A couple weeks back I got a couple beautiful heads of fennel in our veggie box and went looking for a recipe that put them to good use.

We have to keep our fat intake as low as possible and some folks don’t love garlic, so this is my variant of the recipe. The trick to keeping oil low is to use an olive oil sprayer. Just a couple spritzes is enough to keep food from sticking too much. If the pan dries out, add a little water or broth instead of more oil. Technically you can get away with no oil and just use broth/water, but a bit of oil does help a lot.

The original recipe had a flavorful orzo that could be worth making, but honestly the braised fennel sauce is quite tasty and I’m not sure more than plain orzo is necessary. I also tend toward plain pastas so that folks can dress their own pasta if another part of dinner doesn’t work for them. The orzo does play really well with the sauce, but obviously any pasta can do in a pinch.

Additionally, the original recipe calls for slicing the garlic, but I’ve found keeping the cloves whole lets me infuse a dish with a bit of garlic flavor, without surprising folks with slices of garlic. The cloves are easy to pull out before serving.

The prep time for this one is great; the fennel takes about five minutes to clean, trim, and quarter. The pork tenderloin takes about five minutes to trim, remove the silver, and season. This can all be done in easily under an hour, and some of that time is spent just waiting for things to cook in the oven

I was cooking for four folks, two of whom are big eaters, and aiming to have leftovers for lunches. I doubled the recipe from the original version.

Pork Tenderloin with Fennel and Orzo

• 2 pork tenderloins (about 2.5 pounds)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 Tablespoon herbes de Provence
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• 2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and quartered lengthwise and sliced 1/4 inch thick; fronds finely chopped and set aside separately
• 1lb of orzo
• 2 cloves of garlic; peeled and then smashed with the flat of a chef knife
• 2 cups of chicken or veggie broth
• 1 lemon

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Season the pork with salt, pepper, and the herbes de Provence. You want more of all three than you think as the seasonings will be absorbed by the fennel later. Preheat a large ovenproof skillet for 2 or 3 minutes so it is nice and hot. Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and then immediately add the pork and cook, turning, until browned, 5-7 minutes; remove to a plate.
• De-glaze the skillet with a bit of broth, then add the fennel and cook until softened and browned, about 2-3 minutes, adding the garlic during the last minute. Add the remaining broth and bring to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, make orzo as per the package directions.
• Return the pork to the skillet and transfer to the oven. Roast until the pork is just cooked through, about 145-150º on an instant read thermometer. Remove the pork to a cutting board and return the skillet to the stovetop.
• Reduce the liquid in the skillet over medium heat until thickened until it is as saucy as you want. I tend to prefer it to be on the juicier side so I cooked it for about 7 more minutes over medium low. Add the lemon juice and then stir until combined; season with salt, pepper, and more lemon if desired.
• Dish up the orzo, spoon the fennel/broth over it, and then top with sliced pork and fennel fronds.

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In addition to this I made a simple lettuce salad. We’ve learned in our low fat journey that oil isn’t strictly necessary to make a decent dressing; really the oil is there to dilute the seasonings and acid, and just a little water can do the same thing. It doesn’t have quite the same body, but if you’re avoiding oil it’s a solid strategy.

The two dressings I made were:

French Vinaigrette

• 1 clove of garlic, pressed in a garlic press
• 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
• 2 ounces of champagne vinegar
• A 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt (Diamond)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• 1oz of water (or to taste); sub in oil if you don’t need it to be low fat

Directions

Whisk and done. Taste the dressing before adding the water to see if you need to make any adjustments; it’s easier to course correct before you dilute it. Sometimes I’ll add a spritz of olive oil to help with dissolving oil based flavors. I have no idea if it helps, but it seems like a good idea.

Honey Lemon Dressing

• Juice of one Meyer lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons of honey
• 1/2 ounce of water (or to taste);sub in oil if you don’t need it to be low fat

Directions

Whisk and done.

