new year, new me.

nah.
same me, slightly tweaked.
trying on old ideas, see how they fit.

here's one i've been toying with for years, re-inspired recently by an old friend.
a cookbook.
initially, i thought a recipe a day but, old enough to know, realistically unrealistic.
as it is, measurements will be largely unscientific.
some of this, about this much of that.
taste.
you'll know when it's right.

Fig and Blue Stuffed Pork Tenderloin Wrapped with Bacon
Cider Butter Sauce
Warm Lentil Salad

Makes 4 small plates

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin
½ lb plus blue cheese, crumbled
7 dried figs
1 clove garlic
1 sprig worth of fresh thyme leaves
S.P

5 slices bacon, partly rendered

2 cups apple cider
½ cup chicken stock
¼ cup white wine
¾ cup butter, cubed
S.P

½ lb pardina lentils (small, greenish, hold shape when cooked)
4 cloves garlic
¼ cupish extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of Fennel Seed
chopped parsley
S.P


Render the bacon: Place on sheetpan in 350 oven for about 5 minutes. Fat will start to render but bacon should not be crisp. It needs to be pliable enough to wrap the pork later.

Make stuffing: Plump dried figs in cider in small sauce pan over low heat. Remove figs and small dice. Add to crumbled blue cheese along with garlic, thyme, S.P

Stuff Pork: Carefully, ram a steel (the point rod that is used to hone a knife) down the center of the tenderloin. Push the stuffing inside without over stuffing. Go from both sides. S.P the tenderloin and sear in hot saute pan with a bit of olive oil til brown. Set aside to cool. When cool, wrap with bacon slices.

Make lentil salad: Gently simmer lentils til still slightly crunchy...15 minutes or so. Cool under cold water. Drain well. Meantime, saute minced garlic in ½ the EVOO for 1-2 minutes on low heat. Pour over lentils. Add remaining ingredients. Set aside.

Finish: Roast bacon wrapped pork in 400 oven for about 15 minutes. Remove and let rest. Meanwhile, finish sauce: Strain the reduced cider into clean sauce pan. Add the wine, stock and strained pan juices and heat on low flame until simmering. Whisk in chunks of butter until sauce thickens. Season with S.P. Slice the pork into ¾ inch slices.

Plate: Spoon a portion of the lentil salad onto center of plate. Place two of the slices, slightly overlapping, against the lentil salad. Ladle the sauce over the pork slices. Garnish with a bit of the chopped parsley.

Eat.

Note: The pork can be done ahead to the point of finishing in oven. Lentils can be done ahead as well. The only thing that does not hold well is the sauce. It will break if you try to reheat it...but it can be done up until the point of whisking in the butter so, all in all, a pretty good do ahead dish. And easily doubled, etc. for larger crowds.