Sunday, December 22, 2013

some people just go well around a table


Last week, I gathered around a table with a special bunch of people to celebrate our friend Ali’s 26th birthday. I found these gals over the past few years, some through mutual friends and some through mutual tracks of life. One quality that characterizes this special cohort (and most people I would actually deem my friend) is their table-ability. I mean, these people sit around a table well. They make good cheese plates, start good conversations, and bring good laughs.





We held the birthday party at my friends’ Mel and Nan’s new house and I offered to bring something warm (as they planned to provide the aforementioned impressive cheese service). I landed on pancetta sage pork tenderloin, because I had just roasted a chicken with this fabulous butter (I included that recipe as well) and a butternut squash/bacon/sage appetizer, because I had a surplus of extra squash from a friend’s farm box. Enjoy!

Pancetta-Sage Pork Tenderloin


2 pork tenderloins

THE butter:
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 ounces thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons minced shallot
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
To make the butter: Combine garlic and pancetta in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds. Add remaining ingredients and pulse to combine into a coarse paste.
The night before you are ready to prepare this pork tenderloin, prepare THE butter and slather it all over the pork tenderloin. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
After chilling the pork slathered in THE bacon for 12 hours, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Heat a cast iron skillet to high heat. You can flick a few drops of water into the skillet to test its heat: they should pop and sizzle when they hit the skillet if it is heated adequately. Sear each side of the pork tenderloin over high heat (should take about 2 minutes per side). After all sides are seared, place skillet with tenderloin in the oven. Cook for about 20 minutes or until pork registers 155 degrees with a meat thermometer (check it at about 15 minutes, depending on your oven). Remove from oven and tent with foil for 10 minutes before serving 
Pancetta-Sage Roast Chicken



4-5 pound whole young chicken
1 tablespoon salt
6 fresh sprigs of sage
6 fresh sprigs of rosemary
THE butter (recipe above)
oil, salt and pepper
Directions:
The day before you are ready to serve this chicken, set it in a roaster and sprinkle 1 tablespoon salt all over it (add some extra inside the cavity of the chicken). Cover with saran wrap loosely and allow to dry-brine in your fridge for at least 24 hours.
To make the butter: Combine garlic and pancetta in a food processor and pulse for a few seconds. Add remaining ingredients and pulse to combine into a coarse paste.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Starting at the neck end, slide your hand between the skin and the meat of the breast and drumsticks to loosen the skin. Spread the sage-pancetta-herb butter between the skin and the meat, trying to cover as much of the meat as possible. Fill the main cavity with the herb sprigs. Tie drumstick legs together loosely to keep them close to the chicken’s body and tuck the wing tips under the bird.
Rub chicken all over with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Roast chicken until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees, about 1 to 1 ½ hours (very much depends on the size of your chicken and your oven, so begin to check after 1 hour). Remove from oven and tent with foil. Allow to rest about 20 minutes then carve and serve.
MERRY CHRISTMAS PEOPLE!
Didn't that just sneak right up on us?

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