Links

The original recipe from Food Network
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/pan-roasted-pork-and-fennel-14197453

My preferred olive oil sprayer. It’s way less fussy than the ones you have to pump.
https://www.everythingkitchens.com/evo-stainless-steel-oil-sprayer-16-oz.html

The fantastic CSA I got my fennel from. They have wonderful fruit in the spring and summer. Unlike some boxes, you can’t pick what you want, so you have to be willing to take on a wide variety of produce.
https://terrafirmafarm.com

If this blog thing continues, a frequent character that will show up here for cocktail posts is Jeffrey Morganthaler. I can’t remember how I first came across his work, but his recipes have been my gotos for years at this point. Despite that I never thought to check his site to look for inspiration for my cassis problem. Thankfully Serious Eats had my back.

The Bourbon Renewal from Morganthaler is pretty basic in the grand scheme of things; it’s a whiskey sour with cassis swapped in for some of the simple. The result is as refreshing as a good whiskey sour, but with jammy, berry notes from the cassis. It’s reminiscent of a New York Sour (a whiskey sour with a red wine float) but the deep berry notes are more my jam than what the red wine brings to a New York Sour.

I prefer it with a couple extra dashes of ango; as written it has one dash, but the Christmas spice flavors give a blackberry pie vibe I like. I also prefer to go a little lighter on the simple syrup. Our tree has Meyer lemons which are naturally sweeter which may be the main reason I reduce the simple, but I tend to like drinks a bit tarter. I’ve also been using some shelf stable, high quality grenadine I have laying around as the sweetener and that has added some additional fruity notes which are nice.

The best thing about this cocktail is it is served over ice. It goes down easy so I’m not sure if watering down will be a problem, but the strong flavors can handle the dilution of sitting around. I build most of my cocktails in a glass and stir them with ice (I’m too lazy to clean my shaker), but not everything lingers on ice well. I can imagine diluting this and carbonating it for a nice summer sipper, but it was also perfectly lovely for a cold winter, evening sipper.

Bourbon Renewal

• 2oz bourbon
• 1oz fresh lemon juice
• .5oz creme de cassis
• .25oz simple syrup or quality grenadine
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Directions

Shake ingredients with ice until cold and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass. A higher proof bourbon plays well in this drink since it is shaken and then sits on ice for serving.

New York Sour

• 2oz bourbon
• 1oz fresh lemon juice
• 0.5oz simple syrup
• 1oz fruity red wine

Directions

Shake the first three ingredients and strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice. Pour the red wine over the back of a spoon into the glass to float it. Garnish 1 strip lemon zest expressed over the drink.

Links

Morganthaller’s original post; the Serious Eats post on it has sadly left the Internet
https://jeffreymorgenthaler.com/bourbon-renewal/

New York Sour history
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/new-york-sour

The first drink I tried in my efforts to explore how to use my excess of crème de cassis was “El Diablo”. At this point I was unsure of how I felt about crème de cassis and the cocktail seemed like a glorified Moscow mule. However, every SEO’d list of cassis cocktails led with it, so I figured it was at least worth an experiment. Worst case the ginger beer would be delicious.

What I love about a cocktail is the right ingredients, balanced in the right proportions, and mixed just right, yields a concoction greater than the sum of its parts. It’s drinkable alchemy.

An El Diablo is one of those drinks. The saltiness of the tequila comes to the front, lifted by the bubbles of the ginger beer. The ginger beer and lime do what they do best, providing a solid midrange of spicy and tart, and then the crème de cassis kicks in with earth, summery berry jam bass notes. I’m generally of the opinion that if you like a mule, then you really just like ginger beer, but this is something bigger and better. It alone makes having a bottle of crème de cassis worthwhile.

This Liquor article is correct that you should use a spicy ginger beer. Fever-Tree worked a treat. I used Espolòn Blanco and it was lovely, but I’m looking forward to trying it with Fortaleza next time I can find a bottle. Many recipes suggest a reposado tequila, and I’ll report back on that experiment when it happens. My suspicion is that I’ll prefer the blanco, but there’s science to be done.

If you take it for a spin, let me know how it goes! I’d love to hear other people’s takes on this one.

El Diablo

• 1.5oz blanco or reposado tequila
• 0.75oz fresh lime juice
• 0.5oz crème de cassis
• 2 to 3oz ginger beer

Directions

In an ice-filled shaker, shake the tequila, lime juice and crème de cassis untill well chilled. Fill a Collins glass with ice, strain the cocktail into the glass and top with ginger beer. I frequently just build it in a glass and it works just fine if you don’t want to pull out the shaker.

