Senate Bean Soup

I used Dad Cooks Dinner's recipe for ham with bourbon honey mustard glaze on Easter Sunday knowing he'd likely follow it up with a recipe the next week for the ham bone. Split pea soup is the traditional soup for a ham bone but it's one of those childhood holdovers of food I just don't like. I imagine it was a meal I didn't like and my folks made me sit at the table until I finished. Or maybe not, maybe I'm just not a fan.

At any rate, I was delighted when Mike Vrobel of DCD published a recipe for Senate bean soup. I heard about this soup years ago and it's been on my list of things to try. The Senate has had a bean soup recipe on the menu every day since the early 20th century. There is an interesting Wikipedia article here. This is a very simple recipe and well worth the small effort required; I rate it 4 stars (out of 5).

I was also anxious to try this recipe because I've never cooked navy beans. I'm a fan of smaller beans and navy beans fall into that category. Check out Mike Vrobel's recipe from the link above and compare it to my slightly modified recipe here.

1 pound of small navy beans

 Nine ingredients make this delicious soup. I added a carrot, and substituted 3 cups of chicken stock for an equal amount of water.

A simple set of ingredients

Coarsely chopped aromatics.

Sauté the onion, carrot and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of butter.

Lightly brown the aromatics

Simmering ingredients at the ready while the aromatics sauté.

Dinner is served

I meant to make cornbread to go with this, but forgot until it was too late. But this hearty soup and a salad made a very satisfactory meal.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Garlic-Lime Sauce

Oh, the sauce!
I was reading the May/June 2014 Cook's Illustrated while keeping an eye on the Dodgers game. This recipe looked good, the weather was going to be perfect for grilling and I had the day off. It's a straight-forward recipe that can be done after work. While the pork marinates for 45 minutes you can make a salad or prepare a vegetable, and clean up a bit. Cooking takes about 15 minutes including the resting time.  Carla is not a cilantro fan so my version left it out; my copy of the recipe is here.

 Start with two one-pound pork tenderloins. Cut them in half cross-wise and pound down to about 3/4 inch. Make a series of shallow cross-hatch cuts to increase surface area.

Marinade/sauce ingredients. Add the mayo to the marinade for the simple, delicious sauce.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade for a sauce; put the rest in a zip lock bag with the tenderloin steaks and marinate for 45 minutes.

Reserve some marinade for the sauce

While the pork is marinating throw together a salad

 Grill over direct heat 3-4 minutes per side then move to indirect heat until temp reaches 140°F.

Rest grilled steaks for 5 minutes

 Cut the steaks across the grain and drizzle some sauce on top; pass the rest of the sauce at the table.

Dinner is served

This is a simple yet delicious dinner. I rate it 4 stars.