Balsamic Onion Glazed Pork Tenderloins

I thought it would be nice to include some recipes that would be good for holiday entertaining.  Here is one that uses pork tenderloins which are both tender and low in fat.

I didn't notice it until I thought about it but I actually eat quite a bit of pork.  I guess because pork is used in Asian cuisine more than chicken or beef.  However, I would never buy pork tenderloins to cook at home because I thought it would be hard to cook.  I just might be putting pork tenderloins on the menu more often now that I've created this recipe.  After all they were quick and healthy and not to mention tasty too.

It snowed in here in Vancouver the other day and the city looked so gorgeous blanketed in snow.  I was really tempted to stay home from work and cozy up to a blanket and hot chocolate.  Instead I braved the roads and thankfully got to work in one piece.  Yes, it's true that we Vancouverites do not know how to drive in the snow and I guess it doesn't help that people like me do not have snow tires.  Fortunately for everyone the the rain melted all but a few mounds of dirt covered snow within 24 hours.

That night I enjoyed staying warm by standing next to the hot oven as the pork was roasting in the oven.

Before I went ahead to roast the tenderloins I wanted to take a few steps to add more flavor and make sure that the glaze adhered to the meat.  After I dried the meat with paper towel I doused the it in a mixture of corn starch, sugar, salt, and fresh ground pepper.

In my cast iron skillet I seared the tenderloin until all sides were evenly browned.  The fumes from the pan were already making me salivate.  I didn't even add the glaze yet.

After I the meat browned I deglazed the pan and got all those good bits of flavor the pork left behind.  In the pan I added 1/2 a cup of chicken stock, 2 Tbsp of The B.O.M., and 2 tsp of grainy mustard.

If you ever want to do something dumb try to take a picture of a hot pan as it is being deglazed.  You will find that steam is actually hot.  You might also find that it can scorch your pinky finger.  Please keep some aloe handy.

 I brushed the tenderloin with a Tbsp of The B.O.M. and roasted it in the oven for about 12 minutes.  *If you try this and find the marmalade too thick to brush on you can heat it up in the microwave for about 10 seconds so will spread easier.

At this point the first layer of glaze had already caramalized and had dried.  I brushed again with a second layer of glaze for extra flavor.  Then returned the the tenderloin to the oven until it was ready to come out for good.

After the pork came out of the oven I gave it a final coating and let it rest for a few minutes before I sliced it.  Those minutes are always take longer to pass if you're waiting for something to be ready to eat!

Then I topped it with the glaze from the pan.

I hope you will try this recipe sometime.  It works great for entertaining because you can make it from start to finish in less than an hour.  I will continue to create great tasting recipes so stay tuned!

-Vicki

Balsamic Onion Glazed Tenderloins (The above post is half the recipe)

Serves 6

2 Pork Tenderloins (about 1 1/2 pounds each)

1/4 cup Corn Starch

2 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tbsp Salt

1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

2/3 cup Balsamic Onion Marmalade

2 tsp Grainy Mustard

1 cup Chicken Stock

2 Tbsp Oil

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees with the rack in the middle position.  As the oven preheats combine corn starch, sugar, salt, and pepper in a baking dish.  With clean paper towels pat dry the tenderloins and coat them in the corn starch mixture.  Shake off any excess.

Heat skillet with oil on medium-high until oil begins to smoke.  Brown all sides of tenderloins evenly.  Transfer tenderloins to a rimmed baking sheet lined with a wire rack.

While the skillet is still hot deglaze with chicken stock and whisk in 4 Tbsp Balsamic Onion Marmalade and the Mustard.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Brush each browned tenderloin with approximately 1 Tbsp of Marmalade.  Roast tenderloins in preheated oven for approximately 12 minutes and apply a second coat of marmalade.

Continue to roast until the tenderloins have reached an internal temperature of between 135-140 degrees.  At this point remove from the oven and apply the final coat of Marmalade and let the meat rest uncovered for 10 minutes.  Slice and serve with reserved mustard glaze.

Grilled Cheese Taken to New Heights

I promised some recipes that showcased our Balsamic Onion Marmalade so here is the first.  I got a loaf of artisanal sourdough bread (the kind with the big wholes and crackily crust)  after our second week at The Baker's Market and I thought, "What better to make than a grilled cheese sandwich?".  So that is exactly what I made for lunch the next day.

I love grilled cheese sandwiches.  They are my go to food when there is nothing else good in the fridge.  I know it might be awful but I always use a slice of processed cheddar in between two slices of buttered white Wonder bread.  But it's not all bad, each slice of processed cheese contains the calcium of one whole glass of milk!

