Sometimes when I sit down to make a menu for the week I am struck with a desire to walk away. At times, I have no idea what I want to make. I just can't wrap my head around it. Then I pull out the list.
See, I have so many food magazines that sometimes I don't feel like looking through them and trying to decide which recipe I'm going to include in the week's plan. So as I look through a new magazine and something catches my eye, I will write down the title, magazine issue, and page number on a piece of paper. For these times of inspiration loss, I will whip out this list and ask The Hubble to just pick something.
And that is the story of how we ate a meal that included Autumn vegetables during summer.
Thankfully we live in a country that has fruits and vegetables of all seasons at any time of the year. And though this dish includes "Autumn vegetables" it was still light and delicious enough to enjoy during the summer.
Intrigued? Well let's get going...
Ingredients: boneless pork tenderloin, dijon mustard, kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, olive oil, low sodium chicken broth, white wine, carrots, fresh sage, and...rutabaga.
Let me digress for a moment and talk about the rutabaga. I had heard of rutabaga before but never eaten or worked with one. I had it on the grocery list and this is about how the conversation went with The Hubble when we were shopping:
Me: "I just need to get a rutabaga and I'm done."
The Hubble: "Rutabaga?? What the Hell is a rutabaga??"
Me: "I don't know, but I guess we're about to find out."
The Hubble: ::shrugs shoulders and walks away::
Thanks for listening. Back to the show!
It's time to cut the onion. Chop off the top.
Peel off all the skin...
Cut it in half from top to root.
Then cut each half in half keeping root in tact. Now you have successfully quartered your onion. Yay! Go you!
But we aren't done yet. Cut all those little guys in half until you have 8 onion sections.
Then set them aside.
With a peeler, peel the rutabaga...
And I just chopped off the flat part of the vegetable.
Okay. Now we need to have another talk. A rutabaga is like a sweeter type of potato. It's actually a mix between a turnip and a potato. And the thing is tough! It's hard to cut through. And I needed to dice it.
So what do I do?? I call in reinforcements. I mean, one of The Hubble's favorite things to say is "there isn't a problem in the world that brute force won't fix." So naturally, I figured he and his brute force could cut right through this rutabaga...
Sadly, my poor little cutting board didn't agree. And this is why The Hubble is now banished from my kitchen and my poor favorite cutting board will never be shown again.
But dinner must go on and we can't fall apart over one broken cutting board. Let's all grieve and move on together.
At this point you have everything chopped and ready so we'll start cooking. Heat some oil in a pan and add the onion.
Saute until nice and golden brown around the edges, about 6 minutes.
Then remove them from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, heat more oil and add the rutabaga and carrots. Stir occasionally.
While those are cooking let's prepare the pork loin. Put it on top of a greased roasting rack inside a roasting pan.
Chop up your fresh sage on a slightly inferior but no less useful cutting board. Try not to cry...
Sprinkle the sage on the pork loin.
Then sprinkle the pork loin with salt...
And fresh cracked pepper.
At this point the veggies should be done. They should be a nice golden color, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Add the onion back in to warm them up and mix them in with the rutabaga and carrot.
Then pour the veggies into the bottom of the roasting pan under and around the pork loin.
Salt and pepper the veggies as well.
And cook until done!
At this point, add the wine, broth and mustard in the same pan as was used for the veggies.
And cook until all the mustard is dissolved and mixed in and it comes to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer 4 minutes, stirring frequently.
Slice the pork loin...
Serve with lots of veggies and mustard wine sauce and enjoy!!
Roasted Pork Loin with Autumn Vegetables and Mustard Wine Sauce
Adapted from Cooking Light
Ingredients:
- 2 small onions
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil, divided
- 4 cups (1-inch) cubed and peeled rutabaga (about 2 rutabagas)
- 16 baby carrots (about 3/4 pound)
- 1 (2 1/4 pound) boneless pork tender loin roast
- 2 Tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 3/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, divided
- 3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Peel onion and cut into 8 wedges, leaving root intact.
- Peel and cube rutabaga.
- Heat 1 1/2 teaspoon oil in large skillet. Add onion and saute, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pan
- Add remaining oil, rutabaga and carrots to the pan. Saute, stirring frequently, 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Place pork on greased rack in a shallow roasting pan. Sprinkle with fresh sage, 1/2 teaspoonsalt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Spread vegetables around pork and sprinkle with the remaining salt and pepper.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for 50 minutes or until thermometer registers 160 degrees F.
- Heat wine, broth and mustard in same skillet vegetables were cooked in until mustard dissolves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Serve pork with vegetables and generous amounts of sauce. Enjoy!
