Prosciutto Basil Turkey with Red Wine Glaze

A good friend of mine from university has just started reading this blog and got in touch the other day asking if I had time for lunch.

I asked her where she wanted to go. She replied that since I was such world-class cook now, didn't I have something ready to go.

I didn't.

She had to join me on what turned out to be a very long mission to the grocery store, but everything finally came together.

I think I've written about my love and adoration for Suzanne Somers, and this recipe is the root of that love. During my leave, I've watched some (thrilling) daytime TV and caught a segment where Suzanne cooked the most magnificent and simple dish. It has become a standby favourite for the Captain and I. It's a nice quick, but tasty meal and I've already impressed my parents with it. I thought it would be a good choice to treat my friend with. Once I decided that was what we were having, my mind was set.

I had lots of yummy fruits and veggies around the house, so I knew I could whip together a fancy salad. I also knew that my guest would actually eat said salad, unlike Captain Handsome, so that was exciting.

I thought we'd make a quick pop by to the grocery store and pick up some turkey breasts, prosciutto and fresh basil and then head home and whip up lunch. It didn't quite work out that way.

I don't know if you use turkey breasts to cook with, but at my nearby grocery store, they're a rare commodity. Whenever I find them in the butcher section, hiding amongst the chicken breasts, I hoard them and subsequently freeze them at home. As it turns out, thawing some out would have been faster in this case.

Getting the prosciutto was no problem, I just needed four super thin slices.

There were, predictably, no turkey breasts in the butcher section, nor were there any hiding in the back (I asked). The butcher recommended I head a few aisles over to the Kosher section. Brilliant. Searching through their cases, I realized that there were no turkey breasts there, either.

Party in the Kosher Butcher!

Luckily, the Kosher butcher section is the party section of the grocery store and the employees (especially the guy with the hair-netted beard) were happy to help. It is a happening place in there. There were several employees, all having a great time. I kind of wish I worked there. If it weren't for the religious thing and the having to chop up meat thing, I'd be great.

They had some bone-in skin-on turkey breasts hiding in the back and were more than willing to de-bone and skin some for me. It is party-time there, but it wasn't particularly fast. 25 minutes later, my friend had bought her fiancee his birthday present, wandered through the entire grocery store, selected a perfectly ripe avocado and I had played a few rounds of Draw Something and we finally got our beautiful breasts (full turkey breasts are enormous, by the way!).

Is it totally lame or culturally respectful that I was embarrassed in the Kosher butcher to have prosciutto and hid the forbidden ham product under a Passover brochure?

After nearly an hour, I think I would have been faster to thaw some turkey out at home after all.

We finally got home and I whipped together the meal. It was a big hit and I even had leftovers that I had on a salad the next day. This meal never fails to impress. We had just enough time to load the dishwasher and I had to run out to a doctor's appointment.

Now, what you've been waiting for...the recipe.

Prosciutto Basil Turkey with Red Wine Glaze

A sneak preview of the finished meal, all plated and ready to go.

Ingredients:
4 slices boneless skinless turkey breast - sliced thin (if you can get it pre-cut into scallopini, that's my favourite) (approx. 1-1.5 oz per slice)
4 slices thinly sliced prosciutto ham
16 leaves fresh basil (Suzanne Somers does her recipe with sage, but we prefer the taste of basil)
4 tbsp butter
1/2 c red wine
Fresh ground sea salt and pepper

Process:
-Layer each slice of turkey with 4 leaves of basil, season with salt and pepper and top with one slice of prosciutto

Gratuitous raw meat shot. You can't get salmonella through the computer monitor, don't worry.

-heat 1 tbsp of butter in pan on stovetop at med heat
-when butter is hot, place meat (turkey side down) into pan, cook for 2-3 minutes on each side (your turkey should be so thin that it cooks very quickly. If it's a little thicker, just check it by cutting into it. No part of the turkey should be pink. That's poultry poison!)

-Leave the delicious drippings in the pan!
-Place the meat somewhere it will stay warm for a few minutes (I usually turn on my oven to "Warm and Hold", and plate the meat, then store it in there while I'm making the sauce, this also makes the plates toasty warm!)
-Add the remaining butter and red wine to the pan, increase heat to high, stir frequently until it reduces (about 5-8 minutes)

Bubbling butter and wine. It took Suzanne to teach me how simple it is to make such a delicious sauce!

