Dutch Oven - Bacon Wrapped Citrus-Apple Pork Tenderloin

 

A few weeks ago, Mark Hansen of Mark's Black Pot put forth another cast iron challenge. It called for apples, oranges, mint and meat. I was okay with everything but the mint-- how would it taste with mint in the other ingredients. It always seems when we do these challenges that there is one ingredient that seems hard to implement. I suppose that's a good thing, since it helps us push the envelope just a little further along the comfort zone spectrum. This meal took me 3 hours, used the most dishes in prep I've ever cooked before, and I know I say this a lot, but I learned the most cooking this meal. I was busy cooking the whole time, but never once let everything that needed to be done stress me out. It was literally cooking zen at its finest. It also helps that this meal was the best tasting I've ever had. The smoky flavor of the bacon combined well with the sweetness of the apples and the tart of the oranges. Then the zing of the mint kicked in and joined the party. The tenderloin cooked to perfection and there was only one hitch- I didn't tie the bacon down with chef's twine as I didn't have any, so it kinda exploded in the middle when the meat started to plump. I was able to cut a single slice with a perfect bacon wrap for a photo, so I'll definitely tie the meat next time. This was so good, even the leftovers were good!


Recipe:
12" Dutch oven
450 Degrees
Baking
15 minutes prep time
45 minutes cook time
4 -6 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin pack
• 1 pound thick sliced smoked bacon
• 1 apple, cored and sliced
• 1 orange, sliced
• 2-3 sprigs fresh mint
• 1 dash garlic powder
• 1 dash celery salt
• 1 dash ground black pepper
• 1 dash paprika
• chef's cotton twine*

Wrap the entire tenderloin in bacon and press firmly. Secure with twine.

Season tenderloin in garlic powder, celery salt, black pepper and paprika. Place mint, orange and apple in between the two tenderloins and reform into shape with your hands. Lay bacon down on a piece of aluminum foil in rows and transfer the tenderloin to the bacon in the center, rolling bacon up onto tenderloin and forming tightly with your hands. Tie with chef's cotton twine to secure. Rub bacon with black pepper. Preheat 12" dutch oven and lightly oil. Transfer tenderloin to dutch oven and bake for 45 minutes at 450, until internal temperature reaches 150.

Glaze:
1/2 cup apple cider
1 orange, cubed
1 apple, cored and sliced
2 sprigs fresh mint
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs corn starch
1/2 cup cold water

Boil apples, oranges and mint in apple cider until juice is rendered from the fruit. Strain reserving the juices, press with a potato masher. Add sugar and dissolve until boiling. Mix corn starch and cold water and slowly stir into boiling sauce until glaze consistency is reached. Chill before serving.

5 Stars
Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

*I did not use the chef's twine to tie the tenderloin, and it expanded, bursting out its bacon overcoat. It still tasted good, though.

Stove - Asiago Alfredo

Served with battered tilapia, topped with bruchetta and a garden salad.

Alfredo sauce is a staple in Italy, and this simple sauce does well in a fine dining arena as well as weeknight table fare. Using asiago as the cheese gives a fresh new kick to this dish. When adding cheese to a sauce, make sure the sauce is at a full boil, and then add small amounts at a time while stirring it in. E Buonissimo!

Recipe:

Stove
Medium Heat
30 minutes
6-8 Servings

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1/2 cup asiago cheese, shredded
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 flat sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 onion
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
  
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 package farfalle pasta
  

Create a blonde roux by melting the butter and mixing in the flour. Cook until just yellow. Remove from pan and chill. Saute onion and mushrooms in olive oil and garlic until the onions are tender and the mushrooms are soft. Add the cream, stirring until boiling. When boiling, add asiago cheese, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Stir in a little bit of the roux at a time until desired thickness is reached. If too thick, sauce can be thinned with milk or cream. Stir occasionally until thickened. Serve over pasta cooked al dente.

5 Stars

Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Instructable - Dutch Oven Thai Curry Noodles

Earlier this week, I asked Mrs. Gourmet what she wanted for dinner this weekend. Without hesitation, she shouted out "Thai Noodles!" So I did a flashback. I basically remade the Thai Curry Noodles with Chicken recipe that I did last June. Instead of reposting here, or just sending you back there, I decided to do an Instructable again. Instructables is a website that promotes the DIY ethic by making it easy to share your Do It Yourself projects to the web. They have a large food section, but a very small Dutch oven section. So I decided to expand it. I don't think I will do it all the time, but definitely do a few more signature dishes there. (It gets annoying taking pictures of EVERY. SINGLE. STEP.)

