Vidalia Onion Fig Glazed Grilled Pork Loin with Caramelized Onions and Polenta

Remember my last giveaway? It was just last month, actually. Apparently it was such a success that a representative of CSN stores contacted me again, asking if I’d like to do another one. Naturally, I said I would love to! I mean, do you all have a problem with me trying to hook you up with free money to an online store that sells everything from cookware to cheap bedroom furniture? No, I thought not. And if you do...well you can just skip to the recipe at the bottom. Away with you!

So just like last time, one lucky winner will be awarded a one-time-use $35 gift certificate, good at any of CSN’s 200+ online stores. To enter leave a comment on this post telling me whether you’re scrounging for every last late summer recipe you can find, or if you’re over it and ready for fall. Please make sure you provide an email address if there isn’t one linked to your profile.

For additional entries, do one or all of the following, then come back and leave a separate comment for each, letting me know the deed is done.

1. Become a fan of (“Like”) Bananas for Bourbon on Facebook, and if you already are, just say so!
2. Subscribe to my blog via an RSS feed (just click that “Follow” button in the toolbar on the right), and if you already do, just say so!
3. Post a link to this giveaway on your blog, and let me know about it.

The rules: open to US and Canada residents only, as that is where CSN store's products ship. The giveaway closes on Thursday, September 30th at 11:59pm PST. The winner will be selected by a random number generator and announced (and contacted!) sometime on Friday.

And by a total coincidence, just like the last giveaway was paired with a Stonewall Kitchen sauce recipe, it just happens that today’s recipe is also courtesy of my very giving friend who sent me that awesome care package all those weeks ago. The sauce I was most excited to try was the Vidalia Onion Fig sauce. I have a thing for figs, see. Can a fruit be meaty?  I think figs kinda are.  The minute I saw it, I thought of doing a glaze on a pork loin. Don’t ask me why. Then I thought caramelized onions would go awesome with pork glazed with an onion sauce. Then I thought it would all sit beautifully atop a soft, creamy bed of polenta. Then my mouth watered and I made it. A few weeks later...but nevermind that.

Let’s talk about the pork. First off, I brined it. Have you ever brined pork? Have you ever brined chicken? Maybe a turkey for Thanksgiving? It’s truly amazing what it does for the flavor and texture of meat and poultry. If you’re not hip to the lingo, brining is when you soak your meat in salt water for several hours before you cook it, which helps prevent it from drying out during cooking, so you end up with moist, tender deliciousness (Wikipedia explains it far better than I can). Brining is not the time to be timid with salt. You want a saturated solution, so it uses a lot. But don’t worry, you’ll rinse it off after the soak, so it won’t make your finished dish taste like the sea. Promise. Since I was grilling a rather large and lean piece of pork, a brine was the right way to go. For a more delicate cut of meat, like tenderloin, I wouldn’t say brining would be necessary, but I’m sure it would be delicious just the same. I chose to grill because I wanted a nice caramelized crust on the outside (I’m sure oven roasting would be tasty as well for the colder months), and I’m glad I did because, man oh man, was this pork ever delicious. Juicy, tender, and sweet thanks to the vidalia onion fig sauce.

I love to pair meat with caramelized onions. Their soft texture and sweet, mellowed onion flavor just go so nicely. I actually was experiencing some recipe-writing-block when trying to type this out, so I sent it to my editor sister for some tips. She came back with enough to help unstick my brain (thanks, Sheesh!), but also questioned the total cook time - “Did I read that right, that you cook the onions for 45 minutes? That seems crazy long. If that's right, you might want to say, ‘Yes, you read that right. 45 mins.’" I said something along the lines of, “OMG, seriously?! You’ve never caramelized onions!? They are so flipping tasty!” Then later that day I told Husband about it and he said something along the lines of, “Really? But they’re so flipping tasty!”, and I said, “I know, right!?” Sure, they’re a pain because they take so long, but they’re actually pretty easy and hands off. Just stir every few minutes, then forget about them. It’s just the clock that makes them problematic, but it’s a sound investment because caramelized onions make everything taste better. Ok, not chocolate cake. Savory things? Totally.