-Serve turkey with prosciutto side up, with about 1 tbsp of sauce on top

Serves 3-4

Nutritional Information:
(per serving)
Calories: 210
Carbs: 2
Fat: 13 g
Protein: 15 g
Fibre: 1 g
Sugar: 0 g

I served this with a huge salad, topped with fabulous cheese crisps, which are the most magnificent and simple low-carb snack (and substitute for crutons in a salad or crackers in dips)

Cheese Crisps

The cheese crisps are ready for their close up. Actually, they're ready for the microwave. These are not my most beautiful shaped cheese crisps, they're a little uneven around the edges. I usually strive for a more circular crisp.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp grated Asiago cheese

Process:
-Place parchment paper (my new best friend) on top of microwave safe plate
-make 1/2 tbsp piles of cheese in four corners of paper
-lay cheese out flat (make sure there is not a heap in the middle and that the cheese is of a relatively regular thickness)
-cook in microwave for 30-45 seconds or until cheese is well melted and bubbly, and slightly orange
-cool on a plate until cheese crisps harden
-you may need to test this in your microwave a few times until you know exactly how strong your microwave's power is and how long it takes to perfectly crisp your cheese
-I have experimented with lots of types of cheese and sizes of cheese crisps, but the taste and consistency of the Asiago is my favourite so far, it also looks pretty and lacy and snazzes up any dish

-makes 4 small crisps

Nutritional Information:
(per Cheese Crisp)
Calories: 9
Carbs: 0 g
Fat: 1 g
Protein: 1 g
Fibre: 0 g
Sugar: 0g

Our lovely, lovely lunch. You get to see the finished cheese crisps' colour here.

Yum or Not:
I served this with a big salad, topped with some leftover prosciutto, the cheese crisps and a homemade vinaigrette, asparagus and a glass of red wine (really tasty stuff called Longue Dog that Matt bought based on the picture of the long dog on the bottle). 

This meal has become a reliable standby and I am always proud to serve it and happy to gobble it. It has gotten a consistent reaction of yums from everyone who has tried it. Sometimes I prepare a meal and it takes so long to get it ready that by the time I put it on my own plate, I can't even tell if I really like it or if I'm just relieved the process is over. For this, I always know it's just plain delicious. It tastes so good, I can't even believe how good it is for me.

The meal was a hit with my friend and she was impressed with my new and improved cooking skills.

This meal made me fall head over heels in love with Suzanne Somers.

Mango Chicken Salad

Tj needed some brain food during her studies and made a beautiful Mango Chicken Salad. She'll be posting the recipe for you later, but had to hit the books hard, so asked me to throw the photo up in the meantime to inspire!

Herb and Panko Crusted Halibut with Spinach Goma Ae

Tj is hard at work studying for exams, but whipped up a delicious looking meal and wanted me to post it for her. She'll be on next week to post the recipe. For now, enjoy the feast for the eyes!

Filet Mignon and Caramelized Onions

Tonight I made my first ever steak!

I don't generally prepare red meat. Actually, I pretty well NEVER prepare red meat. I sometimes cook pork tenderloin, but I think of it as "the other white meat". I have a bit of a complex about this. I call it my "Vegetarian Hangover". I was a vegetarian for years as a teenager and have gone back to veggie ways in little fits and starts in adulthood. I hate preparing or eating any meat that looks anything like an animal - thus, no seafood, nothing bloody, nothing fatty, nothing touching or near a bone. I realize this may sound neurotic to some, but if you get it, you get it.

However, two weeks ago, while cleaning and organizing our hoarding-disaster of a basement, we discovered an obscene and wonderful hoard of change. We decided to reward our sweaty selves with (first a shower, then) a romantic date to a steakhouse that we'd heard great things about. We'd tried to get in before for an anniversary and Valentines, but had been denied reservations.

Our basement money treated us to an incredible 3 hour long meal that was a feast for the senses, but as I told my physiotherapist about it (I have an active social life), he told me he never goes out to restaurants where he can replicate the food at home. My co-blogger and sister-in-law, TJ, often says the same thing.