You can find the Instructable here.

P.S. It was 5 Stars again.

Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Bacon Wrapped Trout

This is an old recipe, but a good one. We caught these beautiful trout last summer and I saw this photo while I was cleaning up my drive. We drove to the Granddaddy Lakes trailhead early in the morning, hiked our float tubes in, fished for 6 hours and hiked out. My Dad skunked us all with about 27, and I got a shameful 19. I kept these three. Since we fly fished, it was easy to catch and release. Every fisherman needs to do his part to conserve our resources.

Recipe:

10"-12" Dutch oven
350 degrees
Baking
30-40 minutes

Trout, cleaned and beheaded
Bacon
Lemon, cut into wedges
Green onions
Pepper

Clean and behead trout. Shake pepper on the inside of the body cavity and stuff with lemon wedges. Wrap fish in bacon and lay in 10"-12" Dutch oven. Lay green onions whole in oven for flavor. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until fish is tender. Discard bacon, unless you like fishy bacon. Serve with fresh lemon wedges.

5 Stars

Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Herb Stuffed Potatoes

Let's defy convention. Throw normalcy out the window. Shatter our paradigms. You with me still? Ok, so besides the loaded baked potato, does anyone think of the potato as a main dish? Likely not. That's why the phrases "steak and potatoes" and "meat and potatoes" made it into our lexicons. Well, this isn't small potatoes! (Sorry, couldn't help myself!) I decided to make a dish with no big hunk o' meat, and used potatoes as the main dish. In fact, we didn't have any side dishes.

I was trying to figure out how to spruce up a potato, and I thought it would be cool to stuff one with herbs, but I didn't know exactly how to do that to a raw potato. This is what I came up with: cut a cross deep into each potato, gently prying open the cut and stuff with herbs. Worked okay, but next time, I'd cut them in half, take out some flesh with a melon baller, and stuff them, then close them back with toothpicks or aluminum foil.

Recipe:
12" Dutch oven
Baking
350 degrees
45 minutes

Potatoes
Chives
Parsley
Dill
Olive oil
Cream of chicken soup
Cream of mushroom soup
Season salt
Pepper

Stuff potatoes with herbs as detailed above. Coat with olive oil. Sprinkle season salt and pepper on top. Add cream of mushroom and chicken soups. Bake for 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Serve with butter and sour cream.

4 Stars

Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Minestrone Soup

I've been in a bit of a cast iron funk lately. I don't know, maybe it's the fact that I keep cooking the same thing, or that I am doing this every weekend and I need a break. Either way, I decided to cook something different. I've been doing a lot of Asian lately, and I decided to to an Italian soup. I like Minestrone, and I don't really like stewed tomatoes. There is a little cafe near my office that has the best Italian. If you ever get the chance to eat at the CineGrill, make sure you do. The atmosphere is, well, think Italian romantic comedy. The food is awesome. You can' t go wrong. Try everything. And get the 'splash plate'. That's 1/2 the salad (still a lot) and soup. So here is where I drive this segway home... try the Minestrone. It's awesome.

Last night we had Eric & Heather over for dinner, it was a long overdue engagement. They were going through Johnson withdrawals, so we finally were able to get "you, your friends and your Johnson" together. (Inside joke, but Link)

If you leave out the meat and beef stock (totally acceptable) the dish is vegetarian.


Recipe:

12" Dutch oven
350 degrees
Roasting
60 minutes

sausage
garlic, chopped
2 cans stewed tomatoes, diced
2 cans red or kidney beans
1 cup macaroni
parsley, fresh chopped
chives, chopped
mushrooms
bell pepper, diced
green onion, sliced
carrot, sliced
onion, diced
celery, chopped
beef stock/bullion
water

Brown sausage, onions and garlic. Add tomatoes, beans, spices, and vegetables. Add water, beef stock and macaroni. Consistency should be a wet soup. (As opposed to a dry stew.) Simmer until macaroni is tender. Serve with salad and Parmesan cheese.

4 Stars

Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Video - Kung Pao Chicken

We were able to cook up the Kung Pao that Pat sent in. This was super easy, and really quick - probably only 30 minutes cook time. Great for a weeknight. We've decided the best way to rate hot food is how many pitchers of koolaid we go through before we are finished. Our small family of four downed a full pitcher, so this was a bit spicy. Tasted awesome! I can't wait to dive into the leftovers! Even our baby ate all of it and wanted more, so great job Pat!