Some recipes call for 0.5oz of lime, but I thought a little extra helped to balance the ginger beer and cassis. There’s definitely room to fiddle with the amount of ginger beer and lime.

Links

A bit of history on the El Diablo
https://www.liquor.com/recipes/el-diablo/

A touch of history on cassis
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/dining/drinks/creme-de-cassis-cocktails.html?unlocked_article_code=1.304.bCxr.39iaKiL5J3c4&smid=url-share

A solid blanco tequila. If you don’t have a fav, this is a good one to start with https://www.espolontequila.com/en-us/our-tequilas/tequila-blanco/

I have the biggest of first world problems; I have too much booze and not enough storage.

My cocktail hobby started off simply enough, with a handful of staples and a number of bottles of good scotch. The situation escalated quickly though. Your average bottle of cordial or liqueur doesn’t tend to tend to be all that expensive, and each bottle unlocks more and more cocktails to try. It’s like a tech tree, in all the best and worst ways. Once you’ve unlocked a new technology, there’s no going back, and thus my bottle collection has become a grow only entity, slowly spreading from cabinet to cabinet. It doesn’t help that once cocktails are your hobby, every holiday comes with a fresh new assortment of lovely libations to experiment with.

Again; first world problems.

For a variety of reasons I’ve decided to fight the good fight and pare down my collection, or at the very least, make sure that every bottle earns its keep and is worthy of its shelf space. To that end, I’ve been working to try every bottle I have, and either find fabulous uses for it and add it to library, enjoy what I have and say goodbye, or pour it down the drain and save my alcohol budget for better spirits.

To that end my current subject of exploration is creme de cassis. This bottle falls afoul of two of the rough rules I’ve created for this project: 1) it’s a bottle I haven’t used in at least a year and 2) I have multiple bottles of it. Having a bottle that never gets used is bad enough, but having two unused bottles is ludicrous.

Crème de cassis is liqueur made from blackcurrants, and is sweet, but has an intense earthy flavor. Comparisons get made to Chambord, but the earthy notes of cassis are like nothing else I’ve tried.

The most famous cocktails with cassis are the Kir and Kir Royal. These are two ingredient cocktails that mix still or bubbly wine with cassis. Both are easy drinking; there’s nothing challenging or particularly interesting about them, but the citrus notes of the wines play nicely with summer berry flavor of the cassis. If you try them, aim for more acidic wines and champagnes to balance the sweetness and avoid oaked wines.

All told these are both worth drinking if you have a good, but overly tart bottle of wine, and I think they are more interesting drinks than the Chambord variants. On their own though, they weren’t good enough to make me think crème de cassis is a must have. That said, there’s more science to be done on this front…

Kir

• 3oz white wine
• 0.5oz créme de cassis

Directions

Pour crème de cassis into glass and top with wine. A quick swirl seems to do the trick for mixing.

Kir Royal

• 3oz champagne
• 0.5oz Crème de cassis

Directions

Pour crème de cassis into glass and top with champagne. As with the Kir, a quick swirl seems to do the trick for mixing.

Links

Good piece on the history of the cocktails
https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/460/cocktails/kir-and-kir-royale-cocktail

My preferred cassis so far
https://maisonferrand.com/en/content/mathilde-liqueur/

A perfect sparkling wine for this cocktail from one of my favorite bubbly makers. Also, Breathless is one of three wineries in Healdsburg with a woman winemaker!
https://www.breathlesswines.com/product/Breathless-Blanc-de-Blanc-750ML

Certainly what the world needs is yet another white guy, or at least a white appearing guy, to opine on the Internet. However, I’ve always been a fan of the open Internet and in our modern day and age, I think the world would be a better place if we all setup a little home on the ’net and shared our weird, instead of filing it away on IG or X.

Part of the human journey is to learn and try new things. The internet when at its finest is a treasure trove of these shared journeys, with hopefully each of us sharing our knowdledge so the next person can go farther. Or at least that’s the promise of the internet that I grew up with, and by god I’m going to make it so, even if it’s only in this teeny, tiny corner of the web.

If anyone evers read this, I hope it brings you some small amount of information, joy, or at least a good cocktail.