RECIPES | threewomeninthekitchen

deborahreinhardt

Sep 13, 20233 min read

Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Maple Butter

This pork dinner recipe for two features a juicy tenderloin and baked apples bathed in sweet, savory butter.

pork tenderloin is sliced and served with baked apples — Pork Tenderloin with Baked Apples and Maple Butter

Anyone else ready to welcome fall? I’m eager to taste autumn’s bounty, revel in milder temperatures and brilliant foliage, and decorate with colorful pumpkins and mums. This month, my kitchen is celebrating all things apple, and our first recipe is perfect for two people. Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Maple Butter may be a simple weeknight supper, but it wraps you like a cozy blanket with seasonal flavors and ingredients. It’s a perfect transition from summer to fall, and it’s on your table in under an hour. Let’s get cooking.

To make Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Maple Butter, which yields two servings, you’ll need these ingredients:

1½ pound pork tenderloin
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 fresh sage sprigs
2 Fuji apples
¼ stick butter, softened
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
¼ teaspoon yellow curry
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon maple syrup
Small pinch of salt and pepper
Olive oil, optional

Small tenderloins often come packaged with some type of seasoning at the grocer. If you opt for one of these, choose something with a more subtle flavor. You also can buy a plain tenderloin and season it with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Fuji apples are readily available in most markets, but any apple that stands up to baking—such as Jonathan, Granny Smith, or Honeycrisp—will work in this recipe.

Directions for Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Maple Butter

Preheat the oven to 420 degrees F.

Make the compound butter by mixing in rosemary, sage, curry, ginger, maple syrup, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl until well combined.

Cut apples in half and remove the core. An apple corer is helpful here; sadly, I couldn’t find mine. Time to clean out the gadget drawer!

Spread a generous teaspoon of compound butter over the apples and wrap each half in aluminum foil. If you have leftover butter, spread on the tenderloin.

Roast pork and apples together for 25 minutes or until pork reaches 140 to 145 degrees. Let meat rest for 10 minutes.

Slice pork into medallions. Carefully unwrap apples and plate with the pork.

How to serve Pork Tenderloin with Apples and Maple Butter

The melted butter in the apple packets creates a wonderful light sauce. I drizzled that over the meat and fruit. A good adult serving is four medallions of pork with two apple halves. I also made creamy polenta to accompany this dish. You’ll have leftover tenderloin, which is good in leftovers. Use it in a stir fry.

Kitchen tips for apples

If you’ve ever wondered what apple works best in specific recipes or applications, the friendly folks at Eckert’s — a pick-your-own farm and agriculture attraction in southern Illinois — has a few suggestions.

Their favorite apples for pie is a combination of Golden Delicious and Jonathan. Making an apple cake for Rosh Hashana? Consider Honey Crisp or Red Delicious. My Apple and Cinnamon Quick Bread is a nice gift for someone hosting the holiday dinner.

I like Granny Smith and Gala for Waldorf salad, but more on that next time.

Try the pork tenderloin with apples; the maple and herb compound butter makes it special. It's a perfect bite of fall.

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.

deborahreinhardt

Aug 24, 20232 min read

Easy French Bread Pizza

Roasted tomatoes and garlic make a simple sauce for this classic snack.

four slices of French bread and pepperoni pizza on platter — Easy French Bread Pizza with roasted tomato sauce

Food cravings: Who can explain them? Sometimes just a photo of food triggers my saliva glands. On a recent trip to my grocery store, I spotted something in the frozen food case— Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza—that triggered a memory and Pavlovian response.

Wow, I hadn’t had one of those pizzas in years! (Saliva glands activated.) So, I caved to the craving, but it wasn’t as delightful as my teenaged mind remembered from the 1970s. Back then, it was common for Mom to bake a pan of these for me and my friends and it was quite a treat.

Now that I am of “a certain age,” pepperoni and I are not always friends, and hard bread can be a land mine for my teeth. Luckily, this is a simple dish to create at home—the secret is a roasted tomato sauce. My Easy French Bread Pizza also uses a more tender Italian-style bread and turkey pepperoni, which is lower in fat than traditional pepperoni (4 grams of fat versus 12 grams). So, let's get cooking!

To make Easy French Bread Pizza, which yields four servings, you’ll need these ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
10 ounces fresh tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
16 slices nitrate-free turkey pepperoni
1 (16-ounce) loaf Italian-style bread
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil

How to make Easy French Bread Pizza

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. If using cherry tomatoes, add them to a bowl with garlic, salt, and pepper. Roma tomatoes will need to be quartered first. Drizzle with oil.

