Pork Loin and Sweet Potatoes

I made a nice meal of a pork loin and baked sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes were kick-ass, if I may say so myself

I recently got a subscription to Cook's Illustrated (thanks Mom) and got inspired by something I saw in this month's issue. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's the magazine of America's Test Kitchen, sometimes seen on PBS.

They bake, broil and fry over and over until they get the dishes exactly the way they want. Most of us don't have that luxury of course, but they document everything, letting us know why something worked and why it didn't.

I followed their technique for sweet potato and it turned out very good. Notice I said technique, not recipe. Cook's Illustrated recommends not boiling the sweet potatoes, like everyone does, since the water washes many of the subtle flavors away. Cook them over low heat, in a covered pot with some butter and cream. I took one of their suggestions and cooked them in coconut milk and a little butter, and just a hint of nutmeg and a seeded hot pepper.

The bone-in pork loin I just roasted with a crust of black and white peppercorns, coriander and some crushed up blackberry sage tea.

Sweet Potato Ingredients

1 can coconut milk, well shaken

2 large jewel or garnet sweet potatoes

2 tbs butter

1 dried arbol chili, seeded

ground nutmeg

2 cloves

1/2 tsp salt

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into roughly equal cubes. Dump them into a large pot with the melted butter, season, then pour in the coconut milk. (I boiled them in water beforehand, for just a minute, then drained them, for a cleanier taste.) I was going for very sublte seasoning so I didn't over do it with the nutmeg or clove. The pepper adds just a bit of depth and spicyness, one more might give an interesting touch.

The liquid should just about cover the potatoes. A little water wouldn't hurt anything if you need to add some. Cover and cook over low heat for 35-45 minutes until the sweet potatoes fall apart when forked. Use your preference for either hand blending or mashing right in the pot. You won't need to add any cream or anything.

Pork Loin ingredients

bone-in, center cut pork loin

1/2 tsp black and white peppercorns

1/2 tsp whole coriander seeds

1 bay leaf crushed

1/2 tsp Republic of Tea brand Blackberry Sage Tea

1/2 tsp salt

Throw the ingredients in a ziplock bag and crush up well with a mallet or something. Rub it all on the pork loin. Roast bone down, on a rack 325° for about an hour and a half. I added some water in the pan once in awhile to give it a little steam.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I really was going to make a pumpkin cheesecake for all of my loyal readers before thanksgiving (yea right, I was going to make it for me, and if my office was lucky, they might get some). But because of the onslaught of the laziness virus I still haven't done it. And worse, I've eaten half the box of graham crackers and made pasta salad with some of the cream cheese that I bought to make the cheesecake. Also I was going to follow Alton Brown's cheesecake advice but it takes a bit more time than I have this week. Alton recommends an egg/yolk combination, a one piece pan, a waterbath and the one hour with the oven on and one with the oven off. I do want to try that. My recipe below is from a few years ago, and I've tested it many times so it does work and it's very good, but I'm sure a little more technique will result in a fluffier, taller, uncracked cheesecake. Note that I use a springform pan, but wrap it in foil so the water from the bath doesn't get in. Also I have no measurment for how much crushed cookies you need for the crust. Alton says 33 graham crackers. I like to throw some ginger snaps in too, so adjust accordingly. In any case here's the recipe.

KIPlog Pumpkin Cheesecake Ingredients __________________
Special Equipment 9-inch springform cake pan low cooking pan of some kind, capable of holding an inch of water Crust graham cracker crumbs ginger snap cookies 1/2 stick butter	Filling 2 8-oz packages Philadelphia brand cream cheese (DO NOT USE THE LOWFAT! What would be the point?) 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 5 eggs 1/4 cup heavy cream 1/2 stick of butter tsp vanilla extract honey cinnamon nutmeg ginger Knob Creek Bourbon 1 can of pumpkin (Libby's if you can get it)

Method

Take the cream cheese and butter out of the frig for about an hour to get soft.

Mash the ginger snaps into crumbs, and if you bought graham crackers instead of pre-crushed crumbs, mash them too.

Spread lots of butter on the bottom and sides of the springform pan, mush the rest of butter into the mashed cookies, and press the mixture into the bottom of the pan and on the sides. You won't need to go all the way up the sides perfectly, the cake won't reach that high. Put in a 325 degree oven for 5-8 minutes just to set the crust.

Mush and beat the cream cheese, butter, sugars and cream 'til mixed. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add the eggs slowly, a little at a time, mixing them in. Add the spices according to your taste and mix in. I like more ginger than cinnamon and more cinnamon than nutmeg. Add a dolop of honey. Add the can of pumpkin and bourbon (a shot or so). Mix 'til smooth.

Pour the filling into the pan and center the pan on square of heavy-duty foil; press to side of pan. Put the pan in the other pan with an inch of water or so.

Put in a 325° oven for an hour or until the top is light brown, the filling is set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Take it out, chill for awhile (at least an hour, overnite if possible), and try not to eat the entire cake in one sitting.

Also the Web designers among us might appreciate Jakob Nielsen's Cheescake Recipe

Last Meal Game

Not to steal the thread from the Library Tech Guy, who got the idea from

Tony Bourdain, but it does generate an interesting discussion.

What would you have for a last meal?

I went the route of anything goes, rather than the reality that states with death penalties don't even let you have a cigarette or a beer with the final meal.

Questionable wild mushroom terrine.

Salad of mixed sativa greens, with roasted psilocybin and peyote buds

Whole fried fugu

Coca-hashish-cocaine custard.

Meal is served with generous amounts of absinthe and betel nut wine.

The return to food blogging

Okay, I'm back.

Call it a sabatical, call it a vacation, but really it was just a bout with pure laziness. Here's some stuff to look at while I go cook something.

Proof that the Japanese cuteness virus has made it to their food. Thanks to B.A's Weblog.

The turkducken, a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken sounds intriguing, but it sounds like quite a bit of work if you don't buy a pre-made one. It requires boning all three birds, which is quite a bit of surgery, and a very long cooking time. Link found on A Foodie by Nature Here's a recipe for a turduken with several stuffings. That page has some more related links, including a turdurken song and where to find them commercially.

One of the best food-related link lists I've seen.

Restaurant Slave a cook's blog about the "personal tale of her taking a leap and jumping into the kitchen of an upscale restaurant, armed with nothing but some basic knife skills. No schooling. No Spanish. No experience. Just a strong hunch and an even stronger drive to learn if the culinary life is what she really is supposed to be doing, if indeed her hunch is correct."