Marinated Roast Loin of Pork with Mushroom Gravy...and smashed potatoes redux

Though the French are fond of simmering pork in milk which ensures moist tenderness, sometimes only roasted pork will satisfy a certain appetite. Since loin pork roasts that come my way usually lack a thick, top layer of fat which would act as a self-basting source, I do two things to keep it from becoming a dry husk of its former succulent self: 1) marinading with olive oil, garlic, thyme, and sage overnight and 2) roasting first at a higher temperature and then halfway through lowering the heat. Tucking some chopped onions and carrots under the meat adds flavour to the gravy while including the liquid from soaking dried Boletus edulis cèpes increases the amount.

 Nicely browned with a thin crackling and redolent of herbs, this roast looks, smells, and tastes delicious

Recipe for mashed potatoes is here

MARINADE (for a roast weighing about a kilogram)

Olive oil, extra virgin, around 4 tsps
Herbs, fresh (I used equal proportions of thyme and sage from our potager), 1 T
Garlic, 2 cloves, pressed
Salt

PORK ROAST
4 generous servings

Loin of pork, boneless, about 1 kg/2.2 pounds in weight
Onion, 1 small, finely chopped, about 2 T
Carrot, 1 small, finely chopped, about 2 T

GRAVY

Cèpes, a small handful
Liquid from soaking cèpes, 16 fluid ounces/455 ml
Drippings from the pork roast, 2 T (if not sufficient, melt enough butter)
Flour, white, 2 T
Carrot & onions roasted underneath the roast
Cream, 1 T
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

The night before make the marinade. Mix the minced herbs, pressed garlic, and olive oil together to get a gloppy paste.

Using your fingers, rub the paste all over the roast--top, bottom, front, back, and sides. Dust the top of the pork lightly with salt. Choose an oven pan that is not much bigger than the roast (to prevent drippings from evaporating/scorching). Cover well with plastic wrap or your fridge will reek from garlic. Reserve overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 425 degrees F/218 degrees C. Instructions for soaking cèpes are here. Finely chop the carrots and onions and place under the pork, making sure that the veggies are covered by the meat.  If they stray outside the protective cover of the roast they will get carbonised. Put the roast in the oven. 

After about forty-five minutes, lower temperature to 350 degrees F/177 degrees C.  Following about forty minutes, test by piercing the meat and checking the juice which should have a slight tinge of pink (See related post at the end for more information on safely roasting pork without overcooking). Put roast on a warm plate and place a large enough bowl over it to keep it warm while the gravy is prepared. Slice just before serving, making sure any juice that oozes out is added to the gravy.

Transfer the drippings and the veggies (discarding any that got burnt) from the roasting pan into a small saucepan. Add butter if necessary as to get two tablespoons of fat. Stir in two tablespoons of flour to the hot fat and cook for about a minute. Pour slowly, stirring all the while, the liquid from soaking the cèpes. Add the chopped mushrooms. Mix smooth with a hand-held blender. Simmer for a few minutes until thickened. Add the cream and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Any leftover pork slices can be frozen. Freezing the surplus gravy separately allows a gentle way of reheating the pork: bring the gravy to a simmer first and then add the meat. Within a minute or two, the slices will be ready to serve without much additional cooking which could lessen its tenderness.

A slice or so of roasted pork was reserved to add to stir fry brown rice (recipe is here). I sauteed thinly sliced pork in hot oil briefly, for about a minute.

Reserve them on a plate while finishing the fried rice, tossing in the pork towards the end of cooking.

Our harvest from the previous season is slowly and surely diminishing. The last of the taters went into a skillet of smashed potatoes (recipe is here). Remember to discard any potatoes that have a greenish tint since the skins will be eaten. Omitting onions and mild chili peppers, I used a mix of minced fresh fennel, thyme, rosemary, and sage from our potager. The herbs along with chopped garlic were added after the potatoes were flipped over and close to the end of cooking so as to keep those ingredients from becoming burnt. With freshly grated Parmesan sprinkled over them, this is fast becoming my favourite comfort food.

Fifty percent of the potatoes we eat annually are homegrown!

Our cache of frozen strawberries won't last until this season's harvest, but happily there's enough to last for a few more months. The Calm One makes weekly crepes, and this time we stuffed them with whipped cream and our juicy berries. We then topped them with icing sugar. Pas trop mal!

