Recipe recap - Miami Winter meal

Last night I got to the gym, opened my trunk and no gym bag to be found.  On the kitchen counter...I took the hint, got home and decided to take my extra time and make a "special" weeknight meal which in my book equates spending more than an hour and making more than two parts (last night - mushroom gravy, pork tenderloin, mashed potatos, and peas).

This is something I would normally reserve for a Sunday supper, but I had the gift of time and I took it. When we sat down to dinner I commented, "Isn't this a nice Winter meal?" Response: "The front door is open, this is a nice 'Winter' meal." Regardless, I am wearing a big scarf and booties today and not sweating. It is Winter in Miami!

Here is a recap of how dinner went down:

Pork tenderloin:

I made a quick marinade of  2 T dijon mustard, 1 T fish sauce, 2 T maple syrup, 2 T Worcestershire, 2 T olive oil and 1 T chopped rosemary. Threw it in a ziplock with the pork (poking holes in the pork with a fork to help absorb the marinade), and kept it on the counter for 20 minutes while I walked the pooch.

I preheated the oven to 400 and got a skillet up to a high set on the stove.  I seared the pork on all sides, discarding the marinade, searing about a minute a side.  I then put the skillet in the oven and set the time for 10 minutes.

Once the pork was cooked, I took it out of the oven, put on a cutting board and covered the pork to let it rest.

Potatos:

Meanwhile I got a pot of salted water to boil with 2 lbs (cleaned) red skin potatos.  After cooked, I drained the water, returning the potatos to the pot (less to clean), and added 1/2 cup chicken stock, 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan, 1/2 t ground pepper, and 1 T butter. Mash and keep in pot. Add more stock if it looks dry.

A little tip - if you put a skillet with warm water underneath the pot of mashed potatoes, it will stay warm on the stove.

Mushroom gravy:

I took the pan I made the pork in and added 1 cup chopped mushrooms (any will do) to the pan with a dash of olive oil and 1 t of salt on medium heat.  Cooking off the liquid of the mushrooms takes about 6-8 minutes.  I then added a packet of dried mushrooms I rehydrated in 1 cup hot water and chopped up. Saute another 2 minutes and add 2 T of flour, until the mushrooms cover the flour and it becomes a paste, but not burned!  Then add 1 cup chicken stock, 1 cup mushroom liquid, 1 cup dry red wine. Added 1/2 t pepper, bring to simmer and let reduce to half of liquid.  At the very end add 1 T of butter and swirllll around to make it silky smooth.

Peas:

Remove from freezer, add 1.5 cups to bowl of water, heat up in microwave and drain.  Mmhmm.

Dinner is served!  All images via my shoddy iPhone.