Grilled Pork with Balsamic Reduction & Loaded Mashed Russet Potatoes

Balsamic Vinegar is always great to cook with because it helps to ensure that your pork doesn't turn out tasting too sweet!  Pork is a great meat for sucking up any sort of minor hint of flavor that you add to it!  The variations that you can do with a recipe like this are practically endless and have yet to disappoint in my experience.  

Grilled Balsamic Pork

Ingredients: 

1 Bottle Raspberry Blush Balsamic Vinegar (about 1 Cup, 8.5 oz, 250 ml)

1/2 Cup Peach Preserves (If you want your reduction sauce to be thick, use 1/4 Cup instead)

3 Pork Tenderloins (Thickly Sliced)

Seasoning (Mediterranean Basil, Crushed Rosemary, Alpine Touch)

Dollop of sour cream

Rosemary leaves

Directions: 

Prepare the grill (I used my handy George Foreman Grill).  Bring the Balsamic Vinegar & Peach Preserves to a boil in a saucepan over high heat.  Cook until reduced by half.  While the sauce is reducing, season the pork tenderloins.  Place on the grill.  Cook for about 15 minutes until cooked all the way through.  Remove from the grill.  Cover or keep warm in the microwave.  As soon as the sauce is thoroughly reduced score the meat to ensure the sauce will seep in.  To serve spoon the balsamic reduction over the meat to just cover (or to taste).  Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and rosemary leaves on top.  *Do not shy away from the sour cream, it enhances the flavor tremendously and makes the taste sweeter.

*Optional: You may also garnish with a few blackberries or any other kind of fruit

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 Large Russet Potatoes (Peeled & Cubed)

2 Tbsp Butter

1/3 Cup Cream

1/2 Cup Cheese (I used Cheddar/Monterey Jack)

2 Tbsp Sour Cream

Garlic Powder

Basil

Alpine Touch

Leeks

Directions:

Add the potatoes to the pot and cover with water.  Boil until easy to mash and then turn heat down to low.  Mash any lumps out and add the butter and cream and stir in thoroughly   Add all remaining ingredients except the leeks and mix thoroughly.  Serve by topping with snipped leeks and Basil.  Enjoy.

The ingredients for my Balsamic Reduction sauce

Boil the potatoes and the Vinegar & Peach preserves

Season the pork

Place the pork on the grill

Multi-task like a champ :)

Finish boiling the potatoes while continuing to boil the reduction sauce

Mash the potatoes while the sauce is still reducing

Add the butter and cream to the potatoes, continue to boil sauce and grill pork

Add remaining ingredients to the potatoes and finish reducing the sauce

Serve & Enjoy!

Braised Pork Loin Chops with Brown Sugar Peach Sauce

Lots of experimenting and a delicious result.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 Pork Loin Chops

3 Tbsp Butter

Seasoning (Tarragon, Basil, Ground Cinnamon)

2-3 Carrots Peeled & Sliced

1 Cup Chicken Broth

2 Tbsp Vinegar (I used Champagne) 

3 Tbsp Fruit Jelly (1 Tbsp Red Raspberry, 2 Tbsp Raspberry Peach Champagne)

2 Fruit Cups (Peaches in Brown Sugar)

2-3 Tbsp Brown Sugar (If you want to sweeten it up a bit)

 Directions:

Season the park chops and melt the butter in a large frying pan.  Add the pork loins and cook turning once until golden on both sides about 6-10 minutes total.  Transfer the pork to a plate.

Melt the remaining 1 Tbsp butter in the pan over medium heat.  Add the carrots and saute until softened about 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the chicken broth and cook, stirring to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.  

Return the pork to the pan and spoon the sauce over them.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Serve by spooning sauce over the pork.

Some of the basic ingredients I used

Cook the seasoned pork in the frying pan

When the pork is golden transfer to a plate

Saute' the carrots

Add the chicken broth

Add the remaining ingredients

Return the pork to the sauce

Serve by spooning sauce over the pork and enjoy

Burgundy Pork & Apple Raspberry Crumble: WHAT YOU DECIDED

I just want to take this time to thank the valuable support of everyone who took the time to vote for their favorite recipe choice between the comments on my blog and on facebook.  You helped turn this into something fun and I honestly had no idea which dessert I was going to be making.

