It's very Octoberish out. It has the sense of being cold but really isn't too bad. Maybe a few cold nights ago our blood cells all went into hypermode and thickened up so now we're like old timers who don't even have to wear scarves in the house when it's 62 degrees. Don't laugh. Remember we are southern born and raised hounds.
(Here we are at the left, this morning before we knew what a day was in store for us. Before we knew that turkeys could fly. Before our adventure in heaven. I, Guthrie have the spot in the sun. My brother Elias is in front of me, as he always is. You can see we are innocent and well-meaning dogs.)Today we saw the most beautiful sight of our lives, well, maybe one notch below seeing a nest of rabbits. We all went out to the elders' house who have a woods with enormous sheds and woodpiles rife with creatures and scents. It is literally a hound heaven. Our person, Me, takes us there to run, but sometimes it's hard to even get in a good run as the scents are so pervasive from every direction. You just want to dart this way and that smelling every one of them. It's a euphoria that humans can't begin to know, what with their sadly low-functioning olfactories.
So the beautiful sight was a whole yard filled with turkeys. Delicious, early-for-Thanksgiving, turkeys. There were more than 50 of them, but that's about as high as I, Guthrie, count. Elias may have counted more. We drove up in the small silver Mazda, which is not in any way suited to porting us dogs, and there they were. All plump and feathered and waddle-bodied lurching around the way long-necked birds do. It was too easy. They were right there and two hounds couldn't possibly eat them all. So our girl Me got out of the car first and left us whining and trilling our special trill of eagerness in the back seat. She scattered the turkeys with a shout and they waddled their plump fannies into the woods, down the bank. Then, she let us out of the car. Now it was a fair chase as they had a head start.
We ran like the wind. I, Guthrie, ran faster since I have the slender hound shape meant for running. Elias waddles, a little bit like a turkey, when he runs because he has more girth. So I was running like the wind, leaping down the bank after the flock of turkeys, my paws barely hitting the ground, my ears flapping like wings on an angel. I was the most amazing of creatures for a split second in time. Then, the birds outdid me. Who knew such plump waddlers could fly? I was dumbfounded. Yes, they have wings, but some of them were as large as a dog, and all of them were larger than the bit of fluff that is the elders' dog. I'm wise to it now and I'll allow for that in my pursuit next time. We had an exhilarating chase. Some flew up and then landed again a ways away. I think those were the fatter ones who couldn't get up good momentum. As soon as their webby little feet touched the ground, I was there. The Gute was in the house. And then they were gone, every one. A small city of them congregating in the sky, moving out in formation. They honked their disgust at me and I thrilled in my heart at the possibility of meeting them again on this turf where one crook neck bird will be my dinner and my prize. I the Gute will have turkey for Thanksgiving.
It was a day I will replay in my dreams for weeks.
As refreshed as I am from my hunting expedition, I came home ready to cook. It's late now. Our girl Me stopped for dinner on the way home with her parents and cousins and brought us out some tasty fried fish. So we aren't cooking for tonight, but Me took a very large Pork Roast out of the freezer so we realize we will need to do research and be prepared for tomorrow or Sunday when it's time to make a feast.
I, The Gute (goot), have been through Me's prized Best-of-All-Possible-Recipes Box and found her favorite pork loin recipe of all time. It hails from 1996. (We don't know where - maybe Bon Appetite. We weren't even born in 1996. Who was?)
Elias has been jabbering about the need for baked apple and thyme stuffing for a side. We'll see if we get that far. For now, here is the recipe for this weekend, if you'd like to make it too. It's nothing like fresh plucked turkey but there's plenty of time for that.
Pork Roast Extraordinare
Me's Independent Rating: 3 of 3
For the Roast
3-pound center-cut boneless pork loin
1 tablespoon finely grated tangerine rind
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-3/4 cup chicken broth
For the Gravy
1/2 cup fresh tangerine juice
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon pepper
For the Kiwi Tangerine Salsa
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped fine
1 small jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 tangerines, segmented and cut up
1 kiwi peeled and diced
1 tablespoon lime juice
For the Roast
Trim the fat from the pork loin. (This can be a snack for you while cooking if your person is not around. Our girl Me allows us very little fat when she has anything to say about it.)
Place the pork in a pan on a rack. (Or, set open metal cookie cutters below the roast to raise it up from the pan.)
Combine the tangerine rind, thyme, salt, cumin, and pepper together and rub evenly over the meat. Let the herbs penetrate the meat for about 15 minutes. Insert a meat thermometer in the center of the pork.
Add the chicken broth to the pan and roast uncovered for 2 hours, until the thermometer registers 160F. Remove from the oven and let it stand 15 minutes. Pour the juices into a cast iron pan on the stove top.
For the Gravy
Combine the tangerine juice, flour and pepper til smooth. Stir into the broth in the pan. Add up to 1-1/2 cups water if necessary. Cook until thick and serve with the pork.
For the Salsa
Saute the onion and jalapeno in the oil for two minutes and remove from heat. Stir in the fruit and lime juice and refrigerate for one hour. Serve with roast pork. (And leftovers are great with ham and poultry.)
Notes from Guthrie:
You may wish to consider canola oil instead of olive oil when sauteing. Olive oil is fragile and if heated too high all of the excellent omegas in it turn into evil toxins instead. Eat your olive oil raw and your tougher canola or coconut or peanut oils sauteed.
Notes from Elias:
First, I don't appreciate the earlier references to my girth and I certainly do not waddle when I run. Second, I have mentioned more than once the need for Apple Stuffing with a pork roast and now that Guthrie has put a tantalizing kiwi tangerine salsa with the roast, no one is going to want apple stuffing. I'm putting apple stuffing in the next post anyhow, in case you don't want to run to the store for kiwi. The citrusy goodness of the tangerine on pork will not be at all daunted by the perk of apple in stuffing. And we have a garage full of fragrant apples, so I don't even know why we're considering cooking with fruit that's not even in the home at present.
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