Pork Tenderloin With Fig & Stone Fruit Compote

This is a recipe requested by my mother. I created it a couple of years ago and after acquiring some California figs while I was shopping, I decided they would add a wonderful element to the original Stone Fruit version that I usually make.

Sweet onions, great white wine, and a touch of real maple syrup add dimension to this easy to make one pot dish. The pork is moist and tender, and the sweetness of the fruit and onion Compote is almost like a great jam. A beautiful accompaniment for a fantastic dish!

My mother, enjoying her use of a personal chef in the house for a few days also requested stuffed acorn squash. Both of my parents really like that dish. I found some squash at one of my favorite Mediterranean Markets that were almost white as opposed to the usual green version. I filled them with a basmati and wild rice mix, and spicy sausage that I cooked and then added a touch of maple syrup to balance put the heat with some sweetness. It turned out lovely.

Pork Tenderloin With Fig & Stone Fruit Jam

1 pork tenderloin
1 sweet onion sliced thin
5-6 figs, halved
2 yellow nectarines (and/or a mix of peaches)
2 plums
1 cup or more white wine
3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 Tablespoon each, butter and oil
Salt & pepper TT

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Rinse the tenderloin in cold water and pat dry. Trim any silver skin (the white shiny stuff on the outside, it is really tough when cooked and you don't want to deal with it later). Season the tenderloin with salt and pepper.

Heat a Dutch Oven or other oven and stove safe heavy bottom dish. Add butter and oil and sauté the onions until soft. Then add the tenderloin and cook for a couple of minutes turning it so the outside is nicely seared. Remove the tenderloin.

Rough chop all of the fruit removing the stones and add them to the pot. Cook for a few minutes until they start to soften.

Add in the wine to deglaze the bottom of the pot. Then add the maple syrup.

Replace the seared tenderloin pushing the Compote mixture away from the middle of the pot.

Cover and transfer the dish to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and cook for and additional 10-15 minutes or until the pork is cooked properly.

Remove the dish from the oven and allow to rest for 8-10 minutes. The fruit and wine Compote should be softened and the sauce created should thicken a bit. Slice the tenderloin and top with the Compote and sauces from the pot.

This recipe is a definite win! My mother is a happy camper this evening.

Lime Truck Lunch!

I'm so full. I think I ate the entire truck. happy. food. coma.

Food trucks bring me joy. None are better than the Lime Truck. They won $100k on Food Network's Great Food Truck Race 2. My buddy Jason was my entertainment every Sunday night. I couldn't be more proud of a guy who has a passion for all things food. He used to make stuff and bring it to me where we worked and we would spend all day talking about food. In the past two years he has gone from a kid who served food at a restaurant to a celeb and game changer in the OC Foodie scene.

When I woke up yesterday and found out that Lime Truck was going to be walking distance from my house, I was so excited. My friend Vista called and asked if I wanted to go with her. I was already on my way so it was awesome to have someone to share a great meal with.

Between the two of us, we ordered almost everything. Carnitas fries, both Tacos, Bok Choy, Tuna Poke Nachos, Grilled Corn, and the Guava Lychee Limeade.

Everything was excellent. The guys working on the truck were genuinely nice and looked like they were having fun. Their formula for success is evident in every detail. The experience was better than most sit down full service restaurants. They do everything right.

Even through the little windows, they guys engaged all of the guests in the line. When you have a good interaction with the people making and serving your meal, the food tastes better.

If you ever see this green truck somewhere, you have to stop and try everything on the menu. I promise you won't be disappointed.

The unique Carnitas Fries are now on my list of favorite things ever. The Grilled Corn rivals Café Habana in NYC, a place I adore. The tacos were also some of the best I have had. The flavors seem to flow through the menu and compliment each other. The Tuna Poke Nachos had perfectly crisp chips and were wonderful. The idea of eating raw fish from a truck seemed scary to me but they take care in serving the freshest ingredients. Once I saw the food, I knew it was going to be great.

Lucky for us the line wasn't really long and moved quickly. My portion of the meal was $13, and I would easily have paid twice that or more for a meal that good.

Believe me when I say you'll want to follow this truck. I can't wait for Jason's new venture Playground, a gourmet burger and craft beer joint in Santa Ana that is opening soon. I'm so proud of him and it's been so fun watching his talents develop. He's the poster boy for a dreaming, passionate, determined young man of extraordinary talent.

Welcome Back To Hockey Season

There is only one sport I can't live without. LA Kings hockey. I was raised a Kings fan, will always be a Kings fan, and when I die, I will die a Kings fan!

Today marks my favorite day of the year. The return of regular season Kings games. I don't have the vocabulary to express my elation. I whine about missing hockey during the off season. I have friends who share my pain during that difficult time. I have converted many people I have dated, some friends who knew nothing about the sport, and I love it.

Today is good. It's going to be a great year for hockey.

GMTN Goes NYC: Part 3

If you don't know, now you know...

How to make awesome brunch FTW:
Taylor Pork Roll, cut at the edges in four places
Stuffed French Toast, two ways
Perfect Bacon, from JJ the Bacon Chef
Cinnamon Rolls, like mama makes from the tube
Scrambled Eggs, or Matty's Omelette
Katie's Potatoes
Hungry Friends
Bottomless Mimosas

I'm waiting on Katie to send me her Stuffed French Toast recipe. Until then...let's discuss bacon.

I have been makin' bacon for a long time. My friend JJ is a bacon chef along with an amazing artist and pastry chef. When the task of brunch bacon arose, I signed JJ up! He used a technique that I have never seen. I know how to make it in a microwave, in the oven, and on the stovetop, or so I thought.

