Seared Pork Tenderloin with Polenta Cake
It’s a seared karabudo pork tenderloin, it’s gonna be served with a roasted pablano and a corn polenta cake and all of that’s gonna be top of with a, a ginger, apple, and bacon chutney, okay. So what we’re gonna do, now, this one involves timing, this is one of those types of dishes to wear everything has to come up at once. So, we’re almost kinda jump kinda backwards doing everything, okay. So, what are the, the first thing we’re gonna start with is the chutney, because that has to reduce, it’s actually be the sauce in the dish and all that, so, it’s got have to reduce. We’re gonna start with a hot pan, just a little bit of olive oil, and we’re gonna start with our bacon. And the reason why you wanna start with the bacon, because you wanna, you wanna extract the fats from the bacon, because this is one of the items that’s gonna basically, basically flavor the whole dish. So what you wanna do, you wanna start the bacon, and you wanna cook the bacon, I want to say all the way until it’s crisp, but you want it to cook until it’s about 80 percent there, okay. You want to cook where the fat extracted, you’re gonna get that flavor, because once the fat is extracted, that’s what we’re gonna use to sauté the fresh ginger, the fresh jalapenos, the, and the onions, and then we’ll gonna add our liquids and let all that reduce. So what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna get that going. And in the mean time, we’re gonna actually start with our pork as well. We use karabudo pork tenderloin. If you’re not familiar of what karabudo pork is, it’s basically the kobe version of beef. Now, if you’re not familiar what kobe is, basically it’s the best beef you can possibly get. These cows are raised in Japan and they’re fed sake and massage all day long, what a life, right, so. But anyway, what this is, is basically the kobe version of pork and they call it karabudo, which actually means that, black pig in Japanese. Because the pig is actually a very dark and black pig, rich and flavorful, great marbling and great for searing and roasting. So what we’ll gonna do, we got our pork tenderloins here which I’ve cut into about a 8 ounce portion. You can go smaller if you like, you can go larger if you like. So what we’re gonna do, we’re just gonna simply salt and pepper this, again with the fresh crack black pepper. You wanna start with a very hot pan, let that come up to temperature. Looks like our bacon starting to crisp up, it’s starting to pop and do all that kind of good stuff. So, what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna add our jalapenos, and our ginger and our onions. Now, add the jalapenos to what you like, if you don’t like it very spicy, don’t add a lot, if you like it spicy, add a lot, so. She’s saying add more and more, so that’s what we’re gonna do. So don’t be scared. Ahh, we’ll just put it all in, there we go. So we’re gonna go with the onions here. Now we can go and add our, add our liquids and our sugars. What this is, apple cider vinegar, apple juice, very important, little bit of pepper, and a little bit of sugar there, the sugar is actually gonna help to thicken up, and it’s gonna offset the acids as well. So, we got our smoking hot pan back here, that’s exactly what we want. Gonna go ahead add our porks into that, let them start. There’s plenty of room for those guys, we’re gonna drop the heat down on that, just a little bit. And we’re just gonna let those go. Now we’re gonna jump over here to the polenta end of it. Now, if you’re doing this at home and everything, I would, I would suggest that you start the polenta the day before, for the simple fact that all it needs to set and once the polenta sets, that’s where it’s gonna harden up and really get firm. So you got this nice little cakes here, and once it sets over night, that’s what’s gonna happen. And what I did I just go ahead and press it out with a ring mold, what I did is I laid it out in exactly one of this pans here, let it set overnight, covered, and then you just go in, and what you could do if you have a ring mold, you can, you can make a round shape, if you don’t, you can dump the whole thing out, you can cut into squares, you can cut into triangles, you can pretty much do whatever you want to do. I just chose the round mold look today, just for the presentation. So what we’re gonna do is this, this is actually very simple. Gonna start with a little bit of olive oil. Our pork’s still in here, they are nice sear on this all the way around. Those are gonna look good. We’re gonna drop our chutney down to a slight simmer here. We just let that go. Now, for this right here, we’re gonna add our onions first, get those onions sautéing, and then what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna add our milk and chicken stock base here and then once that comes up to a boil, we’re gonna actually add the polenta, now once you start adding the polenta, and I’m gonna go over this again, it’s very important that you just have to stir, stir, stir, and stir, because it’s one those things that if you stop stirring, it’s gonna stick and you gonna have a mess on your hands and all that kind of stuff. And then what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna come back and we’re gonna fold in all the other ingredients. So, we’ll gonna add our chicken stock and milk mixture here and let that come up to a boil. And it’s extremely important that you let it come up to a boil before you add your polenta, because the polenta will almost cook, I mean, it will cook almost instantly, really it will. But if it’s not at boiling temperature, then you’re just gonna sat there and you’ll gonna stir, you’re gonna stir, you’re gonna stir, and every time you tasting it, it’s not gonna thicken up on you, and things like that. every time you taste it, you just gonna just taste this greedy mess and that’s not what you want. But as long as your base’s up to a boil, once you add your polenta, it’s, it’s almost gonna be, almost instant. Those are, those are searing up very, very nicely, that’s exactly what we want. What we’re gonna do, we’re just gonna finish this