This time since I had that nice fresh loaf of sourdough I took it to the next level with creamy brie and a few spoonfuls of The B.O.M..

So I basically just cut up a couple of slices of bread and topped it with The B.O.M. and a few good slabs of brie.

Melted some butter on a hot skillet.  I love my cast iron skillet!  I also love butter! (who doesn't?)

Browned both sides of the sandwich until the cheese turned into ooey gooey melty creamy goodness.  Of course, not forgeting to butter the other side too.

Voila! Uber good grilled cheese.

I really enjoyed that sandwich, especially with the pickles.  Next time I make it I'll add BACON.  Bacon makes everything (really, everything) better.

By the way, for those of you who eat it by the spoonful we now have The Balsamic Onion Marmalade in a larger size.  It will of course be available at the Bakers market each Saturday until December 11th or you can contact us to place an order.  If you made anything with your marmalade we would really like to know what it was.  We love getting feedback.

Happy Eating!

-Vicki

Baker's Market Relocated

If you haven't checked in recently, the Baker's Market is now at the Creekside Community Centre in the Olympic Village.  We hope no one goes to the old location, as they will be disappointed - no baked goods to be found!  I've actually never been to the Olympic Village myself, and I'm happy I can finally see it.  It's too bad that most people refer to it like a deserted ghost town, because as hyped-up as it was, no one seems to care about it now.  But hey, the market should breathe new life into it!

We will be at the market again this Saturday Nov 20th, and will be there each following Saturday until the closing. 

We've got more Balsamic Onion Marmalade - hopefully our supply will meet the demand!  We will also have more Salted Brown Sugar Shortbread and will have some new items!  This Saturday we will have Fruit & Nut Crisps available:

 

- Irene

Browned butter is better...

I've been reading up on browned butter, or beurre noisette, and decided to try my hand at making it.  It's supposed to add a nice nutty, rich flavor to foods, and it's used a lot in culinary sauces.  Basically it's the process of cooking butter until the milk solids brown, giving the butter a darkened colour and nutty aroma.

Recommendations are to use a light-coloured/stainless steel saucepan over medium heat, as it will make it easier to judge the degree of browning.  It can be a fine line between browned butter or burned butter.  I decided to use a cast iron pot to do the job.

 I melted down 2 lbs of butter.  It started simmering away but didn't want to brown.  I realized the problem was too much butter - I wasn't supposed to be deep frying here.  So I scooped the butter out and browned it about a cup at a time - more of a "shallow fry" style. 

 Though it took a little longer than I expected, it worked!  I ended up with a nice pot of aromatic butter.  I used some right away to make a simple batch of chocolate chip cookies.  I decided to strain out the browned bits (milk solids) for the cookies as I didn't want them speckling the end product.  If I were to make a savoury dish, I would have no problem leaving the little bits in- they add flavour. 

I love Alton Brown's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. It makes the soft-textured cookies - what drop cookies should be!

Though I got caught up watching Clash of the Titans on DVD and I ended up baking the cookies past the chewy stage anyways.  But no complaints as they tasted oh so good!  The browned butter did indeed add a deeper, richer flavour.  I really liked the crisp browned-edges that you don't get when you purposely underbake them.  I didn't even get to put them into the cookie jar - they got eaten up right off the baking pan.  (I must clarify that I had help...I didn't eat them all myself!!  Even though it was tempting...)

Now what shall I do with all that yummy browned butter sitting in the fridge?  I'm sure I'll find something else to cook up...hmmm...

- Irene

Market Date Added

We are happy to announce that we have added another date for the Baker's Market.  You can now visit us Saturdays, November 20th & 27th and December 4th & 11th.  We'll also have some exciting new things baking up.  Check back for announcements about those!

-Vicki

Bakers Market Debut

Completed our first day at the Bakers Market today!  It was lots of fun, especially watching the contestants of the cupcake eating contest stuff themselves silly!! 

We got so caught up keeping ourselves organized that we forgot to take some pictures of our table.  We do have some pictures of our prep from the night before...

The Salted Brown Sugar Shortbread that had rave reviews!  Yay!

Cheddar & Rosemary Shortbread fresh from the oven.

Vicki and I were up into the wee wee hours of the night baking and packaging the goodies.  We were all organized and ready to go this morning until we hit a bit of a snag...well a pretty big one.  We had to prepare some Aromatic Hot Chocolate for sampling, so we proceeded to boil the milk with our electric hot water kettle.  BIG MISTAKE.  There is reason why the instructions state to ONLY use them with water.  The indicator light started flashing, which we thought indicated boiling.  Except there wasn't the usual rumbling sound...it was eerily silent.  So we thought it would be prudent to check-in...turns out the milk burned!  It scorched so badly that the pot still has a thick layer of char, even after repeated scrubbing.  Take home message: Follow the manufacturer's directions!!  We were able to whip up another batch and still make it to market on time.  We're happy to report the rest of the day went without a hitch.