Because of my Vegetarian Hangover, I thought I was incapable of preparing steak. Something miraculous happened today, though. I was at my favourite store, The produce Depot, loading up on veggies and some fruits and realized I needed some protein. I headed into the deli and picked out some sliced meats and sauntered into the refrigerated meats section, usually a scary area for me.

I have been pretty diligent about researching and recording everything that I'm eating, so even before we went to the steakhouse, I checked out the menu online (I'm so determined, I even had to download the PDF) and then read about cuts of meat. I learned that the filet mignon (French for cute, by the way) is the leanest cut. I was pretty happy with that choice at the restaurant, and Matt was envious, even with his New York Striploin that was much larger.

When I spotted three adorable (I can't believe I'm saying that about chunks of dead cow) chunks of filet mignon sitting in the refigerator at Produce Depot, I knew I was into a new territory of cooking and my house would become a steakhouse tonight.

One problem. I have had no idea how to cook red meat.

Thank goodness for the Internet.

Ingredients:
3 filet mignon steaks (about 5 oz each)
1 tbsp finely minced garlic
1 tbsp evoo
4 tbsp butter
Fresh ground sea salt and pepper
1/4 c red wine
1 thinly sliced Vidalia onion

Process: (thank you Yahoo! Answers)

-put two pans on stovetop, one for onions, one for steaks

Steaks:
-season steaks on both sides with salt and pepper
-heat 2 tbsp of butter in steak pan at med-high heat
-when butter starts to bubble, add garlic and stir
-place steaks in garlic butter and sear on each site for 2 minutes
-reduce to medium heat
-baste filet with butter, cooking for four minutes on each side for medium rare (add 2-3 minutes for medium, well done, etc.)
-remove from heat

Sauce:
-using drippings (butter, garlic, oh my!) from steak, add oil, remaining butter and wine to saucepan
-increase heat, reduce, stirring frequently

Onions:
-heat 1 tbsp of butter in on med heat
-add onions and stir frequently (for about 15 minutes or until golden brown and soft)

-Serve one filet next to onions with sauce on top

(makes 3 servings, although I only ate about half of mine)

No, that is NOT blood. I have a Vegetarian Hangover, remember? That is the tasty sauce I made! Red wine, baby!

Nutritional Information:
(per serving)
Calories: 490
Carbohydrates: 6 g (onions are sugary!)
Fat: 30 g
Protein: 41 g
Fibre: 2 g
Sugar: 3 g


Yum or Not:
Oh gracious. This was the definion of a moist, flavourful cut of meat. We ate this with our grown up (me) and little kid (Captain Handsome) salads. Captain Handsome's was gone in moments and he's taking the third serving for lunch tomorrow.

You can't tell, but this is my grown up salad. There is a bunch of baby lettuce and various sprouts hiding beneath the cukes, tomatoes and feta. This actually looks a lot like the Captain's little kid salad!

From what I read, it was a good thing we still don't have our BBQ out, as this lean cut of meat gets dried out in the fire.

This was my dinner - I didn't even need the steak knife. The meat was THAT tender.

You may have noticed that this was a HIGH fat recipe. I am currently trying out a low-carb, high-fat, high-protein diet (based on Ketogenic diets). So far, it's going great for me. The key is to eat a tiny amount of carbs each day, so that your body learns to burn fat. It's amazing, but I'm eating butter and bacon and losing weight at the tune of about 2 lbs a week. It's kind of awesome, but it does mean no bread and no sugar, so there's that.

Basil Pesto, Roasted Tomatoes and Spinach Salad

My husband, Dr. Gold, just got home from a week away so we decided to stay in tonight. His only request was “something light and healthy”

I wasn’t in the mood for braving a grocery store, so I pieced together a dinner from what was left in the fridge.

I made a homemade basil pesto earlier this week (in my trusty Vita-Mix), and wanted to use it up.

Easy Homemade Basil Pesto

Ingredients:

Big ol’ pile of fresh basil (roughly 3 cups)
½ c pine nuts (toasted)
¼ c extra virgin olive oil
1/3 c. fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
salt & pepper to taste

Process:

I tossed 2 tbsp of this pesto with some fresh, flat noodle pasta I picked up at Granville Island Market last weekend (interestingly, I bought it while Dr. Gold was out of town, thinking it was a suitable portion for me. Turned out it created a hearty portion for the two of us. A lesson in portion size for me!).