Eating these delicious berries spurred me to tidy the strawberry beds in anticipation of the harvest starting in late spring. This is the time to order bare-rooted strawberries for late winter/early spring planting. Remember that they are adaptable to growing in pots/barrels and around shrubs because of their pretty flowers, attractive foliage, and gorgeous fruit.

The front end has been weeded and the strawberry plants mounded up to their crowns

The mild, wet winter has encouraged very early sprouting of the rhubarb.

The same weather has allowed the broccoli to stay alive though it is technically mid-winter. Unfortunately the harvest is very light anyway because I just could not keep on top of the ravenous appetite of slugs. Mild, rainy weather does have its disadvantages.

The only flowering is happening on the winter heather.

I have discovered where Elmo the cat lives. Recently, I was returning home from my daily walk and when I was several houses from ours, Mr. Elmoface trotted out from chez lui to greet me. He then followed me to my front door, came in, had a brief rest on the living room rug, meowed plaintively, and hypnotized me to give him a butter pellet and a splash of cream. Then off he went. I got to wonder how many other households are on his feeding itinerary as he is one persuasive feline.

Now tell me those eyes are not mesmerizing! 

À la prochaine!

RELATED POSTS

Transplanting strawberries
Freezing strawberries

RELATED LINKS

How to roast pork safely without overcooking

Season's Greetings...and a Cuban hot chocolate recipe

The Calm One and I wish you all a very merry holiday. Be with loved ones, take care, and have fun!

I hope I will finally get around to making Vanessa's fantastic caramelo hot chocolate during the holidays. Her recipe is here.

Regular posting will resume in the new year. Bonnes fêtes!

Mini Canadian Maple Tarts, Elmo the Cat & a Special Gift from Santa

When living in the States, I frequently indulged in a stack of slathered-with-butter, American-style pancakes which were smothered in pure maple syrup. The only reason why maple syrup can be found here, though with difficulty, is the French Canadian connection.

As it is still pretty precious, I resisted buying enough for a full Canadian maple tart. As this traditional favourite is essentially a pudding in an already baked pie shell, the problems plaguing baking mini pies are avoided such as the filling getting done before the crust, but the advantages remain: greater proportion of pastry to filling and facility of scoffing them down.

Ingredients
makes 6 three-inch mini tarts

Pastry, short crust, enough for one crust 9-inch pie (recipe)
Maple syrup, pure, 6 fluid ounces
Cream, heavy, 4 fluid ounces
Cornstarch, 2 T
Water, cold, 2 T
Unsweetened whipped cream and freshly grated nutmeg for topping

When making the pastry, I used half butter and half lard.  This mixture gives both buttery flavour and pronounced flakiness.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out dough into a roughly shaped rectangle about an one-eighth-inch thick. Using an appropriately sized cutter (bowls, glasses, lids, etc.), make six five-inch circles. If needed, gather scraps into a ball and roll out to make the required number of rounds.

Unused pastry can be pressed into a ball and then frozen.  Future bits and pieces can be added, and eventually there will be enough for a round of mini tarts or a pie!

Turn over a muffin pan and drape the circles over the inverted cups. Loosely pleat uniformly all around, gently remove, and reserve. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Turn the muffin tin right side up and carefully ease the formed dough into the individual pans. Try not to stretch the pastry or press too tightly as that will make them shrink and puff up too much while baking. However, they should be fitted snugly.

With a small fork, press the tines around the crust, neatening up the edge. Make sure the pastry is contained within each individual pan (for easier removal after baking). Also lightly perforate the bottoms.

Put them in the oven and after a few minutes check to see if they are puffing up. If so, press the bottoms down with a finger moistened in cold water. Check again in a few minutes and repeat if necessary.

Bake around fifteen minutes or until the top edges are tinged golden brown. Carefully remove the shells--loosen the top edges with a thin spatula and slide/ease them out. Let them cool on a rack.

While the pie shells are cooling, make the filling.  Gather your ingredients.

Stir the cornstarch into the cold water until dissolved. It will look like thin milk.

In a medium-sized saucepan, mix the cream and maple syrup until blended. Stir in the dissolved cornstarch.

Bring the syrup mixture to a low simmer. Decrease the heat to low and while stirring, cook the pudding for a couple of minutes.  It will become very thick. Be careful not to scorch it.

Let cool for a minute or so and then pour into the shells.

Refrigerate the pies for at least a couple of hours. Top with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of freshly grated nutmeg.

I was bowled over with these. The smooth, thick maple pudding encased in its flaky tart shell was sublime.

