As Easy As A.B.C.: Autumn Boozy Cider!

I'm a water, black coffee, and black tea kind of gal.  Yes, I will leave that tea bag (or two, or three) to steep for hours until I have tea-spresso.  The idea of sugar near my beverages makes me cringe and then...October happens.  The minute the calendar flips to my favorite month all I want to do is sit around drinking hot apple cider.  Spiced, un-spiced, spiked, un-spiked, I don't care as long as it has simmered on my stove, filled my whole place with its awesome aroma ,and then likely burnt a layer off my tongue because I'm incapable of letting it cool before I dive in.

So I was super excited when we got mulling spices in store from Halladay's Harvest Barn, especially because they included a sample pack in our order!  Yes, one of the many trials and tribulations of my job...free product samples, and forcing myself to try them.  I know, I'm not sure how I manage, but it's for the good of Nalls and for all of you.  So home I went after being rained on all day and gave the mulling spices a test run.  Naturally I had to slosh some rum into the mix, because it's not a good Crop Share week until I figure out a way to weave booze into it!

The ABC: Autumn Boozy Cider

Ingredients:

1 quart apple cider

1 Tbsp Halladay's mulling spice (in store now!)

1-2 shots dark rum (this makes two tall mugs of hot cider, so depending on how much rum you like you add either 1/2 shot or a full shot to each mug)

Bring cider and mulling spices to a low boil on the stove, reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Pour cider through a strainer to discard the mulling spices, and pour into each mug with your preferred amount of rum.  Then sip away!

It should be noted that if I'd had Kraken Rum on hand, I would have actually called this drink, Something Kraken This Way Comes.  I now really regret not having Kraken Rum on hand.  Bugger!

Turkey Tenderloins in an Apple Cider Cream Sauce

I'm pretty sure my apartment became the Iron Chef Kitchen Stadium this weekend, and the secret ingredient was definitely anything and everything apples.  We already had a gallon of the apple cider in our fridge, so I decided I wanted to use the little quart from Crop Share to cook with.  I mused over a few recipes, but my mind kept coming back to pork tenderloins.  And thus I devised to make an apple cider cream sauce (dairy-free, of course, for allergy sake) with hints of rosemary and Dijon mustard.  I make a killer honey, tarragon and course ground mustard cream sauce for pork and turkey tenderloins, so I knew this was going to be a knockout sauce.  And then when I was browsing the pork tenderloins at the market, I kept seeing Penny Pig nuzzle my legs like she does when she wants me to give her a treat.  ACK!  The pig's gotten to me!  So I walked straight to the turkey section and got some lovely packages of sliced turkey tenderloins.  Both are really interchangeable flavor-wise, so you can use either pork or turkey tenderloins in this recipe, and I bet they'd even be delicious with pork chops.  Serve with some roasted asparagus and herb roasted baby potatoes for a wonderfully rustic Fall dinner.

Turkey Tenderloins in an Apple Cider Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

8 turkey tenderloins (would work great with pork tenderloins or pork chops, as well)
Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups apple cider
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (for dairy-free, I used just shy of 2 cups of unsweetened rice milk blended with 2 Tbsp of melted Earth Balance margarine.  You may need to whisk in some corn starch blended with equal parts butter -- to prevent clumping -- in order to thicken the sauce a bit.  But you can also use unsweetened Silk soy creamer as that will be nice and thick-- alas, the store was all out of it.)
1 Tbsp dried rosemary (I ground it up in my mortar & pestle)
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard

In a heavy bottom skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Season tenderloins on both sides with Kosher salt and cracked black pepper.  One oil is hot, add tenderloins to skillet, spacing evenly and making sure not to overcrowd the pan.  You'll likely have to brown them in shifts.  Brown on both sides about 2-3 minutes per side, and then transfer to a plate.  Repeat with all tenderloins and then tent the resting plate with foil.

Deglze the pan with the apple cider, stirring to remove all the browned bits off the bottom.  Whisk in your cream (or "cream concoction"), rosemary and Dijon mustard until fully blended.  Bring to a simmer, reduce heat and allow to simmer until sauce is reduced by half, about 4-5 minutes.  Return tenderloins to the skillet, adding any juices from the plate, cover the skillet and allow tenderloins to finish cooking in the sauce, about an additional 5-6 minutes until all tenderloins are cooked through.

Transfer tenderloins to a clean platter for serving and drizzle some of the sauce over top.  Place remainder of the sauce in a gravy boat for serving.