmicCowboy]

OK, I want a dinner report.

If I was cooking the little man would already be back in his room jacking off to his fantasy woman that had tits like Jennifer Love Hewitt and could cook like me.

[Summers]

OK, I want a dinner report.

If I was cooking the little man would already be back in his room jacking off to his fantasy woman that had tits like Jennifer Love Hewitt and could cook like me.

Well, we had some VERY tasty black bean quesadillas for dinner. :lol Tomorrow, I'm planning meatloaf, mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, and something green (I'm leaning toward spinach, for some reason).

[CosmicCowboy]

HMMM....so what king of a meat loaf woman are you? Tomato sauce? Brown Gravy? Beef/pork/veal? bread or croutons? Foil or no foil? Crock pot?

Dr. Cosmic Phil is now in session...

[Summers]

HMMM....so what king of a meat loaf woman are you? Tomato sauce? Brown Gravy? Beef/pork/veal? bread or croutons? Foil or no foil? Crock pot?

Dr. Cosmic Phil is now in session...

I keep it simple: lean ground beef, saltines, egg, finely chopped onion, plenty of salt and pepper. I bake it in a small cake pan instead of a loaf pan so it cooks more evenly and pour some tomato sauce on top for the last 20 minutes. I told ya, simple; but it's tasty and my kids like it. My mom likes to start with half beef and half sausage, but I like it less greasy.

[CosmicCowboy]

OK...dry loaf. I understand the bit about cooking for the kids to like it and retained grease is a bad thing.

My favorite victims to cook for are guys at hunting camps. I am one of those cooks that just says "why not?" and goes off the reservation. I know most of the cooking basics and then just improvise. If I screw up hopefully the alcohol will numb their memory. Unfortunately half the time when the recipes work out I forget the really good ones LOL.

[ORION]

LOL

OK.

so hows it going?
CC this is totally off topic but I will be hitting baffin next Friday

[CosmicCowboy]

CC this is totally off topic but I will be hitting baffin next Friday

Good luck. With this heat I suspect they are gonna be on the I/C channel drop offs and up on the edges early but still deep. I hate this time of year usually. Nothing like being nipple deep on a mud bottom and on big fish with wind blown waves breaking over your head. It definitely separates the guys catching fish from the guys taking long hot boat rides.

[CosmicCowboy]

My favorite (failure/success) off the reservation dish recently was a Thai Shrimp thing with sticky rice. I'm still working out all the do's and dont's of curry and coconut. I accidentally bought coconut juice instead of coconut milk and my oriental spices got to work WAY too long while it reduced. Those oriental peppers will kick your ass if you get a little liberal. Habanero's ain't got nothing on them.

I will do better next time. The flavor was knock your socks off awesome but it was WAY too hot. We were all scarfing it down and wiping tears out of our eyes. I love hot but it was freaking WAY too hot...but it tasted so GOOD LOL. Every pot/plate was wiped clean.

[ORION]

Good luck. With this heat I suspect they are gonna be on the I/C channel drop offs and up on the edges early but still deep. I hate this time of year usually. Nothing like being nipple deep on a mud bottom and on big fish with wind blown waves breaking over your head. It definitely separates the guys catching fish from the guys taking long hot boat rides.

so no flats or tide gauge ?what about king ranch ?

[CosmicCowboy]

so no flats or tide gauge ?what about king ranch ?

I'm not the expert. The guy that I normally go with I have been fishing with for 25 years and long before he moved to the coast and got his guide ticket.

We ONLY fish for big trout and release anything under 20" unless it is hooked bad.

I haven't fished as much as I wanted to the last few years but this time of year we would normally fish within 300 yards of the inter coastal and hit it early. Try the stretch with the floaters/houses right before you get to Baffin on the right and stay waist deep or deeper early.

My personal experience at the tide gauge bar is that you can limit out on schoolie's this time of year but the big trout are going deep.

[mrsmaalox]

OK, I want a dinner report.

If I was cooking the little man would already be back in his room jacking off to his fantasy woman that had tits like Jennifer Love Hewitt and could cook like me.

:lmao Well it was a HIT!! Even the spinach that I deprived of bacon. The balsamic vinegar reduction was very delicious and I will do it again, but I couldn't resist drizzling it with plain uncooked balsamic, because I was really craving that flavor. Overall I would give it an A, because it was delicious, was actually quite easy to put together, and it looked beautiful.:toast

[CosmicCowboy]

LOL

Glad it worked out well. You owe me a blow job. :lol

[CosmicCowboy]

The positive is that I always reciprocate X2 at least.:hat

[mrsmaalox]

The positive is that I always reciprocate X2 at least.:hat

:wow Hell next time I may add a little bacon!! LOL

[ORION]

I'm not the expert. The guy that I normally go with I have been fishing with for 25 years and long before he moved to the coast and got his guide ticket.

We ONLY fish for big trout and release anything under 20" unless it is hooked bad.

I haven't fished as much as I wanted to the last few years but this time of year we would normally fish within 300 yards of the inter coastal and hit it early. Try the stretch with the floaters/houses right before you get to Baffin on the right and stay waist deep or deeper early.

