Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Peaches and Rosemary: One sauce for main dish and dessert

Peaches! Big, juicy ripe peaches! When I got these in our box from SLO Veg, I knew we had to try something new and special and different. One of their recipe suggestions was for pork and peaches, and we just happened to pick up a huge pork loin during our big freezer stock-up grocery shopping trip over the weekend. Lee cut a whole pork loin into two 3-lb roasts and then cut the rest into steak cutlets, perfect for this recipe. I pan-seared the pork cutlets after seasoning them with coarse salt and pepper. The sauce was spooned on top along with a few peach slices. The pork was paired with a small baked sweet potato, green beans sauteed in butter and garlic and topped with almond slices, and a zucchini-squash-tomato-onion casserole seasoned with tarragon and topped with parmesan cheese. It was a plethora of vegetables, for sure! Tonight's whole dinner was built around vegetables, but the peaches were the star. We topped the pork cutlets with peaches and sauce, then used the rest of it on top of ice cream for dessert. The sweet sauce accented with rosemary was so delicious over vanilla ice cream!

Peach-topped pork cutlets, sweet potatoes, green beans and a layered parmesan vegetable casserole

Recipe from SLO Veg:

Rosemary-Mustard Pork Tenderloin with Peaches (Peaches) 

Ingredients:
2 1-pound pork tenderloins, trimmed 
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper 
Vegetable oil, for the grill 
3 firm-ripe peaches, halved, pitted and cut into wedges 
1/2 cup dry white wine 
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar 
1 lemon 
2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard 
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus 1 or 2 small sprigs 
 
Directions: Preheat a grill to high. Pat the pork dry and season with salt and pepper. Lightly oil the grill, then grill the pork, turning, until marked, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the peaches, wine, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. Remove strips of zest from the lemon with a vegetable peeler and add to the pan; squeeze in the lemon juice. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until the peaches are just tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Add the mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to the juices in the pan. Transfer 1/3 cup of the liquid to a small bowl and stir in the chopped rosemary; brush onto the pork and continue grilling until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 145 degrees F, 10 to 15 more minutes. Transfer to a cutting board. Meanwhile, simmer the remaining liquid in the saucepan until syrupy, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and season with salt. Return the peaches to the pan along with the rosemary sprigs. Slice the pork and serve with the peaches.

The peach sauce worked wonderfully as a dessert topping on vanilla ice cream.

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