I subbed chicken for the beef, and I goofed up in the video, but oh well. I'll probably get rude Youtube comments from some pimpled 13 year olds, but everyone needs a creative outlet, mine just happens to be cooking, not making fun of people on Youtube.

At any rate, thanks for reading, and enjoy cooking!


5 Stars

Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Chili Dogs

This turned out to be one of those "It would have been good if..." meals. I am getting more confident at cooking beans. Well, I mean taking those rock hard, dirt cheap little thingies, soaking them, sorting them, and cooking them into really good soups and chilies. Or so I thought... We made this camping, and I soaked the beans in our fairshare mug, and I think I crammed too many in there, because they didn't soften very well. We were just too darn hungry, and we thought a storm was gathering, so we ate it anyway. (No storm all weekend!)

Recipe:
12" Dutch oven
350 degrees
Roasting

2 cups beans
1 packet seasoning
ground beef
onion
tomato sauce
and because you only brought one can of tomato sauce, ketchup
hot dogs

Soak beans overnight. Braise ground beef and saute onion in seasoning. Add beans and tomato substances. When ready to eat, add hot dogs and cook for 10 minutes.

2 Stars
Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Thai Curried Noodles with Chicken

Holy cow. This was AWESOME! I haven't had food this good since this. Though, I didn't have heightened senses or see any of my dead relatives, it was cooking zen at its best. My family and I spent the last 4 days camping in the beautiful Wasatch mountains near my home. So, I have been cooking in the Dutch ovens for about 3 days solid. It has been really fun, but it reminds me how much work cooking like this is, especially when I don't have a kitchen attached to my cooking area.


Recipe:
12" dutch oven
350-400 degrees
Roasting
30 minutes

Chicken
Red bell pepper
Green bell pepper
Onion
Green onion
Mushrooms
Rice noodles
Coconut milk
Thai Spices:
-Curry
-Ginger
-Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Bean sprouts

Saute chicken until fully cooked. Mix in thai spices. Soak rice noodles according to package directions. Add coconut milk and stir briskly. Add noodles and vegetables and simmer until noodles are tender. Serve with bean sprouts if desired.


5 Stars
Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Chicken Stir Fry

I made this for Father's day, and unfortunately, I had to run off to do a quick errand, and it burned. It would have been very tasty though. The pea pods came from our garden, and it was sad to see them burn.

12" Dutch Oven
350 Degrees
Roasting
30 Minutes

Rice noodles
Chicken, sliced thin
Pea pods
Carrots, sliced thin
Bell pepper
Radishes
Rice vinegar
Fish sauce
Soy Sauce
Curry
Ginger powder
Garlic
Onion
Cilantro

Saute chicken with spices and liquids in garlic Add vegetables. Soak rice noodles according to package directions. Add to pot, stirring and adding more liquids and seasoning to taste. Simmer 15-20 minutes until tender.


2 Stars
Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Meatloaf

I had heard about the Dinwiddie Ring method from reading Toni's blog. (She is awesome, go check her site out!) I thought I would try it, maybe it could bring some method to my madness. However, it tanked bad. I had underestimated the amount of coals that I needed, and so it took a LONG time to cook. Below is the original recipe straight from our family cookbook. Follow this and you won't go wrong, we've done it many times, in conventional and Dutch ovens. It's really tasty and easy to make. Throw some potato chunks around the edge and you've got a complete meal.


12" Dutch oven
350 degrees
1 hour 30 minutes
Baking

2/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 lbs beef
2 eggs
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sage

Sauce:
3 tbs brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix ingredients for meatloaf together and press in greased Dutch oven. Mix sauce and put on top. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes until cooked completely through.

5 Stars
Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Pepperoni Calzone

The Back Porch Gourmet has had a secret admirer for some time. Our back neighbors have long been readers and finally contacted me about the blog. We put them on our guest list and we had them over for dinner tonight. Calzones have always been a favorite of mine, and I wanted to try some in a Dutch oven. This is a pretty easy dish that would be good camping too. Despite a small charcoal scare (they wouldn't all light at first-- don't overfill a chimney, the ones on top will only light) we had no other problems cooking.