With the polenta, I thought the flavors came together so well. Everything had a sweet element to it, but surprisingly, I didn’t find it too sweet at all. Well the sauce was too sweet on it’s own, just like the ginger wasabi sauce (sugar was again the first ingredient), but with a dab on a piece of pork with the onions and polenta? Yum. It added a kick of flavor that was needed, and intended, and the onion flavor really came through.  Next time I might try mixing some fresh thyme into the polenta or with the onions, but I was totally out of fresh herbs. There are definitely ways to make this dish your own, but I thought my version was a winner.

Guess that’s two sauces down, and two to go! Stay tuned!

Vidalia Onion Fig Glazed Grilled Pork Loin

Makes about 8 servings

For the brine:
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup honey
10 black peppercorns
1 TB dried rosemary
2 TB onion powder
1 bay leaf
~3 cups water
2lb pork loin

For the rub:
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp mustard powder

For the glaze:
1/2 cup Stonewall Kitchen Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce (plus more for the final dish)

To brine the pork:

In a gallon-sized ziplock bag, combine the salt and honey with about 3 cups of water. Scrunch the bag to agitate the water and dissolve the salt. Add the peppercorns, rosemary, onion powder, and bay leaf. Add the pork loin and enough water until it is fully submerged in the brine. Let the pork brine for at least 8 hours, overnight is even better.

Note: Don’t trim the layer of fat off the pork yet. You’re going to be using it later.

To grill the pork:

1. A little before you plan to grill it, remove the pork from the brine and give it a good rinse to get the excess salt off. Pat it dry with paper towels and let it air dry for a few minutes.
2. Cut the fat layer off the top of the loin, doing your best to keep it in one big piece. Set it aside.  Combine all the ingredients for the rub in a small bowl and rub it over the pork until it is evenly coated. Using butcher’s twine, tie the fat layer back onto the pork. This will keep it moist and add flavor while it cooks. But if it grosses you out or is too finicky for you, just skip that part.
3. With the grill heated to medium-low, place the pork on the grill, fat-side down, and cover. After 3-5 minutes, turn the pork over and grill for another 3-5 minutes. Cut the butcher’s twine, and remove and discard the fat layer. Turn the pork over again so the side that was covered with fat can get some good grill marks, another 3 minutes or so. Now is the time to glaze. Brush the onion fig sauce generously over the pork and continue to grill, flipping every few minutes. I did a second coating of glaze once the first coat did a turn over the flames, but that’s optional.
4. When the glaze is caramelized and the pork has reached an internal temperature of about about 140 degrees (this will vary based on the size your particular cut of loin), about 15-20 minutes, remove it from the grill and let it rest, covered loosely with some aluminum foil, for about 10 minutes.

Note: If you don’t have this fig sauce, fear not! There are plenty of other options. You could mix some fig jam, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. If you don’t like figs, how about blackberry? Or a cranberry compote? You just need something a bit sweet (preferably with a hint of savory) that is going to bring a lot of flavor.

Caramelized Onions

Makes about 2 cups

4 medium yellow onions, sliced into 1/4 inch wide half moons
1 TB olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 TB balsamic vinegar
1 TB Marsala wine

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and salt. When the onions have given off their water but before they begin to brown, turn the heat down to medium-low (or all the way to low if it’s a hot burner). You want to make sure the onions are cooking, but not browning, so you may want to play around with the flame a bit to ensure they aren’t cooking too hot or too cold, and you’ll want to stir them up occasionally. The slow cooking will allow all the water to cook away and the sugars to caramelize until they are sweet and delicious.
2. After about 45 minutes, (Yes, you read right. You can’t rush perfection!) the onions should be well caramelized. They’ll be considerably shrunken because all the water will have cooked out, and they’ll be golden brown to dark brown in color. Add the balsamic vinegar and Marsala wine and cook for another minute, just until they are incorporated. 

