Here... Do Cook This

I've Got Camels and Desert Palms In My Kitchen...


I might have mentioned previously on this blog (and on my cooking blog The Redneck Gourmet) that I cook some pretty complicated stuff around here sometimes--stuff with detailed formulas like people use making industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Then other times I like to fly by the seat of my pants and just do a little reading and Internet research and then have a few cocktails and have it out with myself and my spices and refrigerator, almost dirtying up every single pot and pan and dish in my kitchen in the process.

Last night was one of those nights, and Food Network's Alton Brown and Guy Fieri would have ran away screaming if they saw the process and the mixture of stuff I put together, but I think that it came out pretty dang good in the end.

I guess it was sort of like staging my own version of Iron Chef ... Cast Iron Chef Redneck Chef America North Africa, if you know what I mean.

I call the assemblage...Morrocan Pork Tenderloin with Savory Vegetables and Glazed Dried Fruit Compote.

(somebody probably needs to stop by here and slap me for that name, but then when I stick a couple of spoons full of the stuff into your mouth you might just change your mind...)

Here's the deal if you want to try it, and it's really not that hard if you do a little planning and your pallet likes something besides Burger King and Taco Bell Crap.

First things first, if you are cooking northern African/Southern Mediterranean cuisine, you need to go to the store and buy yourself a mixture of spices which when combined will produce something called Ras el Hanout.

Translated, the term "Ras el Hanout" in Arabic means "Head of the Shop" in English, and in spite of our Geo-political differences these days I've been cooking things from everywhere from Turkey to Morocco for two or three years now and find this basic spice blend or variations thereof to work well as a staple seasoning mix in my kitchen.

The history of the blend says that in the days before Railroads and interstate highways and Federal Express that the guys in northern Africa created these blends of exotic spices--with no specific recipe--from the very best herbs and roots and seeds which they had in their shops at any given time.

Thus once you start making it and cooking with it you can make your own "Ras al Hanout" with things you like the flavor of and leave out the things you don't like smelling or tasting.

My Ras el Hanout, which I put together last fall and stored in my spice cabinet in a big glass jar with a shaker top, included ground Cloves, Cinnamon, Paprika, Cumin, Coriander, (Fresh) Nutmeg, and Turmeric. I think that there was some Cayenne pepper in there somewhere also.

Once you have your version of that spice blend in hand, I swear that you can make cardboard or kitty food taste good on a cracker.

It works with pork or chicken or beef or even sea food as far as I can tell, and your imagination is the limit as far as side dishes you can put with it...rice and Couscous or vegetables and so on.

To duplicate my Dinner for Two and one half (including our little Missy the Turbo Pup) last night you'll need:

Two or three 1" thick closely trimmed Pork Tenderloins

Three or Four small new Red Potatoes...washed and quartered or cubed

Three medium carrots...scraped and sliced as you like them

1/2 medium Red Onion, sliced thin

1 cup sliced button mushrooms

1 apple...I prefer Gala or Fuji Pinks

Two Lemons-sliced into 1/8" to 1/4" slices and seeded

Six Dried Medjool Dates

Six Dried Apricots

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup port wine (or other red wine)

two or three tablespoons of Peach or Apricot Jam

One and one quarter cups of prepared Couscous

Now as to the preparation of all of the above stuff into a meal fit for a King an Emir, I rubbed the closely trimmed pork tenderloins with the Ras el Hanout on Friday and left them laying covered in the fridge for 24 hours. You need to give them at least two hours if you don't start things the day before.

Then I chunked up a couple of three or four New Red Potatoes and chopped up some fresh carrots and put them in a pot on the stove top to simmer on low for a half hour to an hour...until fork tender.

Meanwhile, I started preheating my oven to 400 degrees, and in my heavy 13" Lodge Cast Iron skillet I crisped four slices of thick bacon, and over on the cutting board I cubed up a Gala apple and sliced and seeded the Lemons in thin slices.

Once you get the bacon done, pull it out on the side on paper towels to drain, then pour out some of the grease and turn up the heat and put the rubbed pork tenderloins in to sear on as many sides as you can stand watching and waiting for.

Once your tenderloins are seared toss them and the cast iron skillet into the oven to finish.

You can pit your dates or let your dinner guests fish the seeds out of their mouth while you watch...and if your dinner company happens to be female...er...um...

Then over in a stainless steel skillet I take some of the bacon grease and a few splashes of canned chicken stock and start a simmering mixture including the Dried Medjool Dates and Dried Apricots, Mushrooms, and Red Onions and as things reduce I add a few lemon slices and pour in the white wine and then a splash of Port wine and then add the apple cubes apricot/peach jam and keep cooking and simmering and stirring and cooking and simmering and stirring and then...

Once you can tell the interior of your pork is up to about 135 to 140 degrees F (I use a digital instant read thermometer), pull it out of the oven...slice it up (or let it rest a few minutes if you can stand it), then plate everything up on your veggies and Couscous.

You know, Couscous, little itty bitty teeny tiny pastas made with 1-1/3 to 1-1/2 cups of boiling chicken stock simmered over some dried Israeli Couscous (or other Couscous you have on hand.)
You can even use rice I guess if you're lazy or just afraid of Couscous...but finally...

In the end...

Smell it, taste it, and then dump it all out of the pots onto your plate and enjoy it...

I'm going to take a nap now because writing about it all makes me tired...

But PLEASE try it when you have the time.

You'll Like it...