Your input was invaluable!  Thank you so much for contributing to What Should I Cook?

The final food tally was

A Burgundy Pork 16 Votes
B Orzo & Chicken 4 Votes
C Apple Honey Drumsticks 0 Votes
D Chicken Chili 4 Votes
1 Apple Raz Crumble 10 Votes
2 Banana Pudding 6 Votes
3 Bread Pudding 3 Votes
4 Rice Pudding 4 Votes

The burgundy Pork really won by a landslide!  Not to talk myself up or anything, but it definitely did turn out very tasty.  The apple raspberry crumble took a small lead in the beginning and held it the whole way through.  Although personally I would have rated it as my least favorite of the choices, I am really glad that it was chosen because it turned out even better than the pork and I will definitely make it again!  Without further ado, here are your recipes and the accompanying photos!  Thank you thank you again so very much!  We should definitely do this again next month!


 Burgundy Pork

Ingredients:
2-2.5 lbs Pork Tenderloin (mine was 2.6)
Seasoning (Hickory Balsalmic Rub, Crushed Rosemary, Sea Salt, Garlic Salt)
2 Celery Stalks Sliced
2 1/2 Cups Red Wine
1 pkg Au Jus (or whichever brown gravy you prefer)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place pork in a 9 X 13 baking dish and sprinkle with the seasoning.  Add the celery and pour the wine into the dish.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Remove the meat from the dish and put the dish onto the stove over a burner.  Add the Au Jus and simmer for about 5-10 minutes to thicken.  Serve by slicing the meat and covering with the sauce.

Season the pork

Add the celery

Pour the wine into the pan

Cook for 45 minutes

Add the Au Jus to the sauce

Serve & enjoy :)

Apple Raspberry Crumble

Ingredients:
Topping:
7 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Walnuts, Chopped
1/4 Cup Almonds, Sliced

Filling:
2-2.5 lbs baking apples (I used Gala)
2 Cups Raspberries
5 Tbsp granulated Sugar
2 Tbsp Flour
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Almond Extract
2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter


Directions: 
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Butter a 2 Quart shallow baking dish.
Topping:
Whisk the oats, flour and sugar together.  Stir in the nuts. Thinly slice the butter into the bowl and work it into the mixture with your fingers until evenly mixed.  Set aside.
Filling:
Peel and core the apples.  Cut apples into 3/4 inch chunks.  Gently toss with the raspberries.  Toss in the remaining ingredients except for the butter.  Transfer the filling to the baking dish.  Slice the butter over top of the filling. 
Scatter handfuls of topping on top of the filling until evenly distributed.  Bake 40 minutes or until bubbly and brown. 
Let sit at least 10 minutes, serve with ice cream or whipped topping.  Enjoy!

Butter the baking dish

Whisk Oats, Flour, &  Sugar

Mix the nuts into the topping

Work the butter in with your fingers until evenly mixed

Peel the apples

Slice into 3/4 in. chunks

Gently toss with raspberries

Mix in the remaining ingredients

Pour into the baking dish

Slice the butter over top of the filling

Sprinkle the topping evenly on top of the filling

Side view of the topping evenly distributed

Cook until bubbly

Side view of finished deliciousness :)

What should I cook? YOU DECIDE!

Some days you just want someone to tell you what to cook and then you can be as creative as you want with the dish instead of having to do all of the thinking yourself.  As I was perusing the internet thinking of inspiration for my blog and what I wanted to pour my time into this evening I ended up looking at a lot of delicious recipes.  It brought a brilliant idea to mind.  What if I posted a couple ideas for the main dish and the dessert of a meal and I could have my wonderful readers vote and I will cook that dish within a week and post my version of the recipe with my step by step photo recipe blog.  I am really excited about this!  I hope that I can get some of my readers to actually comment and vote so that this can be very interactive and fun!  I look forward to the results and would love to this at least once a month or more.  If you have any recipe suggestions that I don't post, please feel free to share them with me and if plausible they can be featured on the next What should I cook recipe vote, or just as a regular meal that I prepare and recipe share with you!  Thank you for your support and I am giddy with excitement about the outcome of this!

