RECIPE: Pork Tenderloin with Herbs de Provence

Before I started cooking regularly, I always wondered how my mom cooked without measuring anything. As a child, when I started learning how to cook by recipe, I was very precise at measuring and timing. But as time went on, I found myself using cookbooks more for inspiration than anything else, and becoming one of those people who adds a dash of this and a sprinkle of that. Tonight's dinner was pretty impromptu - I stumbled into Bryan's (an amazing butcher shop in SF's Laurel Village) and pondered over what meat to get. Chicken? Duck? Rabbit? Beef? I settled on a nice piece of pork tenderloin - about a pound - and went to work to make dinner for my friend Candice and I.

Ingredients:

Pork tenderloin (about 1 lb. for two people)
Two garlic cloves
Herbs de Provence
Sea Salt
Black Pepper (preferably freshly ground)
Olive Oil
Summer Squash, sliced
Onion, sliced very thinly
White wine


Chop up garlic and mix with a healthy amount (a tablespoon or maybe more?) of Herbs de Provence, fresh ground pepper, and sea salt. This is your rub for the pork. Heat an oven-proof pan, add some olive oil, and brown the outside of the seasoned pork tenderloin on both sides (just about a minute on each side). Then put the entire pan in the oven (set to 350 degrees), covered with foil. Take the squash, toss in herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil, and then add to pan. Cook the pork for about 15 minutes, then remove the foil. Put the oven on broil and let cook for another ten minutes. Total cooking time should be about 30 minutes per pound, maybe slightly less depending on the thickness. (Don't overcook it!)

Take the pork out of the pan to rest, then put the squash aside. Add a little bit of wine into the pan to deglaze it, add salt and pepper, and a bit of butter. Add onions and reduce. Keep adding wine and reducing until the onions are softened and somewhat pickled.

Slice the pork thinly, and serve with squash. For color, I like to also serve it with a green leafy vegetable, like kale or chard. Top with onions and some of the sauce. Voila!

RECIPE: A Page From "Entre Nous": Gigot d'Agneau

I am not a trained professional. Everything I learned about cooking I learned from my mom, my ex, and TV. Certain things still scare me, like trying to make a souffle, making Hollandaise sauce from scratch, and cooking large pieces of meat in the oven (I just don't trust myself sometimes). However, there is one dish that I can say that I am able to do well. Gigot d'Agneau - sounds fancy, doesn't it? I don't have photos of this one, but trust me, it is quite good, and easy to boot.

Gigot d'Agneau

5 lb. leg of lamb, deboned
6 whole garlic cloves
5 T extra virgin olive oil
herbs & spices (I use Herbes de Provence)
12 small potatoes
8 whole garlic cloves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use half the olive oil to coat the lamb, and rub it with garlic. Sprinkly generously with herbs, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Roast the lamb in oven one hour. Drizzle potatoes with remaining olive oil, season generously with herbs, salt, and pepper, and place potatoes and garlic around the lamb. Cook an additional 35-40 minutes, or until lamb is medium rare. Transfer lamp to a serving platter when done. Continue roasting potatoes until browned. Place potatoes and garlic together with the lamb on the platter.

I serve this with haricots verte and braised fennel topped with fresh Gruyere. Be careful not to overcook the lamb (very easy to do). I convinced one of my friends who swore she didn't like lamb to try it, and she totally liked it. Voila! Crowd pleaser!