Apple and Maple Pork Loin – A Cozy Fall Feast with a Hint of Fancy
Let’s talk about pork loin – it’s the introvert of the meat world. It’s mild, unassuming, and just hangs out in the background, waiting to be dressed up. But throw in some crisp apples, a splash of maple syrup, and a touch of thyme, and suddenly it’s the life of the dinner party. This recipe is like taking your quiet friend to a jazz club – it wakes up all the flavors and makes the whole experience unforgettable.
Ingredients:
For the Pork Loin:
2-3 lb pork loin (boneless or bone-in, your choice)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup (the real stuff – not that pancake imposter)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional, but it adds a nice depth)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (plus extra for garnish)
For the Caramelized Apples:
2-3 crisp apples (Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or Pink Lady), cored and sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar (or a drizzle of maple syrup if you’re feeling wild)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (because why not?)
1/4 cup apple cider or apple juice (or a splash of bourbon if it’s that kind of night)
Instructions:
1. Preheat and Prep:
Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Pat the pork loin dry (no one likes soggy pork), and rub it all over with olive oil, maple syrup, salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and fresh thyme. Give it a little massage – pork deserves spa day too.
2. Sear for the Sizzle:
Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the pork loin on all sides until it’s nicely browned and your kitchen smells like a fancy bistro (about 3-4 minutes per side).
3. Roast to Perfection:
Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven and roast for 20-30 minutes, or until the internal temperature hits 145°F (63°C). Remember, a meat thermometer is your friend – don’t wing it.
4. Caramelize the Apples:
While the pork is roasting, grab another pan (or use the same skillet if you’re into the whole “one-pan wonder” vibe). Melt the butter over medium heat, add the apple slices, and sprinkle in the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. Sauté until the apples are golden and caramelized, about 5-7 minutes. Add the apple cider (or bourbon – no judgment) and cook for another minute until the liquid reduces to a syrupy glaze.
5. Serve Like a Pro:
Once the pork is done, let it rest for 5-10 minutes (because, again, respect the pork). Slice it into thick, juicy pieces and top with those glorious caramelized apples. Sprinkle with a few more fresh thyme leaves, and serve with your favorite sides – maybe some roasted root vegetables or a creamy mashed potato situation.
6. Bask in the Compliments:
Accept the applause. You just elevated pork loin to rockstar status.
I once again found inspiration for this dish from the Flavor Bible, by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. I wanted to combine ingredients that were unusual but had a good balance of flavors, and paired nicely together. So this dish has a little bit of everything, sweet, sour and salty. My husband Dan and foodie-son Lucas said I could add it to my Top Five! It was a proud moment!
Hopefully, this list of ingredients is not too daunting. 😉
Avocado Cream:
2 ripe avocados
1 tbsp fresh cilantro (no stems)
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp fresh squeezed lime juice
1/2 Tsp salt
3/4 cup Creme Fraiche
Sweet potato toast:
1 large sweet potato (sliced with cheese slicer)
olive oil
salt
Pork Tenderloin:
1 pork tenderloin (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tsp rock salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
Black Beans:
1 tbsp butter
1/2 yellow onion chopped
1 can of organic Black Beans
2 cloves of garlic
salt to taste
Caramelized Onions:
2 onions sliced in rings
2 tbsp butter
salt to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. First, you want to bake the sweet potato toast. Cover sweet potato slices in olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place in the oven on a baking sheet and cook until slightly browned approximately 20 minutes. Meanwhile, for the pork loin, melt butter in an iron skillet (oven safe) on medium high heat, add salt and pepper to the loin roast, and sear the pork on all sides. Once it is nicely browned, place the pork into the oven, next to potatoes and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 135-140 degrees (for medium rare). You can then caramelize the onions, in a skillet with butter, stirring occasionally, until onions are browned and sweet. Next, in a saucepan, add the butter, once melted add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat. Make sure not to brown the garlic. Add in the beans with the liquid and cook down the beans for 15 minutes. Next, you can make the avocado cream. Place the avocados into a food processor, or blender and add the oil, lime, salt, and cilantro. Puree until smooth. Remove from food processor and fold in the Créme Fraîche.
Now you are ready for assembly. Place 2 spoonfuls of Avocado Creme on each plate in a long smear. Add to pieces of Sweet Potato toast, then the beans, followed by the pork and caramelized onions, and finally sprinkle with the chopped cilantro. Serves 4. Enjoy!
For approximately a year now, I’ve been volunteering for an amazing organization here in Boulder, called There With Care. There With Care’s mission is to provide a wide range of thoughtful and fundamental services to children and families during the critical phase of a medical crisis. They serve families referred by medical agencies, by building a network of services and people who ease the burden of life’s day-to-day obligations with compassion and care. I have been working on There With Care’s Team Chop, where we prep simple, healthy, and easy to cook CrockPot meals for each of the families. It has been an amazing organization to work for. We have an incredile team of people on our team, dedicating their time once a week to help eleviate some of the burden these families are facing.