Here are 4 of my top picks for the Main DISHES:

Option A: Burgundy Pork Tenderloin

This is a delicious pork tenderloin in a hearty red wine based sauce

 
The original recipe
Burgundy-Pork-Tenderloin











Option B: Creamy Lemon-Pepper Orzo with Grilled Chicken

I absolutely love orzo, and for some reason it always seems to go amazingly well with lemon.  Add the grilled chicken on top and you can't go wrong

The original recipe:

creamy-lemon-pepper-orzo-with-grilled-chicken

Option C:  Apple-Honey Drumsticks

 I love trying new flavors on chicken and don't like to get in the BBQ rut.  This looks like a nice Asian flair to a great drumstick.

The original recipe:

apple-honey-drumsticks

Option D:  Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

I don't use my slow cooker nearly as much as I should, and am always looking for great new recipe inspiration.  I love messing with Chili and this looks like a great recipe to try.

Original Recipe:

slow-cooker-chicken-chili

Now we move on to the DESSERTS!!!

Option 1: Apple Raspberry Crumble with Oat Walnut Topping

It always makes you feel great when you can make dessert and also feel like you are getting some great vitamins into your body at the same time.  Apple and raspberry are two of my favorite flavors to cook with and these seem like they would make a great combination in this dessert. 

Original Recipe:

apple-raspberry-crumble-with-oat-walnut-topping

Option 2: Caramelized Banana Pudding

One of my all-time favorite desserts is banana pudding, this looks like a delicious twist to an old favorite!

Original Recipe:

caramelized-banana-pudding

Option 3: Slow Cooked Winter Bread Pudding with Dried Pears

 I LOVE bread pudding with the pear addition sounds like a fantastic combination!

Original Recipe:

slow-cooked-winter-bread-pudding-with-dried-pears

Option 4: Rice Pudding with Cherries

 Rice Pudding AND Cherries, and there is also WHITE chocolate, I am salivating just thinking about it!

Original Recipe:

Rice-pudding-with-cherries

Now you have seen the 4 main dishes and the 4 dessert choices.  Please vote by selecting a Letter and Number so that I can go shopping and get everything.  Voting will close in 1 Week and then I will cook the selected dish and dessert and post my version of the recipes along with step by step instruction with photos of what I did.  Thank you very much for your support, I can't wait to see what you have selected for me to make! 

Raspberry Glazed Pork

Here is the deliciousness of the meal that we had tonight :)  Enjoy

Raspberry Glazed Pork
 
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Butter
4-5 Pork Loin Chops
Seasoning (Tarragon, Alpine Touch, Mediterranean Oregano, Dash of Cinnamon)

Glaze Ingredients :
2-3 Tbsp Butter
1/4 Cup Red Raspberry Preserves
3 Tbsp Sugar
Fresh Raspberries (Can use frozen berries once thawed)

Directions:
Add the 2 Tbsp butter to the pan and melt.  Season the pork loins and add to the melted butter in the pan.  Cook on medium-high heat until thoroughly browned on both sides (about 15 minutes).  Turn the heat to low-Simmer and score the meat (cut against the grain to allow the glaze to seep into top section of the meat for added flavor).  Prepare the glaze by melting the butter in the microwave (about 20-35 seconds).  Add the raspberry preserves and sugar and return to microwave for another 20 seconds.  Thoroughly mix together and spoon over the pork in the pan.  Cook until glaze is warm and soaking into the pork.  Remove from heat and serve with the glaze and adding the fresh raspberries on top. 
 

Add the seasoned pork to the melted butter in the pan

Brown the pork thoroughly on both sides

Melt the butter in the microwave

Mix the glaze ingredients together

Add the glaze tot he pork and warm

Serve with the fresh raspberries on top and enjoy