At the beginning of my day I had no clue what I was making for dinner. I had purchased some cleaned, sliced mushrooms earlier this week and knew I needed to use them for something. You see, I didn't have a plan for them when I bought them but they were on sale and you don't pass by mushrooms on sale right? So I started thinking of what kinds of meat I had in the freezer. I hadn't even gotten anything out to thaw before leaving for work this morning. My quickest options were chicken breasts and a pork tenderloin. I don't know how many of you have schools/churches that participate in Market Day but our school does and, so far, I have ordered monthly. My favorite item is the pork tenderloin. Compared to what I find in the grocery store, it is cheaper yet more tender and flavorful.
So I thought - mushrooms and pork loin...I can make that work. But what to serve with it? We've had a lot of rice lately so I didn't want that. And I didn't have the right ingredients to make a pasta that would make sense to that left me with potatoes. Potatoes are my nemesis. Unless they are drowning in fat, I can't figure out how to make them taste good. Baked? Boring! What to do? What to do? Oh, and did I mention the boy child is not a fan of most potato dishes? Alas, I remembered I had fresh chives in the refrigerator so I opted for mashed potatoes with chives. Sounded flavorful enough considering we weren't having gravy. But what about my lonely pork loin? What happened to that guy?
He got a good kosher salt and pepper massage then a hot sear in a little oil to get a good crust on the outside. It only took about 2 minutes per side until we had a nice golden brown crust. I then placed said loin in a baking dish and spied a bottle of white wine in my rack. I had forgotten about my pale friend. I am not a big white wine drinker but I usually keep a bottle around for cooking and drinking with lighter meals. So my friend Clos du Bois chardonnay and a splash of chicken broth gave my loin a nice little sauna to steam in. I then tossed in a good amount of the mushrooms and popped it in the oven. Now, let me tell you, the best investment I ever made was a meat thermometer that I can insert in the meat and leave there while it cooks. 160 degrees F is medium for pork. Yes, it is safe to eat pork when it is cooked to medium. Overcooking pork is bad bad bad. Now repeat that 15 times. So I set my thermometer for 155 and let it come up to temp out of the oven. Meat will continue to cook out of the oven and the internal temp will raise 5-10 degrees. Handy thing to know as I reiterate overcooked pork (or any other meat) is bad bad bad.
While the meat rested, I mashed my potatoes with a smidge of margarine, milk and chives. Then I began reducing the sauce for the pork. Since I added wine and broth to the baking pan I had a good deal left over. I put that with the mushrooms in a skillet and let it go on pretty high heat. While it was reducing I heard William call from the other room, "Sure smells good in there!" When all was said and done, each of us had a generous pile of potatoes, some corn, and perfectly cooked slices of pork tenderloin on our plate with a reduced white wine and mushroom sauce (finished with a bit of butter). William is the exception. He won't touch a mushroom. I wouldn't either at his age so I don't argue. I just wanted him to eat a decent amount of food. If it's not pasta or pizza I usually hear a lot of protest and plan to sit at the dinner table for an hour cajoling him to eat.
Well, folks, I had filled his plate to let the food cool and by the time I had plated Matt's and my dinners I looked over and he had devoured his mashed potatoes and most of his corn was gone. As I was sitting down he shoved 5...yes 5 bites of meat into his mouth and was chewing for all it was worth. I had barely touched my food and he was asking for seconds. I commented that perhaps I need to make this dinner again sometime and both of the "men" in the family gave me a full mouthed "Mmm hmm!" YES!
Matt cleaned up every last scrap of meat and potatoes, William has his fill of seconds, and I took great pride in making my family happy by throwing together a meal that I had no plans for earlier in the day.
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