"Tonight's secret ingredient is..."

**For those who are seeing this post twice, both in my own blog and now here, I'm sorry (but actually, I'm not, because this dinner was just too freaking fantastic to not share here, too).

I had to work on Sunday, September 18th, which was my mom's 32 (hehe) birthday, which meant delaying her birthday dinner EXTRAVAGANZA (and believe me, it was an extravaganza!) until the following Saturday.  This is going to be an extremely picture-heavy post (I know, I know, not like they aren't usually), so let me give you a quick rundown of the birthday menu.

Blackberry-Marinated Pork Tenderloin
Roasted Asparagus
Potato Galette
Blackberry Cheesecake

Yum, right?  I KNOW!

Blackberry Pork Tenderloin: (courtesy of the other half of my brain)
(the measurements were just kind of played by ear)
-a couple cups blackberries
-white vinegar
-salt & pepper
-a few springs fresh thyme
-5 or 6 cloves garlic, choppped
-about 1/2 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan until the blackberries have pretty much disintegrated (I used a for to mash everything up) while it was simmering.  Cool the marinade, pour over tenderloins, and let sit for a couple of hours.  Bake tenderloins at 350 degrees until done (about 45 minutes-ish).  Strain the marinade to get the excess chunks out, then put back into a small saucepan, and thicken with flour.  Serve over sliced pork.

 Before...

After...

Roasted Asparagus:

-2 lb. asparagus, woody ends snapped or chopped off

-garlic (I can't even begin to tell you how many cloves of garlic I use for this, but it's a lot...probably like 10 or 12)

-olive oil

-salt and pepper

Toss together all ingredients on a baking sheet, then spread out in a single layer.  Roast for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.

 Before...

After...

(Hmm...other than the fact that one's on a cookie sheet and one's on a plate, the before and after of the asparagus look remarkably similar, don't you think?)

Potato Galette: (recipe also courtesy of Andrea, who yes, is the source of many things that I make)

(measurements also pretty much played by ear)

2 lb.-ish Yukon Gold potatoes

salt and pepper

butter

rosemary

Slice the potatoes SUPER thinly and evenly (a mandolin, a box grater, a food processor, or in my case the slicer/shredder attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer).  Melt about a tablespoon of butter in a nonstick, oven-proof saute pan.  Once the butter is foamy, lay the potatoes down in a single, overlapping layer.  On top of this layer, sprinkle the salt, pepper, and rosemary, then dot with butter.  Repeat for the next layer, but without rosemary. (I alternated rosemary throughout the following layers).  Continue until you have enough for the amount of people you're feeding (for four people, I had six layers of potatoes).  Dot the top layer with a tablespoon or two of butter (you have to do this in order for the top layer to get all brown and crispy and extra delicious while in the oven).  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  Slide out of the pan onto a cutting board and slice into wedges with a pizza cutter.

This picture is documenting the importance of the fact that after slicing ONE potato with my box grater and realizing how sloooooooooooooow-going of a process it was going to be, I remembered that I have a shredder/slicer attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer (thanks, Mom!)!  This was MUCH faster and way more fun than using a box grater (also, I'm now going to have to venture into making my own potato chips, but that's a project for another day).

Before the oven...

After the oven...

 Extreme close-up!

Blackberry Cheesecake:

This recipe came straight from The Pioneer Woman.  Just make sure you read my last blog post about The Springform Pan Incident in order to learn the important lesson that I did, but without having to make the same mistake that I did.  This recipe is amazing and you should make it as soon as you can.

Pre-blackberries, post-oven.

I want to eat more now that I'm seeing these pictures again.  By the way, after sitting in the fridge for several hours, it seemed to slice easier after sitting on the kitchen counter for a few minutes.

Conveniently, everything (except the cheesecake, which was baked and in the fridge setting long before I even started prepping anything else) was baked/roasted at the same oven temperature, so I just put everything into the oven at its necessary time.  It all finished up all at once, so everything was hot and ready for dinner at the same time.

Also, with all these blackberries being used, this was a very "Iron Chef"-ish meal!

Happy birthday, Mom!  I hope you enjoyed eating this dinner as much as I enjoyed making it!

A.V.