at the oven. I’ve got the oven set it to 350, those are gonna roast to about a nice medium, we’re gonna bring them out, we’re gonna let them rest and then we’re gonna slice into them. So now that we got the chutney here going, this is gonna look good. Nor, for these polenta cakes, that’s a little tricky thing here, I definitely will suggest to use a non stick pan when you’re doing your polenta cakes, for the simple fact that if you do it this way, you wanna get that nice sear on. You want to get that nice color on it. They’re, they’re gonna heart up, they’re gonna heat up very fast, well, all depending on how you do it, or how you, how you sliced them, this is gonna take about maybe 3 minutes to cook thoroughly, all the way through. Alright, so that’s coming up to a boil. Just gonna add a little bit at a time, and as your adding you need to be stirring, because if you don’t, what’s gonna happen, you’re gonna get a lumpy polenta at the end, and that’s not what you want. What you want is a nice, you want the texture of mashed potatoes, that’s what you’re looking for. That’s exactly what you’re looking for, that’s pretty much the easiest way I can explain it. Okay now, what we’re gonna do here, as you can see, this is gonna start, jumping and popping all over around, so what you want to do, you wanna lower the heat, and just let this cook. Now as it cooks, it’s gonna begin to thicken up, and be careful because if you leave this on high heat, then it’s just gonna pop and it’s just gonna just pop out on your hand and everything, and you know, then you’re gonna have a big mess, and you’re gonna end up dropping the whole thing or something, I don’t know. I’ve, I’ve seen it all, with the polenta, but like I said, it cooks very fast, and this is exactly the consistency you’re looking for, almost like mashed potatoes. So, what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna come up here, we’re gonna add our flavorings. And our flavorings, parmesan cheese, roasted and peeled pablano peppers, just roasted over an open fire and then surround wrap and then peeled. The peel comes right off once they’re roasted. You can definitely, if you don’t want to go through all the trouble of roasting it, you can definitely diced them up and sauté them, sauté them in a little bacon fats, sauté them in little onions, and then fold them in there, but I decided to roasted and peeled them. And then, we have roasted white corn, fresh roasted corn that we shock, took off the cap, oh you can’t forget salt and pepper, don’t want to forget those two items. And just mix this all together. Now what you want to do, what you want to do to mix this, instead of mixing it with a fork or something like that, mix it with a rubber spatula if you have it, because what you want to do, you actually just wanna fold it. Just fold ‘til it’s all nice incorporated here. Then that’s pretty much it, and then what we do at the restaurant, well, we will actually make this in a pan like this and then we’ll go in and squash it all down, we’ll smooth it out and we let it cool in the exact same pan, because this exact same pan that you cook it in, it’s still have all the oils and things in it as well. And as the pan cools down, it’s gonna almost pull away from the polenta. So, it’s a great idea to just leave it in the exact same pan, just kinda smooth it out, like so, and you’re done, and that’s it. Goes right in the refrigerator overnight. And then you pull it out and then that’s when you make any kind of little molds, shapes, whatever you want to do. So, it’s this right here, we’re gonna start off, and this pan, like I said, it has to be hot, it has to be hot, almost instantly smoking. So we’ll gonna add these, and like I said, if you have a non stick pan with these, all the better, because these are, these are little things that will stick. Oh yeah, this will gonna be nice. And I think our pork is ready to go. You know what, maybe a few more minutes on that. that’s actually perfect coz everything will come up just in time. That’s when, and that’s exactly what we want. Now for these, they’re gonna crisp up really, really nice, and that’s exactly what you want. But as you can see, if you have a non stick pan, it’s just gonna make your life so much easier. At the end of the day, it’s gonna make you look like the superstar chef, coz it’s gonna be nice and, nice and smooth down, everything and that’s exactly what you want. Alright. All they’re just about there. Now, what you can do with these, since these are a little tall, what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna finish this in the oven, just for about maybe 3 minutes, just to, just to make sure they’re heated all the way through. And it looks like our chutneys just about there. Starting to thicken up, it’s really starting to reduce. Now, what we’re gonna do to finish this chutney, we’re gonna fold in a little bit of chifinad mint, and what this mint is gonna do, is just really, make it nice and rounded. Mint’s gonna really highlight that apple juice, that, that apple cider that we put in there, and it’s really just gonna spice up the whole dish. But again, using the fresh herb, you wanna add that right at the end. And it looks like we are at the end, so we’re gonna turn that off, we’re gonna fold in that mint. And season with just a little bit of salt. Be careful, no too much salt, because it does have the vinegar in it and the vinegar will actually act as a salt. So, with that said, we’re ready to bring out our porks. And looks like our cakes are ready as well, yes they are. Ah, so what we got is a nice, medium rare to almost medium pork tenderloin. Very nice cut. Have our apple – ginger chutney here, of course that came together, that came together very nicely. Then we have our roasted corn and pablano paste, that’s gonna (slurry)everything. Gonna start with one of the corn cakes, right there in the middle. Just a few slices of pork here, nice and juicy, we’re gonna put just a little bit right there in the middle. Bring the juices around. And that’s it. That are roasted, karabudo pork tenderloin, apple – ginger and bacon chutney, and roasted pablano corn cake.