I made two pork sirloins tonight for dinner along with a potato, onion and green bean concoction.
For the veggies, I started with:
1 large potato (a very big one) - diced
1 large onion - diced with bigger pieces
about 1-2 cups of green beans
two tablespoons of olive oil
4 garlic cloves, diced
1 cup of vegetable stock (I made 2 cups and saved the second cup for the pork)
a dash or two of white wine
spices:
Herbes de Provence
Basil
Salt
Pepper
Start by warming the oil in the cocotte (a 5 quart Staub is what I used) over medium to low-medium heat, then put in the potatoes, green beans and the onion and get them nicely covered with the oil. after the cook a bit, toss some herbes de provence, maybe a tablespoon, along with 1/2 tablespoon of basil, and a tablespoon of salt and another of pepper.
After they are cooking a bit, toss in the vegatable stock and the wine. when it's going a bit. cover it with the lid (the staub keeps it nice and moist). Set it to cook for about 15 or 20 minutes like this. After 20 minutes, uncover and cook for another 5 minutes or so - so that the sauce thickens up and cooks down.
For the Sirloin, I started with:
2 pork sirloins with bone in.
butter
salt and pepper
soy sauce
the remaining 1 cup of vegetable stock
about 1-2 tablespoons of flour
warm up the oven safe skillet to medium high heat (I used a lodge skillet with lid), and pre-warm the oven to 375 degrees. put in the butter until it melts, put in the pork and salt and pepper that side, dash a bit of soy sauce onto it. after it browns (3 minutes or so) turn them over and brown the other side. Put a bit of salt and pepper on that side also. after it's browned, pour in the cup of vegetable stock, cover and put into the oven.
Cook in oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cover the pork with tinfoil so it can rest and remain warm. there should be a good bit of sauce left. turn up the heat on the stove and get it going, work in a bit of flour to thicken to taste (I sometimes take a bit of the sauce out and into a cup to cool so the flour doesn't clot up). Then put it back in and cook it into the skillet and cook until nice and thick.
Serve the veggies next to the sirloin and put a bit of the thickened sauce on top of the sirloin - a nice quick 1/2 hour (or 45 minute) dinner for two.
Review: I might have overcooked the pork, just a bit - it might taste better if I did it in the cocotte. The lodge is good for heat, but it doesn't trap the moisture quite as well.
The veggies were excellent and a nice change on my usual ways of doing potatoes.