JJ ripped open the package, cut the whole thing in half and piled it all in a pan. When I say this is the best bacon I have ever had, I am not exaggerating. He cooked it over medium heat which allowed the bacon to steam and then deep fry itself once the fat was rendered out slowly. It is nothing short of a miracle. It's the outcome of the product that is so stunning. It had nothing to do with the type of bacon used. It was cooked properly. JJ took it off the heat while it looked a little soft. He allowed it to drain on paper towels and viola, perfection! It crisped from the carry over heat. It was so much easier than stretching out the pieces and watching them burn in the pan.

I encourage you to try it this way.

GMTN Goes NYC: Part 2

Somewhere over Jersey....

When planning a trip, it is rare I actually make plans. I'm know for getting on a plane at a moments notice and just figuring out how to have the best time possible. My best friends are all in on this with me. It's the secret to having adventures that no one can recreate or imagine. We just go.

Planning things always manages to disappoint some party involved and with my knowledge of this, I have goals when I'm on a trip which are always attainable, and then the fun stuff happens. It's the difference between being a traveler and a tourist. I'm lucky because I have friends or knowledge of the cities I visit and I never have expectations, so I am therefor never disappointed with my travels. What one can plan in their head is not ever as good as just letting things happen.

Case and point; Katie & I made a dinner for friends that normally wouldn't interact. Two Beer Butt Chickens, late at night, sautéd asparagus, mashed potatoes, fresh baked rolls, and the wonderful boozy cake. Somehow after football and then happy hour we managed to plan a dinner and brunch, along with accesssing our resources for ingredients and necessary beverages to accompany our feasts. All the while, laughing, enjoying our company, and winning LCR (quite possibly the best game ever, google it).

Katie's brother Matty and I set out to handle dinner and drinks while Katie and her gentleman caller James' mission was brunch. The four of us are unstoppable. At two different stores we came home with the necessities for two epic meals for friends, and then somehow Katie and I both bought chocolate chips. It figures that this happened as my mother and I similarly both go to the store at the same time without discussing things and there is at least one rogue ingredient that we both bring home unplanned. A testament to the people I connect with in my life.

My darling Raelyn, had never so much as touched a whole raw chicken before this night. By the end she was mashing potatoes and learned enough to entertain guests in her own home. We had everyone involved with dinner and it was awesome.

You don't need a lot of money to entertain and feed your friends. All you need is love. In the past we have all been out to dinner together but I'm pretty sure this was a memorable experience for everyone involved. Cooking with friends rules! Start to finish this took a couple of hours but the memories last a lifetime. Everyone enjoyed the food and the evening together. I really have the best friends in the world even if I don't see them often. An evening in Jersey sharing good food makes for good memories.
xoxo

GMTN Goes NYC: Part 1

I heart New York!

Some say Paris is the city of love. While this is true, New York has opened an outpost of Ladurée. The place I dream of. Ever since my chef/mentor Stephane told me about it and showed me photos, I have been in love. Ladurée Website click here

I have long been obsessed with Parisian Macarons. They have come to the greatest city in the world, NYC. They are flown in along with my favorite tea of all time. When my father and I visited Paris we enjoyed all things Paris has to offer. When I say I'm the luckiest girl in the world, I am not kidding. My mother took me to Paris for my first time when I was seventeen. I felt so blessed to be able to go back with my father who surprised me with a trip after I had mentioned that I dreamed of waking up one Christmas and being able to look at the Eiffel Tower. He made it happen. My other favorite Christmas, I was alone having just moved to NYC for school. I went for a walk throughout the city on Christmas day. I knew I would always love NYC.

Last week I was able to visit NYC. I stayed with my BFF Katie and her gratious roommates. We had a great time. The extended weekend was filled with food, friends, football, and more food. What more could a girl ask for? Well I got that too. An adventure to acquire a green box from Ladurée to bring to my mother.

On my adventure, we drove through Central Park, as it was a lovely day to do so. The detours made me late to meet my friend JJ for our Macaron Mission but it was worth it. We continued the adventure with lunch at the greatest place ever, Shake Shack. I crave few things but the Shroom Burger is on my list. Neither of the gentlemen I was with, though they both live locally, had ever been. They now share my love for Shake Shack as they both had the Shack Burger and were impressed. It was such a fun day! Since I moved from the city, every visit has included a visit to Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, where JJ works and I stand in awe and eat cake, and also a Shake Shack visit. Yes, both are that good.

I can't wait to share a cup of Ladurée tea with my father, and taste Paris again thanks to New York. My mother loved her green box, and my friends whom had never seen a Macaron have now tasted the best in the world. I don't mess around.

California Sunset

There are only a handful of things I miss about California. At the top of the list is a three year old named Myles, my BFF's and their families, good sushi and a California sunset.

As my flight was getting in last night, I was so grateful that it was the perfect time to see California's painted sky. Better yet, it was a birds eye view between the layers of clouds. They say home is where the heart is, and this means I have pieces of home in all of the five states I have been to in the past few days.

Every time I leave New York, and now New Jersey, it's difficult. That place does something magical to me. I'm not sure if it's the buildings, the characters that live there, the food, or just the adventures that make me aware that my time is not done in the city. The friendships I have in that region are unlike the others in my life. I don't often see my city friends but whenever I do, I realize how much they make me smile when I'm not there. It's a great feeling.

Exhausted from my travels, I somehow managed to find the energy to go see my friends in California after my flight. Myles, whom I haven't seen in two months was excited to see me. I was worried he wouldn't remember me or recognize me with my blonde hair. I greatly underestimated the abilities of a three year old. He gave me a big hug and showed me around his new home. He has matured so much in eight weeks. He speaks so clearly now it's unreal. He sings songs. This makes me smile.

Sometimes you can have several homes. As long as you love where you are when you're there you'll never get homesick.