Failing to make proper style chips, but I made a tasty sauce!

There is a difference between french fries and chips ... and yes, beyond the obvious that Ore-Ida makes the former and Lays the latter.  When the British, the Aussies or anyone else says chips, they mean a fried potato that has a bit more substance than your standard french fry.  I am not always a fan of chips because they tend not to be toward the soggy side, but in Australia earlier this year my thoughts on chips were taken to a different place!

While eating at our hotel restaurant I bit into a chip that was the perfect combination of fried, crispy, exterior and creamy perfection inside.  For this dinner I attempted to recreate them.  While I was able to get the outside nice and crispy with the traditional double fry approach used in Belgian frittes, I was unable to get the smooth, creamy inside I was looking for.

For those that don't know what I'm talking about, in traditional Belgian style frittes, you will actually cut the fries into evenly sized strips and then fry them for about five minutes.  You then remove them and allow them to rest on a rack (or some paper towel) and sweat out the additional moisture before frying them a second time until crispy.

I served these chips up with a garlic, rosemary and sriracha sour cream sauce along with broccoli and broiled snapper.

Garlic, rosemary and sriracha sour cream sauce
3 Tbsp sour cream
1 Tbsp cream (or whole milk)
2 cloves roasted garlic (minced)
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary (minced)
1/2 tsp sriracha

Mix all ingredients well, spoon over whatever and enjoy!

Garlic stuffed pork anyone?

Do you like pork?  Do you like Garlic?  Do you wonder why you haven't put them together yet? If you answered no to all of the questions above, you probably don't need to read on ... otherwise, please do.

For this dinner I had a pork tenderloin and was looking for something fun to do with it.  This was a leadup meal to vacation, so I was serving it simply with rice and roasted veggies, so I really needed the pork to have a kick and make the dish.

I decided that garlic would be the way to go to make this dinner healthy but still have a kick.

Garlic Stuffed Pork
1 pork tenderloin
1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
7 cloves of garlic (or the equivalent of garlic paste or pre-minced garlic)
2 tbsp parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)
kitchen twine
salt and pepper mix

Preheat oven to 375F.  Remove the skin from the garlic and slice thinly (skip this step if using paste or pre-minced).  Use a sharp knife to cut a slit, lengthwise, starting and ending about 1/2" from either end.  The slit should be about halfway deep into the pork.  Spread the mustard evenly into the slit that you have cut.  Layer the garlic slices (or mince/paste) into the slit that you cut, filling it evenly.  Top the garlic with the parmesan cheese, again filling evenly.  Use the kitchen twine to tie the pork back together (between 4 and 5 pieces most likely), keeping the slit to the top.  Put the pork into a roasting pan with a rack, sprinkle the top with salt and pepper mix and then into the oven it goes.  The pork should cook for between 30 and 45 minutes (or until a meat thermometer registers 160F) depending on the size of your tenderloin.  I prefer to cook mine covered, but if you like the outside a little crispy you can cook it uncovered, however you risk drying the pork out a bit.  Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes, slice & Enjoy!