Blackened Pork Loin with Collard Greens (with bacon of course) and cheddar grits
Forgot to mention the mustard sauce that came with it. This will actually be different than the way it was done at work.
Start off by preparing collard greens. They take a LONG time to cook until they are soft enough. Remove the stems. Chop them into large pieces. WASH!!! I'll do this on the assumption of two standard bunches of collard greens.
Dice some bacon. About a third of a pound. Dice one onion. Chop 10 cloves of garlic. Saute the bacon (starting with bacon fat if possible) until it starts to crisp up. Add in the onions. Saute until becoming translucent. Add in the garlic. Let cook for a minute or two. Add in the Collard greens. Add in about a cup of chicken stock, 1/2 c of apple cider vinegar. Let it cook and cook and cook. When they are finally soft, add in about 1/3 c sugar, 2T salt, 2T black pepper.
Mustard Sauce: Saute 2 diced shallots (onion if need be). Allow it to start carmelizing a little (turning brown on bottom of pan), add in 4 chopped cloves of garlic. Cook for another minute or two then deglaze the pan with a 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar. Add in 3 cups of chicken stock. Reduce until it is half volume. Add in 1/2 c sugar. Add in 2/3 cup whole grain mustard. Maybe some chopped tarragon or simply parsley. Salt and pepper to taste, probably 2T salt, 1 T black pepper. Finish with 1/4 c of butter after taken off the heat but while still hot.
Grits: White hominy grits. Start heating 8 cups of water. When near a boil, stir in 2 cups of grits. Turn heat to low, let cook for approximately an hour, stirring often. When soft remove from heat. Should be a nice thick oatmeal like consistency. Add in 1/2 c heavy cream, 1/4 c butter, 2T salt, 1T black pepper. Add in 1 C cheddar.
2# of pork loin. Cut into roughly 1/3 pound portions. Coat lightly with oil (peanut is great!!!) Coat liberally with blackening spice. Go ahead, just buy it. Heat up a dry heavy pan to RAGING hot. No oil. Sear all sides of the pork loin, you don't really want black black, but a nice dark brown is great! If your pan is hot enough, it will not take long to sear. Less than half a minute per surface. Repeat with other portions of pork, do not overload the pan!!! With no so nice pans, I would do one at a time. With great pans (large cast iron) perhaps four...but has to be RAGING hot first. Finish pork in oven at 350 degrees. I like to take my pork out of the oven at about 140 degrees. Medium rare/medium pork is the way to go. Let is rest.
Serve whichever way you please. Mustard sauce will go great with both the pork and the greens.
Good luck if anyone does it. Always go by taste (salt, pepper, vinegar, sugar levels. Don't be afraid to not add so much at the start and taste it as you go along to get it the way you like it.) |