Creamy Polenta

Makes about 6 cups

4 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups polenta
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Marsala wine
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. While stirring constantly, very slowly sprinkle in the polenta. The slower you add, supposedly, the creamier it will be. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the polenta is thickened and the water is fully absorbed.
2. Add the cream, wine, salt, and pepper, and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until everything is incorporated.
3. Add the cheeses, stirring until they are fully melted. Adjust the seasonings to taste.

To assemble this dinner of deliciousness, spoon an appropriate amount of polenta on your plate. Top the polenta with a helping of caramelized onions, and then a few slices of pork. Pour an additional dab of the vidalia onion fig sauce over the pork and enjoy!

A Goofball, a Gift, and a Giveaway!

Recipe below: Wasabi Ginger Soy Pulled Pork Ribs

If you read food blogs with any regularity, you’ve probably heard of CSN stores. They’re kind of like another popular online shopping website (you know, the one that started as a bookseller?) in that they sell everything...dinnerware, cookware, appliances, even fitness equipment! And one of their genius methods of marketing is sponsoring blog giveaways...can you guess where I’m going with this?

Welcome to Bananas for Bourbon’s very first giveaway! One lucky winner will be awarded a one-time-use $40 gift certificate, good at any of CSN’s 200+ online stores. Lucky ducky! I’ve entered many a giveaway for one of these puppies, but was never fortunate enough to win. So good luck!

To enter: leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite Bananas for Bourbon recipe so far. Make sure you provide an email address if there isn’t one linked to your profile.

For additional entries, do one or all of the following, then come back and leave a separate comment for each, letting me know the deed is done.

1. Become a fan of (“Like”) Bananas for Bourbon on Facebook, and if you already are, just say so! 
2. Subscribe to my blog via an RSS feed (just click that “Follow” button in the toolbar on the right), and if you already do, just say so! 
3. Post a link to this giveaway on your blog, and let me know about it. 

The rules: open to US and Canada residents only, as that is where CSN store's products ship. The giveaway closes on Tuesday, August 10th at 11:59pm PST. The winner will be selected by a random number generator and announced (and contacted!) sometime on Wednesday.



I was actually glad to have the opportunity to facilitate this giveaway because I feel like I won my own giveaway this week. Imagine my surprise when, completely out of the blue, I received a package on my doorstep containing this:

OMG! Whatever could be the cause of this wonderfulness? I'm not worthy!  Thankfully, there was a helpful note. Turns out my most awesome friend and former college roommate could relate to my predicament of being low on funds while trying to expand my culinary horizons, and she instructed me to consider it an investment in my future food blogging adventures. I almost cried, I was so happy. If there is one thing this unemployment experience has taught me, it’s that people can be truly beautiful during times of discord.  I'm not worthy!  I am definitely taking this seriously, and plan to post a recipe (eventually!) for each and every time shown.  If you can't read the labels, there are 4 sauces (honey barbecue, wasabi ginger, vidalia onion fig, and maple chipotle garlic) and 4 pestos (sun-dried tomato, basil, black olive, and artichoke).  

Now let's take a minute to drool and make noises...

Ok, back.  I've seen some Stonewall Kitchen products around a few random spots, like in winery shops and that kind of thing, and I have always drooled quite a bit over the vidalia onion fig sauce.  I can't wait to try that one, and I already have something in mind...  If any of these goodies sound especially delicious to you, leave me a comment with what you would would make!

I’m far from an expert when it comes to cuts of meat, seeing as how I’m still fairly new to eating meat, so I had to put on my thinking cap when I saw pork shoulder country style ribs on super sale at the store. They were large chunks of meat on the bone, obviously not like a baby back. Since pork shoulder meat always does so well in the slow cooker, I figured I would try braising them in the wasabi ginger sauce. Bones = flavor, after all!  I ended up cooking them low and slow in the oven with just a portion of the sauce along with some soy sauce and other delicious flavorings. Then when the pork was falling off the bone and delicious, I shredded it up and tossed it with the rest of the wasabi ginger sauce.  And since the sauce was a gift and the pork was on sale, it cost me less than $10.  Take that, Melissa D'Arabian!  Except not, because the sauce was a gift and the pork was on sale...  But whatever!