So, after a year of working with Team Chop, I finally bought myself a slow-cooker (CrockPot). It has been fun experimenting with some new recipes. One of which was another creation by my foodie-17-year-old. Takes a total of 10 minutes to prep, and has very few ingredients. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.
Ingredients:
3 lb pork shoulder
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil
8 tomatillos – quartered
2 jalapenos – (remove seeds for less spice – chop into large chunks)
1 onion – large chunks
4 garlic cloves – quartered
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the pork shoulder into 1 inch pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper. In an iron skillet on high heat, add 1 tbsp of butter and add half of the pork, making sure not to crowd the pan. Braise each piece so they are nice and brown, and crispy. Repeat with the second batch of meat. Set aside. Meanwhile, toss the tomatillos, jalapenos, onion, and garlic in the oil. Salt, then place onto a baking sheet and roast them, until they start to brown slightly, apprximately 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and place ingredients into a food processor or blender. Salt to taste. Place the meat into the crockpot and pour the pureed mixture ontop. Cook on low heat for 6 hours. Serve with rice, and black beans with sour cream.
It’s finally winter, and I really wanted to something that was hearty, healthy and warm. It’s been years since I’ve made this Ayurvedic dal (Dahl), but it has always been one of my favorite dishes. I learned this recipe over 18 years ago when my husband and I visited the Deepak Chopra Center in La Jolla, Ca. We stayed there for a week and attended spiritual classes, yoga classes, daily massage treatments, and Ayurvedic cooking classes, and even had a chance to meet Deepak in person! A truly “life-changing” experience! The recipe we made at the Center was a mung Dal, but I could only find Chana Dal at my local grocer. Channa Dal is a small relative of the chickpea and has a yellowish color. Its flavor is slightly sweet. If you can’t find channa dal use yellow mung dal, or yellow split peas. In preparing Dal, it is important to soften it well and cook it long enough so that it takes on a creamy consistency. ( I ended up soaking mine for 2 hours, then cooking for 2 more hours).
a sprinkle of asafoetida (helps with digestion) – get online or Indian Market
cilantro for garnish
Directions:
Wash Chana Dal; drain. Soak in water for 2 hours. Cook Chana dal in water in a medium-sized saucepan covered over medium heat until soft, about 1.5-2 hours, depending on the dal! In a small frying pan heat the ghee and add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds pop, add in the onions, ginger and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat, making sure not to brown the garlic. Add it all of the spices, and stir so the onions are covered. Then add the spice-onion mixture to the chana dal pot and stir. Add salt and asafoetida. Cook for additional 10 minutes. The texture of the dal should be creamy. Serve with a garnish of cilantro. If not concerned about paleo, you can serve with garlic Naan or basmati rice.
Here are some other great resources for Ayurvedic Meals:
I’m always trying to find new and different flavors to combine with pork chops, other than the traditional apple. So, I reached for my ever trustworthy and inspirational book, “The Flavor Bible“. It had all of these ingredients listed in the “affinities” section. And I actually did get the thumbs up from my hyper-critical-foodie-son to add it to my blog. Hope you enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 Pork loin chops
3 organic peaches or 1 bag frozen peaches (thawed), chopped into 1/2″ chunks
12 fresh sage leaves, fried
12 leaves, small slices
2 tbsp of butter (if Paleo and avoiding dairy, use olive oil)
In an iron skillet, on high heat, melt 2 tbsp of butter. Salt pork chops. Add the pork chops and cook 5 minutes on each side until internal temperature reaches 135 degrees. Remove pork chops and let rest. Add in 1 tbsp butter, balsamic vinegar and reduce down, cooking about a minute. Add in the chopped peaches, and sliced sage, stir around to cover and cook until semi-soft, approximately 3 minutes. Remove peaches and place on top of pork chops. Drizzle balsamic reduction over peaches and pork. Add salt and pepper to the dish and place 3 fried sage leaves. Serves 4.
Brussel sprouts are such a great winter treat, as long as they have a little sweetness, and are super easy to prepare. I love them a little crunchy which a touch of garlic. And as we all know, EVERYTHING is better with Bacon!!!
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
6 slices bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. I like to cook the chopped bacon in a small saucepan until crispy, drain them on a paper towel, then reserve the bacon grease. Toss the Brussel sprouts with the bacon grease, olive oil, maple syrup, salt, and garlic. Put the mixture onto the baking dish and spread out evenly. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Add the bacon, toss, and bake for another 2 minutes. Your Brussel sprouts should be tender and should have some crispy leaves.
I have always been a creative person and passionate about learning new trades. I went to an arts focused school where I studied painting, drawing, sculpting, printmaking and graphic design, and ended up as an entrepreneur in a corporate world running operations for several companies. I traveled the world for 15 years, setting up factories, developing, creating and manufacturing new products. I would oversee all parts of the company from the sales and marketing, to the manufacturing and compliance. It was a fun and crazy ride... and, over time; I had also lost sight of what was most important to me... my family!