Roast tomatoes and garlic for 20 minutes. Cool on pan for 10 minutes.

Transfer tomatoes and garlic carefully into a blender or food processor. Blend until a sauce is created.

Slice each loaf of Italian bread in half and then cut each half on the equator. Each slice should be about 10 inches in length.

Lightly coat each bread slice with tomato sauce, covering the surface.

Cut pepperoni slices into half; arrange evenly on each slice of bread. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle fresh basil over bread.

Arrange bread on a parchment-lined baking tray and bake at 400 degrees F for 8 minutes.

Whether you enjoy as a snack or add a salad for lunch or dinner, Easy French Bread Pizza is nostalgia in one groovy bite!

History of French Bread Pizza

While Stouffer’s may have popularized French bread pizza, several culinary histories point to a food truck from the 1960s in Ithaca, New York, owned by Bob Petrillose who used sub sandwich bread to create pizza for Cornell University students’ late-night munchies. The Wall Street Journal claims Stouffer’s debuted its frozen French bread pizza in 1974, designing the pizza to be heated in toaster ovens (no doubt popular with the college crowd, too).

About the blog

deborahreinhardt

Aug 13, 20233 min read

Spicy Succotash with Edamame

Korean gochujang adds umami to this redo of a Southern classic sweet corn dish.

corn kernels, diced red pepper, edamame in Spicy Succotash — Spicy Succotash with Edamame

Sweet summer corn. There’s nothing like it. Fresh off the cob in a salad or grilled and slathered with butter, it’s the perfect summer bite. Too bad its season is ending; I love fresh corn.

But I hate lima beans. They are one of the few foods I outright reject. So, when Mom occasionally made traditional succotash during summer as a backyard cookout side dish, I’d always pick out the beans, which essentially left me with a cup of corn kernels.

For decades, succotash remained on my “no thank you” list until chef Edward Lee gave me the inspiration to remake this dish. And it’s so delicious! While chef Lee’s recipe included lima beans (plus black eyed peas), I swapped them for shelled edamame (soybeans that have been picked early). Finally, a version of succotash I could enjoy!

Succotash has a long history that dates to the 17th century. The earliest versions were prepared by Indigenous peoples of today’s New England area. Succotash, in Narragansett, can be translated to mean “broken corn kernels” and consists primarily of sweet corn with shell beans. Over the years, other ingredients were added, including onions, peppers, okra, even salted pork. During the Great Depression, home cooks sometimes cooked succotash as a casserole, adding a light pie crust on top in the form of a pot pie.

Chef Lee brings his Korean roots into classic Southern favorites at his two restaurants, Succotash Prime (Washington, D.C., and National Harbor, Maryland) and 610 Magnolia (Louisville, Kentucky), so it’s not a surprise his recipe for succotash would incorporate gochujang. If you don’t have this Korean red fermented chili paste in your cupboard, harissa (a red chili paste from northwest Africa) could be swapped out. In a pinch, cayenne or jalapeno could be used, too. However, I love that special umami the gochujang brings.

To make a Spicy Succotash with Edamame, which yields six servings, you’ll need these ingredients:

1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
5 ears fresh corn (for 4 cups of kernels)
2 tablespoons milk (2-percent or whole)
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 teaspoons gochujang
1 garlic clove
6 ounces shelled edamame
¼ cup diced red peppers
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

This simple recipe can come together in less than 30 minutes (including prep). Here’s how to do it.

How to make Spicy Succotash with Edamame

In a large skillet, heat oil and butter together. Cut the kernels off the cobs. A good hack is to place the cob on top of a bundt and shave the corn into the pan.

When the butter starts to foam, add the corn and saute for about 3 minutes.

Transfer 1 cup of corn into a blender. Add garlic, gochujang, milk, and yogurt. Puree until the mixture resembles a smooth chowder (you want to see some of the corn’s integrity intact).

Add the edamame, red pepper, and pureed corn to the skillet and saute for 3 to 5 additional minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh herbs.

How to store leftover succotash

Keep this succotash in an air-tight container inside your refrigerator for up to a week. Because it has milk and sour cream, I don’t recommend freezing it. Other succotash recipes that do not use dairy can be frozen.