450 Degrees
12" Dutch oven
Baking
45 minutes

2 cans 'pop' refrigerated pizza dough
tomato sauce
garlic, chopped
bread crumbs
pepperoni
mozzarella cheese
ham, diced
olives, sliced
mushrooms, chopped
butter, melted

Grease 12" Dutch oven with oil. Roll pizza dough flat. Dust with bread crumbs and press into dough on both sides. Spread tomato sauce and garlic on dough with 1 inch border on all sides. Add pepperoni, cheese, ham, olives, and mushrooms to one side of calzone. Fold over and press edges. Repeat above steps until you have 2 calzones for each 12" Dutch oven. Top with light layer of cheese. Place calzones in Dutch ovens and bake for 45 minutes until crust is golden brown.

3 Stars
Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Grill Basket - Mozzarella Wings

If the chicken wing and the mozzarella stick had a baby, this is what the little mutant would be like. Think chicken wing, but battered in bread crumbs and topped with sizzling mozzarella. Tasty.


Recipe:

Chicken wings
Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Mozzarella shreds

Light a cooking fire, and thaw wings if necessary. Shake wings in plastic bag coating with bread crumbs. Load into grill basket and roast 10 minutes to a side. Top one side with mozzarella shred and roast 5 minutes more. Serve with marinara sauce if desired.

The first salad of the season! Fresh radishes, spring onions and greens from our garden

3 Stars

Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Stove - 4 Can Chili

It can't get any easier than this. If you don't know how to open a can, you can't cook this. This chili recipe only requires 4 ingredients, but I added a fifth for a little kick.

1 can ground beef
1 can enchilada sauce
2 cans beans, various
Optional:
1 pouch chili season
1-2 cans vienna sausages or hot dogs

Open all packages. Dump all ingredients into a medium sauce pan. Warm over medium heat until chili is warm. Eat. Enjoy.


4 Stars

Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Grill - Mesquite Sweet Chicken

For those local to Utah, there is a Chinese restaurant in SLC on Redwood Road called Golden Seas. It is your typical Chinese restaurant, enveloped thick in incense fumes, Koi fish tanks and Chinese decor. However, it is a good kept secret. They have a chicken there called "Paper Wrapped Chicken" which is basically a foil wrapped barbecue chicken tender dripping in barbecue goodness. (I also recommend their ham fried rice and egg drop soup!) What is your favorite Chinese restaurant? Sound off in the comments!

This Mesquite Sweet Chicken is VERY close to Golden Seas' paper wrapped chicken. It actually brought me back to my childhood, eating at Golden Seas or getting take-out. It was a nice memory. I find it interesting that of all the senses, smell and taste seem to bring back the most memories. Think of that warm bread cooking in Mom's kitchen growing up? You can still smell it, right? I love that our brains connect the senses together so interactively that we are able to experience these memories again and again.


Recipe:

Charcoal Grill
Mesquite wood chips

Chicken
Weber Grill Creations Sweet n' Tangy BBQ Seasoning

Soak 2 handfuls of wood chips for 30 minutes and light charcoal. I find it best to build a charcoal pyramid in the grill instead of a chimney. The heat lasts longer that way. Spread the hot coals and add drained wood chips. I didn't actually soak my chips and they worked okay, because we only did 3 chicken breasts. Grill chicken adding season to both sides. Turn as few times as possible, thus sealing in the juices. Grill 15-20 minutes. Serve with baked potato and salad.



5 Stars

Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Southwest Chicken Alfredo

Oil
Garlic
Chicken breasts, cubed
Fajita seasoning
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Tomato Sauce
Cheddar Cheese Sauce
Egg noodles
Water

Saute garlic and chicken in oil, mixing in some of the fajita season, salt, pepper and paprika. Add tomato sauce, cheese, noodles and enough water to cook noodles. You will want to look at the package directions, and then estimate how much liquid is already in the pot. Bake until noodles are al dente. Serve with sour cream.


4 Stars
Bon Appetit! The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Stick Cooking - Bacon Bratwurst

We had my wife's parents over for dinner tonight. We decided to cook over the camp fire, since it has become my favorite cooking method since I built my fire pit. The best way to cook anything, is to cook it with BACON! Bacon makes everything better. Even bacon. If I had no regard for my health, I would make bacon spaghetti, bacon lasagna, bacon pancakes, bacon crusted bacon. In fact, I used to buy 3 sides of bacon and 2 sides of sausage at the commissary for breakfast every morning for a month! Thats 9 pieces of bacon and 2 sausage patties! My blood pressure skyrocketed, and I got pretty sick of bacon, so I cut back. This is a great way to dress up a bratwurst, sausage or plain old hot dog.