I've also had a bag of tomatoes on the vine sitting in my fruit bowl all week. I had to use them today before they went bad.

Time for....

My Mama's Roasted Tomatoes


Ingredients:
4-6 large tomatoes (roughly chopped into eighths)
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
handful of finely chopped basil
1/4 c Parmesan cheese

Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
3 c. fresh spinach
2 T. crumbled goat cheese
¼ c. dried cranberries
¼ c. almonds
3 T. raspberry vinaigrette
(A post on salad dressing recipes to come ….)

Green Smoothie with Ataulfo Mango

I picked up these Ataulfo mangos at Whole Foods yesterday.  They are usually plentiful and inexpensive in the spring and summer months.  I like their flavor more than the standard green and red mangos that can sometimes have tough, sinewy texture.

I decided to experiment with a green smoothie using my Vita-Mix.  A post-work out snack after an exhausting spin class.

I promise, I receive no financial incentives from the Vita-Mix company, but I’m telling you this machine is LIFE-CHANGING.  It’s just a heavy duty blender (apparently has the same horsepower as a lawn-mower).  But I use it every day, for smoothies, sauces, dips, salad dressing, soup … it does EVERYTHING!!!  And for smoothies, it gives a rich, thick consistency without having to add milk or yogurt.

Ingredients (1 serving)

3 inch piece English cucumber

1 large celery stalk

2 cups fresh spinach

½ medium-sized banana

1 mango (peeled, pit removed)

1 cup water

½ cup ice

Blend well.

As far as a Green Smoothie goes, this specimen rates high on the YUM scale!!  Keep in mind with all the green vegetable content, it’s not especially sweet.  

Oven-Baked BBQ Chicken in Onion Nests

The weather has been unseasonably beautiful here in Ottawa. The last days of winter have actually felt like the middle of summer. On the first official day of spring, I wanted to make a BBQ meal. However, our back porch is dangerously rotten and Captain Handsome did not want to risk pulling out the BBQ. I had to be a little creative with the recipe, then.

Earlier in the day, I had tried a recipe from my new recipe book, The Sexy Forever Recipe Bible. Several weeks ago, I saw the book's author, Suzanne Somers, on some daytime talk show making an amazing dish (which is now one of our faves, I'll put the recipe up as soon as I make it again and snap a photo). I've been planning to pick up the book since then. She cooks with full fat, low carb, fresh ingredients and fits pretty perfectly with the diet I'm doing right now. Also, that one dish was so absolutlely out of this world, that I figured the book was worth a try. It's already heavily annotated and sticky noted by me. So, in the morning, I tried her partner, Alan's Fried Eggs in Onion Nests. Super yum! Captain Handsome watched me eat them, and although he has an aversion to eggs, I could see he was envious of my tasty onion nests. That got my creative juices percolating.

When we started getting close to dinner time, I decided on a springy dinner, BBQ sauce chicken in onion nests (it would look like little eggs in a nest!), served with fresh green beans (grass!). Captain Handsome didn't notice the beautiful springscape on his plate, but, as you'll see in the review below, the appearance of the meal didn't really matter!

Oven-Baked BBQ Chicken (a really-complicated Shauna original)
Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c reduced sodium chicken broth
3 tbsp President's Choice Stampede BBQ sauce Beer and Chipotle flavour (or your favourite BBQ sauce)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


Process:
-preheat oven to 350 degrees
-trim fat and nasty bloody spots off of chicken, keeping a wide berth, because that's just gross
-discard icky bits of chicken
-slice chicken breasts into small strips of about 1/2 inch thick and 1-2 inches long
-put Worcestershire sauce and chicken broth in bottom of casserole dish large enough to hold all the chicken without overlapping
-grind fresh salt and pepper onto both sides of each piece of chicken and place into dish
-once oven is preheated, place chicken into oven
-cook for 10 minutes, flip chicken pieces, cook for another 10 minutes
-chicken should be fully cooked by now
-BBQ sauce time!
-remove dish from oven and use half the BBQ sauce on one side of the chicken, brush it on to all pieces evenly (I don't have a pastry brush or anything, I just used a fork)
-turn up the broiler (about 500 degrees), cook chicken for about 5 minutes, peeking in, you just want the BBQ sauce to get a little crispy at the edges
-repeat with other side
-remove from oven

-makes 4 servings

Nutritional Information:
(per serving)
Calories: 125
Carbs: 7
Fat: 2
Protein: 14
Fibre: 0
Sugar: 6

This dinner is slightly tricky, as you need to be keeping an eye on both the chicken AND the onions at the same time, perhaps in opposite ends of your kitchen. But, if I can do it, so can you!

