September 18, 2013 Lunch – Azuma Dinner- Sautéed Pork Tenderloin, Eggplant, Onion and Pimiento

September 18, 2013 Lunch – Azuma Dinner- Sautéed Pork Tenderloin, Eggplant, Onion and Pimiento I rode this morning and got tired so I needed some protein. I called Robert Mueller who was up for lunch, so we met at Azuma for Chirashi Donburi. It was my usual 2 salmon, 2 tuna, 2 octopus 2 ultra white and 4 yellowtail slices on sushi rice with a shrimp two slices of omelet and two slices of daikon pickle on a bed of sushi rice in a box. I loved it and, more importantly, was re-energized. I thawed out a package of two pork tenderloins (Costco) two days ago, with a view to roasting them and having PPI pork for sandwiches for Globalquerque this weekend. I went to meditate and stopped at Lowe’s on the way home an ought an eggplant ($1.88/lb.) and five lb. of yellow onions ($.24/lb.). When I got home Suzette was not in the mood to cook, but I encouraged her and finally she said yes to doing a pork sauté with a pimiento pepper we had bought at the Farmers’ Market two weeks ago that was getting a little soft, one of the onions and a few strips of eggplant. She said we did not have olive oil, because we did not have any Costco Kirkland brand, but I found an open bottle of the beautiful Sleman’s olive oil from Chile that Ed and Michele gave us last Christmas in the pantry. Sleman’s is my favorite olive oil. It is smooth and flavorful with a hint of floral essence. I sliced four pieces of pork from the thinner end cutting diagonally to make a slightly parallel sided medallion and leaving the larger thicker, rounded ends to be roasted. I then peeled the skin top off the upper stem end of the eggplant and sliced off a wedge of it to make fried potato style slices and sliced the pimiento into thin slices and made slices of onion from 2/3 of an onion and Suzette put the onion, peppers and eggplant into a large skillet with some olive oil and started sautéing them. She and I each then cut a Gala apple into 8 wedges and put them into a ceramic casserole with one chopped onion. I then went to the garden and picked a stalk of sage and three or four stalks of oregano. We were loosely following the roasted pork recipe in our Tapa cookbook but instead of slow roasting at 225˚, Suzette covered the ceramic pan with aluminum foil and roasted the pork at 350˚ because it was already 9:00 p.m. and we wanted to finish roasting it before we went to bed. I plucked the leaves from the age and oregano and chopped them up and ended up with about ¼ cup of herbs. I spread 1/8 cup of the herbs in each of the sauté pan and the ceramic casserole. I then went to the basement to fetch a bottle of La Granja red Rioja wine (50% Grenache and 50% Tempranillo) and opened it and poured two glasses and handed one to Suzette. After ten to fifteen minutes the vegetables had softened in the pan and Suzette added the pork medallions to the sauté pan and in about ten more minutes we had a lovely dinner. This simple meal of sautéed onions, eggplant, pimiento pepper and pork is a complete dish because each of the ingredients complemented the other ingredients and personified the best of Mediterranean Cuisine; good fresh ingredients that complement each other cooked simply in good olive oil. Heaven. I had bought a baguette at my new favorite bakery, Fano’s Bakery Outlet on McLoed, after lunch. I cut four slices from the baguette and toasted them and put them on the table and we were ready to eat as we watched Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report. After dinner I sliced several slices of Manchego cheese and ate them on the two remaining slices of baguette with a few sips of wine. Tonight’s meal was a great example of how simple food cooked simply can make a lovely meal. After about one hour Suzette removed the roasted pork from the oven and after letting it cool, we put it in the fridge and were ready to make sandwiches for Friday night. I made chocolate chip cookies last night. So I now have enough food for both nights of Globalquerque; pork sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies. Bon Appétit