Several cats belonging to the quartier like to check out our garden. One in particular is a real sweetheart. Thinking that it was a female, I named it Esme. When I found out that it is a male, The Calm One suggested Elmo. He is a fabulous, long-haired, black-and-white cat.

He likes to hang around the part of our garden reserved for small wild life to keep an eye out, well, for small wild life like mice and birds. We are becoming great friends and usually enjoy late-morning visits together.

+Lena Levin is one of my favourite artists at G+. She graciously partook in the Secret Santa event.  I got lucky and managed to reserve one of the five paintings she contributed.

Lena is a brilliant colourist and her style straddles the realistic and abstract. She regards herself as a painter of poems. If you enjoy her art, make sure you check out her website.

À la prochaine!

Gougères...and gnocchi à la parisienne

When researching google images for the Burgundian amuse-bouche and apéritif nibble, gougères, that is, delectable cheese puffs, one photo in particular caught my eye. Following the link, I discovered the chef (Mon Dieu, he's French!) recommends baking powder to get the puffs, well, puffy. Modern convenience, hang your head in shame! Pâte à choux is a lovely thing, forming a basis for both sweet and savoury delights.  No chemical leavening needs to apply.

Though I have made my fair share of this pastry, including profiteroles, I took very seriously this first attempt at making gougères.  Why? If there is too little or too much liquid in relation to flour, the puffs will either not rise or will deflate.  Steam formed inside the puffs is what makes them airy. Michael Ruhlman gets this point so his proportions of ingredients worked a treat.

Though other aged cheeses like Comté, Gruyère, and even Cheddar can be chosen, Parmesan works very well and along with chopped black olives is used often in the south of France.

Ingredients
about 35 medium-sized gougeres, a good size for stuffing, dinner roll substitutes, and to accompany drinks plus two small servings of gnocchi à la parisienne

Water, 8 fluid ounces
Butter, 8 T
Flour, 8 fluid ounces
Eggs, 8 fluid ounces (about 4 large eggs)
Parmesan, 2 T and extra for topping
Fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper for topping

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Gather your ingredients.

On high heat, bring water and butter to a simmer. Add the flour all at once and over medium heat, beat until it pulls away from the sides and forms a ball. Cook gently for a minute or two so the moisture content is reduced.

Either wait for a couple of minutes or run cold water over the bottom of the pan. Add the eggs, one by one. After each addition, incorporate it fully into the dough. The texture is very stretchy and sticky--you will need to show it who's the boss. Alternatively, the dough can be processed with an electric hand mixer or transferred to a standing mixer (use the paddle attachment).

Incorporate the cheese. The dough conveniently can be refrigerated for up to twenty-four hours before baking.

On parchment-lined baking pans, place a rounded teaspoon and then another on top, to increase the height of the puff. Dipping the spoon in cold water can help in shaping the puffs. With a finger moistened in cold water, smooth out any pointy peaks which could burn. Sprinkle with Parmesan, fleur de sel, and a turn of the pepper mill.

Bake at 450 degrees F for ten minutes and then lower to 350 for about thirty minutes. Towards the end of baking, test by eating one--yeah, I know, such an arduous task! The puffs will be hard on the outside, golden brown, feel hollow, and when bit into, will be mostly dry inside but still soft. Turning the oven off and leaving the gougères inside for a few minutes may be needed to complete their perfection. Fresh out of the oven, these cheese puffs were deliciously fragrant, crisp, and light. They are best when served piping hot.

Upon breaking open a puff, The Calm One exclaimed, It's empty! I replied, Well, they are a circular version of cheese crisps. He quipped, like Cheetos?

Then he promptly filled his puff's inner void with cream cheese.

Split gougères can be filled in numerous ways. One that is very appealing and will boost the cheese quotient (as these are not that cheesy) is to chop up some Brie and Parma Ham or any other high quality ham, spoon into the cavity, replace the tops, and put in a warm oven until the Brie is melted and all is heated through. Another possibility is this scrumptious ham mousse stuffing by Emeril Lagasse. 

For the gnocchi, boil some water in a medium-sized pot.

Using a small spoon (which can be dipped in cold water to ease the formation of the gnocchi), scrape off segments of dough into the boiling water. They will float to the top in a few minutes.

Scoop them out. Brown some butter (no smoking butter though!) in a skillet and saute the gnocchi until they are golden which takes about five minutes.

Serve with Parmesan, fleur de sel, and freshly ground black pepper. These were wonderful--the crisp outside enclosed a tender, smooth, and dense inside.

À la prochaine!