Carbonnade Flamande

This is one of my favorite dishes to make. It's easy and simple enough that even a novice cook like me can make it, and best of all, it involves beer! It's a classic Belgian meal.

Carbonnade Flamande, ala Yazoo

Feeds four

Ingredients:

about 3 lbs pork tenderloin
two bundles of scallions or green onions
cherry preserves, unsweetened - basically cherry pie filling
2 tsp rosemary
2 bay leaves
2 tsp thyme
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 stick butter
six bottles of a good dark beer - Yazoo SUE is perfect for this one

Chop up the scallions into fairly large pieces. Fry them in butter until they begin to turn clear. Remove the scallions from heat, to be used later.

Cut the pork into pieces about two-three inches diameter. They will shrink to about half this size by the end. Get a cast-iron skillet very hot, and pan-sear the pork, getting a nice dark sear on both sides but not cooking the meat much. You'll probably have to do this in two separate batches.

Now just cover the seared pork with the beer (should be about 1 to 1-1/2 bottles), and add the bay leaves, thyme, and rosemary, and the cooked scallions. Simmer for two-three hours until the pork is done and fork tender.

The beer should have cooked down to about half the volume you started with. Remove the pork to a serving dish. Add the cherry preserves and the dijon mustard to the remaining liquid in the pot and simmer the mixture at low heat for about 5 minutes, making a great cherry sauce. Cover the pork with the sauce on the serving dish and serve.

Goes great with home-made french fries! And of course, you want to pair the meal with the beer you used in cooking - again, Yazoo SUE is perfect for this dish, as the cherry notes in the beer pair well with the cherry preserves.