Triveting News

My biggest regret about our lovely marble countertops is not the chip my husband innocently took out of one while putting a beer bottle in the recycle bin or the acid from the lime juice I spilled while making margaritas that ended up eating the surface and leaving white blotches, but the fact that you can’t put hot pans down on it like you can with granite. My quick fix is this awesome Japanese wood trivet that I got yesterday for $10 at OK on Third Street. It’s so tactile. I love it! 

For those who aren’t familiar with OK, it is without doubt one of the most smartly edited stores in L.A., with everything from exquisitely etched sake glasses (one of my absolute favorite wedding gifts, from my friend Lizzie), Heath Ceramics, and groovy placemats to Anne Ricketts bronze sculptures, Max Bill clocks, recycled gold wedding bands and chic little Comme des Garçons wallets. The best news is that they recently launched an online store: okthestore.com. Happy surfing!

Herb-Roasted Pork Loin

Last night we had a bunch of friends over for dinner, three of whom are professional comedians, and I don’t know what hurts worse—my sides from laughing for hours, or my head from all that intoxicating (in every sense of the word) Brunello. There were 7 of us total, so I needed a menu that I could shop for after work and have on the table several hours later. I’d been leafing through the April Gourmet, and was totally sucked in by the photo spread on their easter dinner story. So last night, I made their herb-roasted pork loin, along with the golden potatoes with caper brown butter crumbs, as well as the green beans with celery salt. I feel like each of these deserves its own post, but I was too wrapped up in eating the food to photograph it. So instead I’ll share some broad strokes about the pork loin, and simply say that this menu is crazy good. 

Just from a visual standpoint alone, how gorgeous are herbs??? For this pork loin recipe, not only do they infuse the meat with a totally seductive flavor but they make for a spectacular presentation. After browning the loin on all sides, you lay a bed of savory, rosemary, sage and thyme  on the rack in a roasting pan.

Then you place the pork loin atop the bed of herbs, and slather with a mixture of dijon mustard, minced garlic, olive oil and chopped shallots.

While the roast bakes at 350 for an hour, start the potatoes, green beans and vermouth sauce. The potato recipe is actually pretty involved so next time I’ll do the peeling, slicing and blanching the night before. You also have to make your own bread crumbs, which you mix in with a brown butter and chopped caper sauce. Making bread crumbs in the food processor couldn’t be easier. I just cut the crust off half a baguette, and then hit pulse a few times.

You toss the blanched potatoes with the rest of the caper brown butter and then put on a roasting pan, then sprinkle with these insane breadcrumbs. The potatoes go into the oven to roast while the pork comes out to rest. The nutty-briny flavor and crispy texture means we’ll be making these a LOT. Thank you Ted, Shana, John, Jessica and Alec for coming out to play on a weeknight!