Onion Nests (Alan's Onion Nests from Sexy Forever Recipe Bible)
Ingredients:
1 large Vidalia onion
1 tbsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 tbsp butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Process:
-peel the skin off the onion and slice as thin as possible with a very sharp knife (this is what I did, but tj and Suzanne Somers both recommend a mandolin, this would be much more time efficient)
-in a large skillet, heat the evoo and butter over med-high heat
-when the fats are hot, add the onion
-let them cook until they are crispy and almost burned (this took me about 13 minutes)
-scrape the onions up with a spatula and place one quarter of them in piles on each plate, create the nest shape by using a fork to push out the centre of each pile of onions and build up the sides

-makes 4 servings

Nutritional Information:
(per serving)
Calories: 58
Carbs: 4
Fat: 6
Protein: 1
Fibre: 1
Sugar: 2

Yum or Not:
As I said in the intro, I had fun plating this in a spring-time tableau. I even heated up the plates a little in the oven. This is the first time I ever did this. I felt pretty durn fancy. I only started caring about presentation at all when I started making my servings so much smaller and there was all kinds of empty space on the plate.

Dinner was the chicken, onion nests, green beans and a mixed green salad for me. Captain Handsome had a little kid salad of iceberg lettuce. I had an awesome vinaigrette I bought at a favourite restaurant in Chelesa, QC, Soupe d'Herbe and the Captain had Catalina. I told the Captain at this meal that once we have kids he's going to have to eat the grown up food with me and I won't make him a kiddie meal. He's going to have to lead by example that all foods are good. He said he won't. We had bought a bottle of Pinot Noir called The Hob Nob (if you read the Hunger Games, you'll know why I was happy with this bottle). It was only OK. The Captain had a couple of glasses. I only drank about half. I thought the BBQ sauce would pair nicely with a red. It might have, but this wine was far too vinegary for me. We saved about  a third of the bottle for cooking.

This meal was ultra-yum. The chicken tasted amazing, just a little crispy, the edges of the chicken tasted like they had been cooked on the BBQ. You may not have even noticed that it wasn't cooked on the Q. Everything was cooked perfectly and I couldn't believe that the tiniest bit of sauce did the trick. We didn't need to add even one spoonful of the extra sauce that I made. Before I started watching and counting what I ate, I would have just heaped on the sauce without thinking. I was surprised how little of this delicious sauce packed an amazing flavour punch.

The onion nests are absolutely to die for. I would eat them under anything. They tasted great with fried eggs earlier in the day and amazing with the chicken. They enhanced the taste of the chicken and beans. It was such a simple, but tasty spring-summer meal. It's always good to find something to fill the plate that is (relatively) low carb and lower in starches than say, a potato, rice or pasta side. Also, it's hard to get Captain Handsome to eat spinach, cabbage or spaghetti squash, but he's fully on board with onion nests. It occurred to me that I may be able to sneak in some cabbage next time without him even noticing!

After his third helping (they were small helpings), Captain Handsome declared that there wasn't even enough for him to take leftovers for lunch. I, however, had some the next day on top of grilled veggies I had whipped up and it was just as good one day later, it didn't dry out like I thought it might. (I said the recipe had four servings, and it did, I'd wager that the Captain had 2 1/2 at dinner, I had 1 and then I had another 1/2 the next day).

I whipped up a little sauce with the drippings from the meat. I used the drippings, added some red wine, a few tbsp of butter and heated it over med-high heat until it bubbled and reduced. It was tasty, but the chicken really didn't need it. Now I have a 1/2 c up sauce in the fridge to use for another quick meal later this week!

Without a doubt, this will become a regular in our weekly rotation!

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

On yet another cold, damp evening on the West Coast, I had a hankering for a hot and spicy soup.  Some of the ingredients are a bit tricky to find, but make for an authentic flavour.  I served it with brown rice instead of noodles.

