Today is the very first post for the Pass the Cook Book Club! An idea I had to dust off my ever growing collections of unloved unused cookbooks and challenge myself to test some more recipes. Convinced I was not the only one in this boat, I launched the Pass the Cook Book Club and am really excited to see that there are other people out there that want to test out some new recipes!
Three recipes are chosen from a selected book and the club members can pick the recipe they want to try and we all post on the same day.
Do you need a blog? No. Do you have to participate every month? Nope. Are there tons of rules? No, mainly because I’m a giant slacker. Pretty much, if you want to test the recipe, test them. If not, don’t. I enjoy trying new things, and I’m guessing if you join, you probably do too. I do think you should link back to the book whether it be on Amazon or you’re favorite retailer so that people who are interested by our enthusiasm towards the book can get their hands on one. And I would love some cross promotion of the bloggers involved to help spread the word on the new club!
As for the recipe and book: I dusted off the Pioneer Woman Cooks for our debut book and the Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Au Gratin Potatoes, and the Pots de Creme for our recipe tested to choose from.
The Pioneer Woman is a well established food blogger – a book with her name slapped across the top is pretty much guaranteed to be packed with family friendly recipes, however after my initial flip through, the book went on the shelf to grow moss. When I started this club, I picked this one back up and flipped through some of my tabbed pages and really wanted to test them out. Maybe it just took the 6 month period to really light that fire for me.
Where this pork tenderloin recipe looked long and a little time consuming, it really is pretty basic when you break it down. I changed the roasted root vegetables to veggies I knew Handsome would munch on and had some trouble with the fried cornmeal cakes. So, I did what every red blooded ‘Merican would do and I grabbed a quick box of Jiffy to save the day. The pork was basic and tasty, and I am once again reminded I should treat us to pork tenderloin more often. The roasted veg was a hit – it always is. Do it. And the cornbread under it all was really the icing on the cake. Who doesn’t love cornbread?
Curious – want to join – don’t have a blog – It’s all good! Come and check things out!
Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin
from Pioneer Woman Cooks
Ingredients:
Roasted Veg:
- 1 head broccoli, cut into large bites
- 1 head cauliflower, cored and cut into large bites
- Olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
Cornmeal Cakes:
*see the note in the above text about these cakes
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 6 cups chicken broth
- salt
- olive oil
Pork:
- 2 pork tenderloins, 1 – 1 ½ lbs each
- salt and pepper
- ½ cup herbes de Provence
- 1 cup plum preserves
- 1 tbs vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar)
- 1 cup water
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 425. On a large baking sheet, toss the cauliflower and broccoli with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 25-35 minutes until golden brown. Set aside.
Meanwhile make the cornmeal cakes: Add the chicken broth to a pot with the chicken broth and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes, until cornmeal is done. Pour onto a large baking sheet with a rim. Spread evenly and allow to come to room temperature. (if you are going this route, might as well do this step at least an hour before starting everything else).
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When cornmeal is cool, cut into diagonals and fry in the oil until golden brown on both sides. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
Arrange the pork on an aluminium foil linked baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with herbes de Provence and roast in oven for 13-15 minutes or until cooked through. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile combine the preserves, vinegar and water in a small sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until warmed through.
Arrange pork over cornmeal cakes and drizzle with preserves. Serve with roasted vegetables.
Check out all the other great people participating in this months book club!
Great idea! I always have recipes I mean to make…and then forget them. Everyone loves cornbread!
That looks so good. I was toying around with the idea of making this. I decided on the potatoes. I bet they will go together really well. yum!
Thanks for creating this group! So much fun
Yours look awesome – I was going to do potatoes for my veg. But I love cauliflower and broccoli, so that might be what I have to do when I finally get around to trying this recipe!
Mmm I definitely need to try the pork now
I never would have thought to combine cornbread under that meal, but it sounds delicious! What a fun idea to pass the cookbook each month. I have a scary number of cookbooks that just don’t get used any more.
This dish looks fabulous! I was initially going to make this one, but I was worried the cornmeal cakes would give me some hassle… so I ended up making the pots de creme instead. (Plus it was an excuse to make something with chocolate, which is something I can never pass up.) Can’t wait for next month’s post!
PS: I am so jealous that Handsome will actually eat broccoli and cauliflower… The Boy won’t touch the stuff with a ten-foot pole, no matter what I do to it… which makes me sad, because roasted broccoli is actually pretty awesome, as far as I’m concerned. 🙁
Yours looks delish!! This is so fun..looks like you and I are the only ones that make pork? haha I think I need to make the potatoes next…
This was such a great idea. All three of the recipes look phenomenal. I am hoping to go back and make the potatoes and pork this month, but then again, we all know about good intentions. However, your version of the pork is pretty good motivation.
Our fearless leader! Your tenderloin looks amazing. I did the pots de creme, but will definitely be giving this a shot. Thanks for pulling this together.
Wow, that looks amazing. I love pork and I love roasted vegetables. Way amazing.
Kita your idea was genius! I like the cornbread cakes and your roast looks perfectly done but I think you need some of those Au Graitn potatoes with pork loin 🙂
I swear I live under a rock and had somehow missed that you guys were going to be doing this – I absolutely love the idea! Great recipes for this first month too, I’m starving after seeing your pork and the potatoes on a few other blogs this morning 🙂
although i dont collect cookbooks, I enjoy cooking and trying different recipes 🙂 thank you so much Kita for this concept and how we can choose 1 out of 3 recipe. since i dont eat pork, I am eying those roasted veggies, perfect for any meal.
I love love love her cookbook. Seriously. My mom and I got it for Christmas and we have been thumbing through it since. Her style of cooking is great
This was SO fun. I’m holding you to making me use my cookbooks now. But I’m afraid I’ll just end up buying more!
The other day my sister called and said, “have you ever heard of The Pioneer Woman? She has a good food blog.”
Naturally, I told her she was the last person on the planet to discover PW, and hung up on her.
Looks delicious!
This looks delicious. Your pictures are absolutely beautiful!
They all look fabulous!
I would love to join this club! How do I go about doing so?