• Sage and Apple Pork Loin (and other things)

    Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Uncategorized | Tags: ,

    I don’t even like Justin Bieber.

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    But I thought it was funny at the time.

    My friend Tabitha had her 30th birthday at Fast Eddie’s (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAB!) and when I looked at my neck the next day, it was a lot less funny. Thankfully, the tattoo came off easily with makeup remover. FYI.

    St. Louis weather has been awesome.  Last night Mark and I grilled outdoors.

    We kind of winged it and made Sage and apple pork loin with asparagus.

    First, I marinated the pork for about an hour and a half (not very long, I know) in apple juice, spices (sage + garlic + salt and pepper), and cider vinegar.

    Then Mark did his thing on the grill.

    Meanwhile, I chopped up one braeburn apple and an onion.  I chopped the onion very finely – nearly a mince – and added it to a pan with oil.  Then I added sage and thyme.  The spices filled the air.

    After the onion had cooked for 3-5 minutes (and was just brown), I added the apple.  I cooked it for another 5+ minutes.  I didn’t want the apples too soft, but also not too crisp.

    Voila.

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    Mark asked me if I used a recipe to come up with this, and I didn’t. I initially came up with the recipe when I saw a spice packet for “sage and apple pork chops” and I thought – I don’t need a spice packet, I have that stuff at home.  Lots of times when I cook things, I check around to see if there is anything like it to get a sense of what flavors will work together or if I’m off my rocker.  Or, I get some inspiration from something I saw in a cooking magazine, cooking show, or of course, a blog.

    I found a lot of recipes that involved apple, sage, and thyme and just hoped for the best.  A lot of them were stuffed pork loin or pork chops and I just didn’t feel like stuffing them.

    Brag time

    This weekend I had one of the best long runs in a long time.  10 miles on the treadmill in 88 minutes.  This is a lot faster than I normally run – usually I do around 9:20-9:30 minute miles for my long runs.  In fact, it felt easy and I kept bumping up my speed and incline at the end to make it more challenging.  This is crazy but I must be doing something right!  I think part of it is that I have really been pushing myself speed-wise.  I will just bottle this feeling and try to remember it when I have a bad run.

    Now I’m off to the Tivoli to watch Oscar nominated animated shorts.  See ya!