We surpassed our own expectations when our Balsalmic Onion Marmalade and Salted Brown Sugar Shortbread sold out within the first 2 hours of the market!  Yippee!  Thanks to everyone who came out to sample our fare.  We had lots of fun meeting everyone.  We're even more inspired to create more yummy treats to share!  Stay tuned...

Come see us next on November 20th at the Bakers Market!

Irene & Vicki

Some Like it Hot

Another product that will be for sale at the Bakers Market is our hot chocolate.  We have dark chocolate available in an aromatic blend, which has a kick to it from the spices we add, as well as the classic blend.  We'll have milk chocolate in both blends available in subsequent weeks.  Let me just say, this isn't the same hot chocolate you know.



Marshmallow Island Oasis in a Hot Chocolate Sea

 This is a European style hot chocolate which is made from REAL chocolate resulting in a rich, luscious, and satisfying cup of comfort. BTW I'm on team Dark Chocolate.  For those of you who love milk chocolate I dare you to join me on the dark side...  The Aromatic Dark side. MUAHAHAHAHA! 



The blend of spices in the drink doesn't result in a spicy hot chocolate like some other mixes that have shown up on the radar.  That isn't to say it doesn't have any kick to it though.  I would describe the flavors as having a subtle warmth, increasing the warming effect of hot chocolate.  Like in 'Chocolat', one of my favorite movies of all time(because of the chocolate and not because of Johnny Depp who always looks like he is in need of a shower in my opinion), when Armande takes that first sip of Hot Chocolate that instantly puts a smile on her sour puss face.

This hot chocolate also goes great with homemade marshamallows.  If you've never had a homemade marshmallow you have to try one.  They are far superior to the store bought kind.  Homemade marshmallows are soft and cloud-like, they can be flavored too.  I found out this summer that homemade are better suited for campfires.  Let me explain.  Have you ever cooked a round store bought marshmallow over an open fire?  Then it starts to sag because it melts on the inside before you can brown the outside.  Well, with these square marshmallows you don't have that problem because there's no need to constantly rotate it.  You cook one side after the other so you get even browning without having to battle the sagging.  They are especially great for s'mores because of their square shape.  I would be happy to make a special order of marshallows for those who are interested.  

To stop your drooling you can come try and/or buy this hot chocolate mix at the Bakers Market where there will of course be FREE samples.  See you at the market tommorrow!

-Vicki

Featuring: Balsamic Onion Marmalade aka The B.O.M.

Finally getting down to business and introducing some of the products we have available.  After much comtemplation I've decided to call this concoction 'Balsamic Onion Marmalade' (for the duration of the Baker's Market anyway).  Caramalized Onion Preserves is another name I am quite fond of since I am not sure if what I am making technically qualifies as 'marmalade'.  There seems to be quite a lot of confusion about about what distinguishes jams, spreads, chutneys, marmalades, etc. (I know I'm confused...).  Any feedback about this subject and names would be much appreciated!  I guess in the end whether I call it a jam, marmalade, spread, or whatever doesn't matter as much as it tasting good.



Balsamic Onion Marmalade

  There is quite a lot of work involved in making this 'stuff'.  The entire mixture has to be cooked down until it is thick and syrupy before it is ready to be canned.  It takes almost 2 hours for this step alone!  In addition all the jars must be sterilized before anything is placed into them before sealing.

Jar sterilization process

 Once the jars are sterilized I can start filling them with delicious Onion Marmalade!  The marmalade itself is slightly tangy, sweet, and rich tasting.  During my initial tasting I paired the marmalade with creamy brie, proscuitto, crackers, and bread.  The brie really complimented the flavors of the full bodied marmalade.  You can tell just by eating it that it has been long and slow cooked.  I plan to post some recipies featuring the marmalade in the future.  But here are a few ideas to keep your taste buds busy until then:

Applications for Balsamic Onion Marmalade:

• Sandwich Spread
• Burger Topping
• Pizza Crust Base
• Pork Chops
• Wine and cheese pairings

This marmalade will be available for sale and sample at the Baker's Market where we'll have other goodies for sale.  We will have a table set up on November 6th & 20th and December 4th & 11th.  If you can't make it to the market but would still like to get your hands on this good stuff just shoot us an e-mail and we will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Oh, by the way, since the marmalade is canned it will keep for a long time without refrigeration.  Not a bad idea to have a jar handy in the pantry for those times when you have guests over on short notice.  But make sure to refrigerate after opening.

-Vicki