Wekly Culinary Challenge -- Intro

Part of why this blog exists is to have a way in which a culinary community can be created. While that sounds somewhat high-brow, that's not the point. By challenging ourselves to do something a little out of our comfort zone, we can all hope to get better. No matter what our background and skill level in the kitchen is, we can all learn something new and different from the experiences of others. The weekly culinary challenge is here to streamline that process and to give us all a way to talk to each other using the same framework. So, if the the theme is "pork tenderloin AND ginger," for example, we can all use those ingredients and come up with something that's unique to each one of us.

So here are the guidelines for the challenges:

1) Use the ingredient(s) that is listed for the week.
2) There will be at least 2 keywords for each challenge. One will be an ingredient. The other(s) will be either another ingredient, a cooking method, or style of cuisine. Every now and then, there will be a NEGATIVE keyword. That means don't use or do that -- e.g. lamb NOT mint would mean create a dish that uses lamb but without mint.
3) You have one week from the date of the challenge being posted to come up with something.
4) Please post your recipe from that week. Tweak it if necessary to make sure you're putting your best foot forward. However, if you have a disaster, talk about it! Again, the point is that we're all trying to learn here.
5) Nothing has to be fancy or "gourmet" here. Sometimes a simple preparation of an ingredient is a lot more difficult to pull off than something that has 20 odd items that go into it, and requires hours of work.
6) If at all possible, take a picture of your masterpiece. We eat with our eyes as much as any other sense. Not only that, but it'll force us to present the food a little more nicely than we might otherwise.
7) Don't just copy someone else's recipe. If you need inspiration, by all means look on Food Network or Epicurious, but do something different and unique with it, ok?

Pretty simple, eh?

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In an effort to get this started, here's a recipe using the above example as a guideline.

CHALLENGE: Pork AND Ginger

Recipe: Pork Tenderloin with Two Sauces -- serves 4-6

2 Pork Tenderloins, silver skin removed
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
White Pepper
Curry Powder (hot Madras, if available)

1 Cup chopped Dried Apricots
1/4 Cup toasted Pine Nuts
1 ts grated Ginger

Red wine, blackberry and ginger sauce:

1 Cup bold Red Wine such as a Shiraz, or red Zinfandel
2 TblS fresh grated Ginger
1 small Shallot
2 cloves Garlic
1 ts Chicken Demi-Glace (or chicken base)
1 TblS Blackberry Jam
1 TblS Unsalted Butter
1 ts Corn or Potato Starch mixed with a little water

optional: 1 small handfull fresh Blackberries

White wine and apricot sauce

1 Cup Chardonnay
2 TblS fresh frated Ginger
1 small Shallot
2 cloves Garlic
1 ts Chicken Demi-Glace (or chicken base)
1/2 Cup chopped Dried Apricots
1 TblS Unsalted Butter
1 ts Corn or Potato Starch mixed with a little water

optional: 1 TblS chopped flat-leaf Parseley

Prep:

Preheat your oven to 425 F/220 C

Rub both loins with curry powder and sea salt. Put black pepper on the one to go with the red sauce, and white pepper on the one to go with the white sauce.

Take the loin that will be going with the white wine sauce, and make a slit into it, opening it up somewhat like a book (butterfly it)

Place a mixture of chopped apricots, grated ginger, a little salt and toasted pine nuts into the cavity and then roll the loin back together. Tie with butcher's twine in three to four places to keep it together.

Make the sauces:

Take out two sauce pans, and add the chopped shallot and garlic to them with a little butter, and sauté until translucent. Add the red wine to one pan and white wine to the other.

Red wine, blackberry, and ginger sauce:

Add grated ginger and chicken demi-glace to the pan with the red wine, whisk to dissolve, and then add the blackberry jam. Reduce slightly, and then whisk in the butter to give it a sheen. Adjust seasoning as needed. The sauce should be slightly hot from the ginger and sweet, but not overly so. Add the slurry of starch and water into the pot, and bring back to a boil. Reserve once the sauce is slightly thickened. Strain if you want it smoother. Add in the fresh blackberries if desired while holding.

White wine, ginger, and apricot sauce:

Add grated ginger and chicken demi-glace to the pan with the white wine, whisk to dissolve, and then add the chopped apricots. Reduce slightly then whisk in butter to give it a sheen. Adjust seasonings as needed, and then add the slurry to thicken slightly. Strain to make the sauce smoother. Just prior to service, add the chopped parseley is desired.

Pork:

Preheat an oven safe saute pan with oil (canola or peanut work well) until slightly smoking. Place both loins into the pan and sear well on all sides, about 1/2-2 minutes per side. Don't move it around too much! You won't get that nice crust you want.
Once the pork is seared, pop it into the preheated oven. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes for medium, or until an instant read thermometer reads 140 F. Do not overcook the meat, as there is not enough fat to keep it from getting dry. Let the meat rest under some tented foil for about 5 minutes. Carve each into medallions and server 3-4 pieces of each per person and prepare the plate with both sauces -- red wine for the unstuffed loin, and white for the apricot stuffed one.


Serve with vegetable and starch of choice. I like to serve a simple cous-cous and steamed green vegetable (like haricot verts) with this dish.

Happy cooking!