Recipe:
Stick Cooking
Hot Fire
10 Minutes

Bratwurst
Bacon
Toothpicks

Hot dog bun or deli roll
Sauerkraut
Mustard

Wrap bratwurst in bacon and secure with toothpicks. Put on hot dog stick and roast until bacon is cooked. Serve in a bun with mustard and sauerkraut.

5 Stars

Bon Appetit!
The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Southwest Buffalo Wings

I love Buffalo wings. I love mixing local flavors, so the Southwest Buffalo wings were born. These are super easy, and they taste great. We made these for dinner on Sunday in our new fire pit. I burned some pallets to try to use wood coals instead of charcoal, and pine burns fast, hot, and then goes immediately cold into a mess of soot. Don't use softwood when trying to cook on the coals. I luckily had some charcoal and got them lit and heated up the food until they were done. We also put some potatoes whole into the dish, just make sure to poke holes in them with a fork so they don't explode. (If you don't believe they will, I challenge you to put one in your microwave for ten minutes.)


Recipe:

12" Dutch Oven
Broasting
400 degrees

Chicken wings
Southwest marinade mix
Hot sauce

Mix chicken and marinade mix in oiled dutch oven. Bake for 60 minutes until tender. Toss in hot sauce for the Buffalo flavor. Serve with celery sticks and Bleu cheese.

5 Stars

Bon Appetit!
The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Cinnamon Glazed Roast

Mark over at Mark's Black Pot challenged me to a second Dutch Oven Duel. My best friend Eric and his wife Heather were long over due for a visit, and Eric had just had a birthday, so he needed to pick up his present- a new soldering iron, so he can nerd it up. We had them over and cooked a full three course meal. It was delicious!



The challenge ingredients were:

Beef
Scallions, Green Onions or Leeks
Cinnamon

I was really wary about cooking this. After all, beef and cinnamon? Come on, how could I possibly put those together? Mark did a great combo with ground beef and cinnamon served over potatoes and artisan bread. How could I get good results? I actually had a self-actualizing moment complete with adrenaline rush and heightened senses. It was really cooking zen at its best. You could call it "Cooking on Ten". It's a feeling I can't describe easily. I can't wait to do it again!

Recipe:
12" Standard Dutch oven
350 Degrees
60-90 minutes

1 Beef Roast
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Mesquite Barbecue Spice Rub
Barbecue Sauce
Leeks
Green onions.

I started by picking some green onions growing in my garden, and diced them small. I cut slits in the roast and stuffed onions inside. I rubbed the roast with all spices above and seared all sides. Chop the leeks and add them to the dutch oven. Bake for 60-90 minutes until desired cooking temperature is reached. Mine was mostly well done, with just a little bit of rareness. It was so tender.

Part II will share the potatoes and Part III will talk about dessert. Stay tuned!



5 Stars

Bon Appetit!
The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!

Dutch Oven - Fried Cannelloni and Sausage Balls

This one was a half bust, half 5 star meal. The cannelloni burned into one mass of pasta, and the sausage balls were the best meatballs I've ever had. So you will know the rating at the end throws out the cannelloni, but the post is double tagged on the rating.

We had my in-laws over Sunday as well to finish the rube goldberg machine. We also cooked baked spaghetti since the cannelloni only was 14 pieces of pasta. The idea was, that I would stuff the precooked pasta and drizzle a basil parsley pesto over it. Well, pesto is 90 percent oil, so it turned the whole thing to a deep fryer, burning the bottom of the pasta together in one mass. Surprisingly, it did not burn to the bottom of the pan. The pasta was so crunchy it was like chewing glass bottles. However, the meatballs were so tasty, I wished I had done a whole pot of them. If you cook the cannelloni, make sure you don't let it burn, and I would in the future cook it in a cream sauce like Alfredo.

Recipe:
375 degrees
Baking
12" Dutch oven

1 box cannelloni
1 pound sausage, original
1/2 pound sausage, spicy
1/2 cup swiss cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Pesto:
1/4 cup oil
basil
parsley
sage
thyme

Meatballs:
Sausage, remaining from above
Pesto spices
bread crumbs

Mix sausage with both kinds of meat, all the spices, and cheese. Divide into two parts. Precook cannelloni in water with salt. Cool pasta and stuff with meat mixture. Layer in the greased 12" dutch oven. Form meatballs with remaining meat and coat in bread crumbs. Add meatballs to dutch oven and drizzle with pesto. Bake for 15-20 minutes until meat is fully cooked. Serve with garden salad.



5 Stars

Bon Appetit!
The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!