The Sweet and the Sour : Lemon Pork with Honey Applesauce

3/14/10: Lemon Salt Marinated Pork Tenderloin with Honey Roasted Applesauce

Meal details: The sole dish for this meal consisted of a pork loin, crusted with lemon zest, salt, and pepper, seared and roasted in the oven, and served with a sauce of apples, honey, and lemon juice.

Defining moments: First time for me to sear and roast a pork loin.

Recipe sources: Both these recipes came from Michael Chiarello, the host of Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello (that sometimes airs on the Fine Living channel). I chose to do these two recipes because I am part of the Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Thank My Mother blog.

What I learned: One important lesson I learned this week--and this is what I gathered from my Papa--is that pork is a hard meat to overcook. That is good to know because I rather start cooking early, put it in the oven, and forget about it!
When I was zesting the lemons I wanted to try out something I saw on the show Good Eats. Alton Brown recommended placing a layer of saran wrap on top of a cheese grater on the side that looks like little stars and grate the lemons directly onto the saran wrap. And when you were done, just remove the saran wrap and scrape off the zest. I tried it and it worked perfectly! I was afraid that the saran wrap may tear but it worked out just fine and this little trick really comes in handy for me because I am without a microplane. :( Sniff. . . I'm not really crying, I think I can do without that gadget! It's a bit too fancy for me. ;)

Any modifications? Yes, I made a few. For the tenderloin recipe I used only four lemons. Some of the people who commented on this recipe said the lemon flavor was too strong, so that's why I adjusted the amount.
And the applesauce. . . I didn't cut up apples and roast them but rather took three quarts of homemade applesauce from the freezer and used that as a base. I used two quarts of smooth and one chunky and I reduced the liquid on the stove top.

How it tasted? The pork went very well with the applesauce but I couldn't really detect a lemon flavor, unfortunately. It was a good pork, nonetheless, it had good flavor and moistness. I really liked the applesauce! I love the sweet and tart combination.

How about a 2nd time? The lemon zest didn't add much flavor to the meal. . . This lack of lemon flavor could be caused by my lemon reduction but I'm not sure. No, I don't think I will go through the trouble again of trying out this recipe. I'm satisfied with the way we roast our pork already, which is placing the pork in a pan with a little water and seasoning it liberally with salt and pepper. Its simple but it is good that way. If it ain't broke, don't fix.
I will have the applesauce again, though. It was deeelicious!