July 18, 2013 Roadshow Volunteer Orientation and Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Vichyssoise

July 18, 2013 Roadshow Volunteer Orientation and Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Vichyssoise

We drove to the Convention Center for our Roadshow Volunteer orientation at 3:45 for an Antiques Roadshow Volunteers Orientation from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., where we were served coffee and industrial bakery baked goods: lemon bars, brownies and chocolate chip cookies.  There were 200 volunteers and we were given the opportunity to select our job. We chose to be Triage runners, which meant we would escort attendees and their valuables to the appropriate line for their appraisal.   That sounds easy but there were 27 of us chosen and there are 5000 to 6000 attendees expected with 2 items each, so there will be lots of moving people with items into the appropriate line during a 10 hour period. 

Our group of triage volunteered met our group leader, Kim, and we went on a tour of the Roadshow set and triage areas during which we walked past the area where the crew was filming an interview of the Keno brothers for the show.  We asked Kim if we could take photos of the set and she said, "Sure." so I took a photo of the set with the Keno brothers interview in the distance.

  

When we returned home we decided to cook one of the pork tenderloins we had bought at Costco.  The pork tenderloins come four to a package with two sides in which there are two tenderloins in each side ($3.99/lb.).  We have a favorite recipe for preparing pork tenderloin from José Andrés’ Tapas a taste of Spain in America called “Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apples” at page 236.

Here is the recipe:

I went to the fridge in the garage and fetched the Vichyssoise we made yesterday.

We wanted a green with the dinner and we had none except what was available in our garden, which was chard and the purslane that is starting to grow vigorously around our house and in our driveway due to the abundant rains lately, so there is lots of purslane growing in the normally unwatered areas around our house and in our gravel and sand driveway anywhere there is no car parked.  As Suzette says, “Purslane seems to like well drained sandy soil”.  

I went to the garden and picked a handful of chard leaves and five stalks of oregano while Suzette picked a handful of purslane growing by the kitchen door and we both de-stemmed and cleaned our respective greens.  

I then sliced one of the Granny Smith apples, that we had bought on Sunday at Pro’s Ranch Market in anticipation of making this dish, into 9 or 10 slices and sliced a yellow onion of about the same size into about the same number of slices and peeled and sliced a small bulb of garlic into slices and stripped sprigs of oregano from the stalks and we were ready to cook.

“Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apples” Recipe:

Suzette trimmed off the ends of the pork tender and cut it into three large chunks.  Then she melted 1 Tbsp. of butter in a large fire proof copper skillet we use for this dish and added 2 Tbsps. of Kirtland extra virgin olive oil (Costco) and heated them in the skillet and then added the apple slices and cooked them until soft and then added the onion slices the oregano sprigs and cooked all of that until softened.

 

Then Suzette seasoned the pork tender chunks with salt and pepper and then placing the pork on top of the onions and apples in the skillet and glazed the pork with some of the cooking medium.

She then placed the whole skillet into a pre-heated 250˚ oven for 20 to 25 minutes and then took it out and placed it back on the burners on the top of the stove and added 2 Tbsps. of cognac and cooked that for a minute and then added ½ cup of chicken stock and cooked that for a couple of minutes until the liquids thickened into a light sauce.

She then added the greens to the skillet and coated them in sauce and cooked them into the dish for a minute or two, until they softened also and the dish was finished.  I then sliced the three pork chunks into ¾ inch thick slices.

      

While the tenderloins were roasting in the oven Suzette went to the basement and fetched a bottle of 2013 Eguren Tempranillo Rosé (Total Wine $6.49), so we could have a totally Spanish meal.

 

Suzette then ladled Vichyssoise into soup bowls and I went to the garden and plucked 8 stalks of chives and sliced them into small rounds and garnished the soup with a tablespoon of chives and we were ready to eat.

We plated up the pork and our bowls of soup and took them with our glasses of wine to which we had added ice cubes to keep cool to the gazebo in the garden and enjoyed a lovely fresh meal.

After dinner and an extra glass of wine l prepared us bowls of European yogurt (Trader Joe’s $3.19) garnished with poached figs in port compote for a lovely light finish to pretty heavy dinner.

We remembered eating at Le Francais restaurant in Bourg-en-Bresse, which is where the Tour de France started two days ago, and where they brought a wooden bucket of yogurt to the table as Suzette’s dessert of white cheese fourteen years ago on our last trip with Mother to France.  They also brought us the largest bowl of chocolate mousse I have ever been served for Billy and my dessert.

Alas, so many great food memories.

Bon Appétit