How good was this pork? Well, Husband came home and had an entire bowl for dinner. Then he got up and attempted to refill the bowl for a second helping. I had to beat him away with a stick words of reason in a very scolding tone! If that’s any indication. The pork was tender and succulent, and since it cooked on the bone, it had the rich pork flavor. Yum! I was glad I waited until after the pork was cooked to toss it with the sauce, or I think it would have gotten lost during the braise. The sauce itself is pretty sweet.  There are like 3 different kinds of sugar (sugar, brown sugar, and honey) listed in, I think, the first 5 or 6 ingredients, and it's not at all spicy, like I would expect something with wasabi in the name to be, but that said, it's a tasty sauce!  And I am, admittedly, very sensitive to sweet things since I've been weaned from processed foods and the like.  The application for the sauce, in my most humble opinion, was right on!  If you felt a little acid was necessary, you could always throw in a splash if lime juice or vinegar, but I think it was balanced enough as it was.

Overall, I would call this dish a success! Next time I see those ribs on sale, they’re getting snatched up quick! Next time I want to try adding a little wasabi powder or Sriracha hot sauce to the braising liquid, just to infuse a little heat while it cooks.

The only problem with this recipe is that it results in this:

Goodbye wasabi ginger sauce!  I hardly knew you!  And yet, you will fill my belly with deliciousness for days to come!

So thanks, friend! Thanks for so fantastically cheering me up.  I needed it. Thanks for believing in my cooking and food blogging. I'm touched.  And thanks for being a good person and a great friend. You are inspiring. I hope my first recipe didn't disappoint!

Wasabi Ginger Soy Pulled Pork Ribs

Makes about 8 servings

~4 pounds pork shoulder country style ribs
1 TB ginger, minced
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 TB mirin
1 TB rice wine vinegar
1 11 fl.oz bottle Stonewall Kitchen Wasabi Ginger Sauce, divided
8oz button mushrooms, sliced (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees. 
2. Place the ribs in an even layer in a dutch oven or other covered oven-safe vessel. Add the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin, rice wine vinegar, and 1/4 cup of the wasabi ginger sauce, then toss until the ribs are coasted. Add the mushrooms, if using. 
3. Cover and cook for 4-5 hours, or until the pork is tender and falling off the bone. 
4. Transfer the mushrooms and pork to a bowl, leaving the bones behind, and shred it with a fork. Toss it with the remaining wasabi ginger sauce, and serve. 

Serving suggestions: over a bed of wilted spinach or steamed bok choy, in lettuce cups, beside an Asian slaw, in soft tortillas topped with cabbage, as a slider, or whatever tickles your fancy! 

What are you still doing here?  Go make pulled pork!  Oh, right. You want to know where the goofball mentioned in the post title comes in, eh?  Well, how about this guy:

What can I say?  I'm a sucker for alliteration and things in threes. 

Deliciously Sweet, Contrarily Sour

Recipe: Sweet and Sour Pork

This dish is a bit like my job search.  You know...at times sweet, and other times, um, sour. Pungent. Acrid. Biting. I totally broke out the thesaurus on that one.  Anyway, I had a bit of a rough week, on the job front, that is.  I wish I had some of this on hand to brighten things up because, while in life sour is generally inauspicious, in food it can be part of a necessary balance.  A delicious, delectable balance.  I'm putting the thesaurus away now, I promise.

