Over the summer the hubby and I went to a cooking class hosted by The Coastal Cupboard and Westbrook Brewing Company. We were charmed by the in-house chef, Bryan Breland, and the husband-wife team behind Westbrook, but what is even more surprising to us is this pork tenderloin and seared cabbage recipe we made that has become a weeknight staple in our house, especially as the weather has grown cooler.
Make a simple marinade for the pork tenderloins using 1/2 cup applesauce, 2 tablespoons dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegarOur two big favorites from our Coastal Cupboard night are an easy blue cheese sauce and a seared rosemary cabbage side dish. I also like to use the leftover blue cheese sauce (their recipe makes a lot) for tossing with pasta, toasted walnuts and sage for an unbelievably sophisticated “mac and cheese.” The kids love it, and I feel like it’s a good departure from the typical, orange cheese kid version.
As for the pork tenderloin, Chef Breland just seared his meat that night on a high flame, but I’ve found that a simple glaze/marinade with a little hint of apple gives the pork some sweetness to accompany the sharpness of the blue cheese. Usually I make the marinade in the morning and plunk my pork tenderloins in it to bathe all day, but if I’m short on time I’ve found that mixing the marinade first thing and letting the pork sit for about 20 minutes while I gather the rest of my ingredients is enough time to impart just a little bit of subtle flavor.
Blue cheese sauce is easy to make: heat 4 cups heavy cream over high heat, then remove from heat and whisk in blue cheese, Parmesan and season with salt and pepperAs for the blue cheese sauce, the brilliance of this recipe is that it takes about 5 minutes to pull together and then can sit on the stove, off heat, to thicken while you’re cooking everything else. The seared cabbage is even easier – I run it through the food processor, turn my pan on high with lots of hot oil, and then finish the whole thing with chopped fresh rosemary at the end.
Seared rosemary cabbageThe kids, shockingly, love this dinner. Meimei enjoys bathing her face in a thin, luxurious layer of blue cheese sauce, while Ge Ge, never a huge meat eater, will clear away slice after slice of pork tenderloin. I’m still working on getting them to eat the cabbage, but you know, it’s a tall order for little ones to enjoy the inherent bite that comes in cabbage flavor. I tried using Nappa cabbage once, and while the kids loved it, the adults felt like the Nappa was too soggy to retain much of the crisp, seared flavor.
Either way, bathing yourself in blue cheese sauce is never a bad thing.
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I’m Ann, a mom / wife / lawyer / certified culinary enthusiast. I share recipes, travel guides and home life tips while living overseas. Currently based in São Paulo, Brazil.
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