Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Amish Food Store

....is one of my favorite little shops. I had meetings in Charleston all morning yesterday and after lunch I shopped at TJ Max for flavored Olive Oil. Don I love to dip bread in the olive oil. We have this almost every evening, delicious with a glass of wine. I'm going to make my own when I get the correct recipe. I've been buying the basil flavored for years now and love it. I'm afraid mine won't be quite as good. And I would have to wait on it to age. I do make my own vanilla and it takes 6 months to age.

I bought all kinds of goodies at the Amish Food Store. I did not know they started selling wine....I picked up two bottles. Who would have thought the Amish would make wine. But their label is on the front. We'll try it and see if they can "make" wine. We have so many vineyards around our area, the wine is good, and I usually just go to the different vineyards for our wine stock (stash, like fabric). I also picked up wheat berries for apple salad, toasted large coconut to add to my cereal in the morning, dehydrated mini marshmallows for the homemade hot chocolate, we love this at the lake on cool nights, pecan flour for pie crusts, almond flour for pie crusts, and other stuff that is not even pictured. I love the little gram pretzels we dip them in softened peanut butter or I make chocolate peanut butter for dipping.

I usually make my own pecan and almond flour with my food processor but when I saw it on the shelf, I thought I would save myself a mess to clean up. I also like the pecan flour in banana nut bread. I reduce the regular flour and add the pecan flour. I am addicted to the toasted coconut....I add a hand full to my bowl of cereal, it is especially good on Special-K. Why not add some calories to a healthy food, not to mention that coconut is very high in cholesterol. I haven't started my diet yet. The cherries looked too good to pass up, I have a chicken recipe that calls for black cherries and and red wine.

I fixed Cinnamon Pineapple Pork Tenderloin for dinner. The jalapenos just make this recipe pop.

Ingredients:
1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 8 crosswise pieces (or substitute 4 boneless pork loin steaks) 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
2 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks in natural juice, undrained
1 Tablespoon peeled, grated fresh ginger root
1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh jalapeno pepper
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation:
Pound each pork tenderloin medallion to 1-inch thickness. (If using pork loin steaks, pound to tenderize.) Sprinkle with salt, thyme, and sage. Place large heavy skillet over medium heat and wait until it gets very hot. Add half of the butter and sear each tenderloin until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Remove to a platter and keep warm. (If you do not have a large skillet, you may have to do this half at a time.)

In the same skillet over medium heat, melt remaining butter. Quickly cook red bell pepper just until it becomes limp, but not mushy, about 3 minutes. Carefully add wine to the bell peppers. Stir, scraping up any browned bits, until the wine begins to reduce and get syrupy. Add chicken broth, pineapple chunks with juice, ginger, jalapeno and cinnamon. Gently simmer, stirring often, until reduced to about 1/4 cup of sauce. Taste sauce, adding salt and pepper, if necessary.

Return seared pork tenderloins to the pan, turning to coat with the sauce, just until pork is heated through. Serve pork with the sauce on top and a sprinkling of chopped cilantro.

I fixed Baked Cheese Grits and stir fried Asparagus with the pork....delicious.

1 comment:

Cindy said...

Oh yes, Scott and I love to dip breads in oils as well. Savor the flavor...as they say.

But - HE is the wine guy, not me...