I made this many weeks ago.  Remember Husband's birthday cake?  Yeah, this was the dinner that preceded dessert.  It turned out far better than I ever dreamed!  See, I'm not actually even a fan of sweet and sour sauce.  I don't like my food cloyingly sweet.  The recipes I see usually call for gobs of sugar (thus the cloy!*), ketchup, cider vinegar, and orange juice.  I know most Chinese food I eat is anything but authentic, but that doesn't even include soy sauce!  It's like the food culture supposedly inspiring the dish is completely lost.  After some hunting around, and massive experimentation in the kitchen, I finally rejiggered** something that has notes of the original Americanized dish, and hints of a more "traditional" Americanized, Chinese-influenced dish. [Phew!  That one was hard to type with a straight face!] That's right, I threw in a little ketchup and sugar, along with some darn soy sauce!  And oyster sauce!  And if we're using vinegar here, it should be rice wine vinegar, right?!

Getting the sauce just right was pretty hard.  The recipe below is definitely not hard and fast measurements.  If it's not sweet enough, add more juice or plum sauce (or ketchup if you must).  If it's not sour enough, add more vinegar.  For salt, add more soy.  For acid, more pineapple juice. You get the idea.  The oyster sauce, I think, gives it a bit more depth of flavor (umami if you'll pardon my buzz word), and the plum sauce gives it some sweetness without that ketchup tang.  But if you don't have plum sauce and oyster sauce on hand, by all means leave them out.  Don't buy them just for this one dish.  A bit more sugar and maybe some Worcestershire sauce would be acceptable substitutes.  Just keep tasting it and adjusting until it tastes just right to you.  This was the blend that was to Husband's taste bud's liking.

I know battered and deep fried chicken is what you normally get at the Chinese fast food joints, but who needs that?  Not only is it unhealthy, but it's unnecessarily unhealthy.  That's the worst kind!  Sure, battered and fried meat is flavorful, but you're lathering your food in sauce.  A flavorful sauce!  And I think the stir-fried pork provided a nice texture contrast to the soft vegetables.

Now I want to talk a little about mirin.  Have you heard of it?  Do you have a bottle in your pantry?  I highly recommend that you do!  It's a sweet rice wine, and I love it.  It has a sweet, mild flavor that goes well in all kinds of Asian-inspired dishes.  I like to use it instead of sugar.  It gives the sweetness I need and a bit more flavor. There's definitely more recipes with mirin on the way, so stock up!  I buy it at my local Asian market, but I've seen it at the major grocery stores too, right by the rice wine vinegar.

It's funny that I went into this dish not even liking sweet and sour sauce, and I came out of it with a new recipe in my arsenal!  Win!  Think you don't like it too?  Give this one a try.



*Is cloy a word?  Did I invent another word?  I guess that's what happens when you're bananas for bourbon.  New words tend to pop up in your repertoire.

**See what I mean?

Sweet and Sour Pork

Makes about 6 servings

1 lb pork loin, sliced into bite sized pieces
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 can chopped pineapple in natural juices (not the kind in syrup), drained and juice reserved
3 stalks green onion, sliced into rounds
vegetable oil

For the marinade:
1 1/2 TB soy sauce
3 tsp mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 1/2 TB sesame oil
1 1/2 TB corn starch

For the sauce:
3 TB ketchup
2 tsp plum sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsp corn starch
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 inch knob of ginger, minced
1/4 cup reserved pineapple juice
1/4 cup orange juice

1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and place into a container or ziplock bag with the pork.  Marinate for about 30 minutes.
2. Whisk together the sauce ingredients, adjusting quantities to taste, and set aside.
3. In a wok or saucepan over medium-high heat, add 1 TB of vegetable oil and stir-fry the pork until it is browned on all sides, about 5-7 minutes. Remove the pork from the wok and set aside.
4. Add another TB of vegetable oil, if needed, and stir-fry the bell peppers, onion, and garlic until softened and aromatic.  Add the sweet and sour sauce, pork, and pineapple, and simmer until thickened and lovely, about 10-15 minutes.  Sprinkle in the green onions at the very end.
5. Serve over jasmine rice (preferably brown), and enjoy!