My personal experience at the tide gauge bar is that you can limit out on schoolie's this time of year but the big trout are going deep.

and Reds? Man I hate you. You does this to me every time.

[Summers]

OK...dry loaf.

I beg your pardon, sir; my meatloaf isn't dry. :lol

[mrsmaalox]

I beg your pardon, sir; my meatloaf isn't dry. :lol

It's okay if it is Summers! Who likes drippy meat?? ;)

[Summers]

It's okay if it is Summers! Who likes drippy meat?? ;)

:lol Drippy meat.

[Slomo]

Slomo, you really lost me on this one...olive oil had a higher smoke point than almost any of the normal kitchen oils (410F)

I use it all the time when sauteing with butter to mix 1//2 and 1/2 and extend the flash point where I don't have to watch it QUITE so closely and can speed up the process.

This is going to be difficult to explain in english since I don't really know the right terminology.

First the trick of mixing butter and olive oil is a really good one and quite popular in modern french cuisine for exactly the reason you mentioned.

Let me give you an example. To make a really good tomato sauce (ie for pasta) you start by stir frying some nice onion in a couple of spoons of olive oil. Due to the little quantity of oil in the pan (possibly a nice, heavy, old fashioned pan) it is very easy to overheat olive oil to a point where it "breaks down" specially since the best result is achieved by heating the oil before dumping the chopped onions in it. If instead of olive oil you use sunflower seed oil or peanut oil that risk is almost non existent (but the taste suffers). I've seen many people make this mistake and the result is bad taste and quite often a middle case of indigestion.

I like the sweetness and aroma released by the onions when I use extra virgin olive oil - and that's even more delicate in terms of temperature (Italians don't recommend anything else but "regular" olive oil for cooking - it's more refined).

Otherwise the best french fries I ever ate was in greece and they were deep fried in the foulest looking deep fryer filled with some cheap olive oil. But the taste was incredible and the fries were cooked to perfection (it's also more difficult to overheat the oil in a deep fryer).

[marini martini]

My favorite (failure/success) off the reservation dish recently was a Thai Shrimp thing with sticky rice. I'm still working out all the do's and dont's of curry and coconut. I accidentally bought coconut juice instead of coconut milk and my oriental spices got to work WAY too long while it reduced. Those oriental peppers will kick your ass if you get a little liberal. Habanero's ain't got nothing on them.

I will do better next time. The flavor was knock your socks off awesome but it was WAY too hot. We were all scarfing it down and wiping tears out of our eyes. I love hot but it was freaking WAY too hot...but it tasted so GOOD LOL. Every pot/plate was wiped clean.


This is going to be difficult to explain in english since I don't really know the right terminology.

First the trick of mixing butter and olive oil is a really good one and quite popular in modern french cuisine for exactly the reason you mentioned.

Let me give you an example. To make a really good tomato sauce (ie for pasta) you start by stir frying some nice onion in a couple of spoons of olive oil. Due to the little quantity of oil in the pan (possibly a nice, heavy, old fashioned pan) it is very easy to overheat olive oil to a point where it "breaks down" specially since the best result is achieved by heating the oil before dumping the chopped onions in it. If instead of olive oil you use sunflower seed oil or peanut oil that risk is almost non existent (but the taste suffers). I've seen many people make this mistake and the result is bad taste and quite often a middle case of indigestion.

I like the sweetness and aroma released by the onions when I use extra virgin olive oil - and that's even more delicate in terms of temperature (Italians don't recommend anything else but "regular" olive oil for cooking - it's more refined).

Otherwise the best french fries I ever ate was in greece and they were deep fried in the foulest looking deep fryer filled with some cheap olive oil. But the taste was incredible and the fries were cooked to perfection (it's also more difficult to overheat the oil in a deep fryer).

Dayum ya'll cook, too???

Betty Crocker's in the kitchen and whores in bed!!!:toast

[Summers]

Betty Crocker's in the kitchen and whores in bed!!!:toast

Aren't we all? :)

[marini martini]

Betty Crocker's in the kitchen and whores in bed!!!:toast


Aren't we all? :)


:toast:toast:toast

[Slomo]

Dayum ya'll cook, too???

Betty Crocker's in the kitchen and whores in bed!!!:toast

I love food. As a kid I seriously considered becoming a cook. Later because of my job I was lucky enough to discover many great (some of them world class) restaurant and new cuisines. I love the Spurs and the people of San Antonio, but the food there is just as much a reason to visit :lol

My mother is an excellent cook, and because the stuff you need was rarely available when I was growing up, she had to improvise and find ways to make the food taste good - and it always did! And that to me is the definition of great cuisine - regardless how simple or ordinary the dish is, it has to taste good.

The majority of my colleague at work are now Italians, so yes we talk about food a lot :lol

6 months ago I decided I needed to lose weight and I tell you it's the most difficult thing I ever did. The solution for me was to eat a lot less, but not to compromise on the taste - and it works.


Aren't we all? :)

:toast