A few weeks back, I got an email from a woman named Heather who has food issues similar to mine, who also loves to cook (and is probably way better at it than I am). Turns out she went to college in my home town AND she lives right down the street from our new place. We got together for tea last week, and she showed me some neat little places in town that I never would have found on my own. She also brought me some pineapple sage from Heavenly Acres Farm. I'd heard of pineapple sage, but I'd never actually tried it. I always thought of sage as kind of a savory seasoning that I just couldn't imagine with pineapple. Well, one whiff of the herbs told me I was in for a pleasant surprise. To get the old creative juices flowing, I've been trying to cook with what I have in the kitchen instead of planning my meals. I basically had pork, some two-buck-chuck white zinfandel, and the usual kitchen staples, so I decided to make some breaded pork with pineapple sage and wine sauce. It turned out fabulously, getting a rare "this is REALLY great" from my husband not once, but twice. The sauce went pretty well on rice, too. I'm now a huge fan of pineapple sage. I even saved a cutting so I can try to plant it in my container herb garden. Heather also informed me that ghee (a prepared butter from India) doesn't have the milk protein in it that bugs my tummy, so I'll be trying that soon and blogging about it, too.
Breaded Pork Loin with Pineapple Sage Sauce
1/4 cup flour, (wheat or rice depending on your diet)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup white zinfandel
3 sprigs pineapple sage, chopped
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Directions:
Heat butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Seal pork in a ziploc bag and pound it to tenderize it. Add flour, salt and pepper to the bag and shake until the pork is coated with a thin layer of flour. Once the butter has melted, add the pork to the pan and cook until it is golden brown on both sides, about 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove pork to a plate and cover it to keep it warm. Keep the burner on medium high. Add the sage, rosemary, and wine to the remaining butter in the pan and scrape the remnants of the pork from the bottom of the pan. Cook about 3-minutes, then add the lemon juice. Cook one minute more. Pour the sauce over the pork to serve.