pork tenderloin with roasted winter vegetables

This healthy one-dish meal was inspired by a recipe I found in February's Gourmet magazine (the "quick meals" section is surprisingly helpful). Instead of limiting this to roasted fennel wedges, I added some carrots and parsnips, which I roasted separately for 15 minutes before adding to the pot with the tenderloin. I also skipped the fennel seeds - thought I had them in the pantry but they were carraway. Delicious and honestly ready in less than 30 minutes.

Grocery list: 1 tsp fennel seeds (left out), 1-2 pounds pork tenderloin, 2 fennel bulbs, olive oil, 3 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup white wine, 1/2 cup chicken stock, 2T butter, 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice. Also added: 3 parsnips, 2 carrots.



If you're going to add the winter vegetables, clean them first, then slice them into spears.



Roast parsnips and carrots at 425 degrees, turning every 5 minutes, for 15 minutes.



To prep a fennel bulb, first cut off the fronds, then cut it in half. There's a really tough little inner core that you want to remove, because it won't soften up like the rest of the fennel slices when they cook.



Thinly slice the fennel, then smash and thinly slice the garlic. Season the tenderloin with salt and pepper on all sides.



Heat a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear the tenderloin in olive oil to brown it on all sides, about 5-6 minutes total. Remove to a plate.



Cook the fennel and garlic for 5-6 minutes. Deglaze the pan with white wine, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Stir in the chicken stock and butter.



Transfer the roasted parsnips and carrots from the baking sheet into the dutch oven.



Return the tenderloin to the dutch oven, nestling it right into the vegetables. Place everything in the oven, uncovered, and immediately set the temperature down to 375 degrees. Roast until the internal temperature of the pork is 145 degrees.



Allow it to rest, then slice. While it's resting, if the vegetables still contain a lot of juice, move the pan to a medium flame on the stove and cook until the liquid reduces down to a thick consistency. I like to return the pork to the main dish, along with any meat juices that collect on the carving board, so everything stays warm.



I served this alongside the buttermilk fantail rolls that I learned how to make in this same issue of Gourmet. I've actually been baking a lot lately, but am waiting till I perfect a few of these bread recipes before blogging them.

grilled steak with arugula, fennel and orange salad

This recipe ended up only being "inspired by" the original in Food & Wine magazine. I fully intended to try it unadulterated, but ended up finding a good deal on NY strip (as opposed to skirt steak) while at the same time NOT being able to find fregola. (Side note: while I couldn't find fregola at whole foods, I discovered they finally started carrying farro, which I've wanted to try in a risotto for a long time, so I consider it a wash.) For the original, you can read it online here, but I'll cover my variations on the recipe below. It would probably feed 4 normal non-bear appetites.

Grocery list: one pound strip steak, 1 T ancho chile powder, 1 red onion, 1 lemon, 1 fennel bulb, 1 navel orange, 2 radishes, 5oz baby arugula, black olive tapenade (fresh at the olive bar at our local WF).



Allow the steak to rest on the counter to bring it to room temperature while you prep the vegetables. Cut the stems off the fennel bulb, cut it in half, core it, then thinly slice. Peel the orange, quarter it to remove the center pith, then thinly slice crosswise. Wash and thinly slice the radishes. Juice the lemon.



Sprinkle the chile powder on both sides of the steak (pressing to adhere the seasoning).



Peel the onion and cut into 1/4 inch slabs. Grill both the steak and the onion slabs over direct heat. For the steak, it's a matter of preference and steak thickness to determine how long to cook (this one was thick, and took 12-14 minutes to get to medium). The onions should become tender and charred in spots - I put down a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil first so the onions couldn't fall through the grates, and they still achieved that charred effect.



When the steak is done, allow it to rest under a tent of aluminum foil while you assemble the salad.



Toss the arugula with several tablespoons of good quality olive oil and the lemon juice. Let the onions cool, then chop them. Add the onions, fennel, orange and radishes to the salad and toss well.



Spread about 1/4 cup of tapenade across the steak, and slice on the diagonal. Mound the salad on each plate, then serve several steak slices on the top.