(from Chef Michael Smith: Chef at Home)

Ingredients

2 14 ounce cans premium coconut milk

1 heaping Tablespoon Thai curry paste

1 bunch cilantro roots, rinsed well

2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced

2 cups chicken broth

1 carrot, shredded

4 or 5 lime leaves

2 stalks lemon grass, halved lengthwise, woody leaves removed

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 limes zest and juice

a small knob frozen ginger

a handful bean sprouts

1 8 ounce package rice noodles

1 bunch cilantro leaves, rinsed well

2 or 3 green onions, thinly sliced

a sprinkle or two salt or soy sauce

Instructions

Scoop the thick coconut cream from the top of just one of the cans into a large stockpot set over a medium-high heat. Melt the cream, add the curry paste and stir for a few minutes until they begin to sizzle.

Add the cilantro roots and chicken and sauté until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Add the coconut juice from the first can and all the contents of the second can along with the chicken broth, carrot, lime leaves, lemon grass, fish sauce and lime zest and juice. Grate the frozen ginger into the broth with a Microplane grater or standard box grater. Simmer for 20 minutes or so.

Stir in the bean sprouts. Add the rice noodles, gently pushing them beneath the surface of the broth. Turn off the heat and let stand until the noodles soften, about 5 minutes. Rice noodles don’t need to simmer like pasta to cook; they simply need to rehydrate in the hot liquid.

Stir in most of the cilantro leaves. Remove the lemon grass stalks. Taste and season with a touch more salt (or soy sauce) as needed. Ladle into large bowls and garnish with the green onions and remaining cilantro leaves.

YumOrNot

My dinner date, little brother-in-law and League of Legends champion, Mikey said he liked it.  I rate it medi-YUM on our yum scale.  Next time I would add more veggies - maybe bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant ... it would also be good with firm tofu. 

Pork Tenderloin with Apples and White Wine

I wanted to create a fancy-pants version of pork chops and applesauce and had a pork tenderloin in the fridge. Parts of this worked really well, and I learned some lessons from this attempt.

I made this recipe up after googling how to cook a tenderloin and deciding to try searing for the first time!

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin - trimmed of that shiny grey fat that is on the outside
1 c reduced sodium chicken broth
1 c white wine
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp Hoisin sauce
1/2 coarsely chopped Vidalia onion
1 coarsely chopped apple

sauce:
drippings from roast
1 tbsp butter
1/2 c white wine
2 tbsp light cream cheese, plain

Process:
-preheat oven to 350 degrees
-salt and pepper, sear pork tenderloin on stove top
-combine all ingredients in casserole dish
-cook for 20 minutes at a time, checking temperature of tenderloin and covering mean in sauce periodically
-sauce: take 1/2 of drippings from casserole dish after pork is done cooking and place in saucepan on stovetop at med-high temperature with wine, butter and cream cheese, mix until bubbling
-slice pork, serve with sauce, onions and apples

-Makes four servings

Nutritional Information:
 (including sauce, per serving)
Calories: 290
Carbs: 10 g
Fat: 12 g
Protein: 25 g
Fibre: 2 g
Sugar: 8 g

Yum or Not?
 I served this with a big salad (including the delicious vine ripened tomatoes that I found at the fruit and veg store this week) and broccoli and green beans.

The pork was a little tough when we ate it. I used a meat thermometer and cooked the pork in 20 minute increments until it reached the recommended temperature next to the outline of the pig on the meat thermometer (170 degrees). This took nearly an hour at 350 degrees.

I did some more reading after dinner and I think this was at least double the amount of cooking time that I needed.

Next time, I will sear the pork for longer on the stove top. I let it get barely white on each side (about 1 1/2 minute per side), next time I'll let it actually brown before putting it in the oven. I may also turn the temp in the oven up to 375. Apparently, to kill any dangerous suckers in pork, you only have to get the internal temp up to 145 degrees. Also, I know that if I tent the meat for a good 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven, it will continue to cook and all the juices will soak in nicely. I didn't do that this time.

Overall, the food was super, duper tasty and even though the meat was a little tough, the tastes were fantastic and just sweet enough.

I will definitely replicate this recipe, it was totally yum. Captain Handsome liked this, but prefers red/brown sauces to fruity/white sauces, so he stuck with one serving.