The Birthday Dinner

I decided to make a special dinner for my mother's birthday; she's a special lady so I thought the dinner should reflect that. For the dinner I made a dijon crusted pork loin, dijon and rosemary potatoes and sauteed broccoli with garlic, needless to say it was great.

For the pork I decided to try a loin from Niman Ranch, I've heard many great things about them and to say that this pork loin was great would be an understatement. For those who don't know, Niman Ranch is about has great as meat gets. Their a ranch that specializes in vegetarian fed, hormone and anti-biotic free meat; you can really tell the difference. The pork was the tastiest I had ever had; it actually tasted like pork, not chicken. The dijon crust for the loin was amazingly simple and enhanced the flavor of the meat ten-fold; it consisted of dijon mustard mixed with minced garlic, chopped fresh rosemary, dried thyme, salt and pepper.

For the side dishes I decided to mirror the flavors used with the pork loin. The potatoes were plain-old red skins diced smallish, about 1/2 inch cubes, then mixed with dijon mustard, fresh rosemary, vegetable oil, salt and pepper. For the broccoli I decided to mirror the garlic flavor of the loin; all I did was sauté some frozen broccoli in oil then for the last two minutes or so add minced garlic, lots of it; broccoli is a very strongly flavored veggie so it can take a bunch of garlic without being overpowered.

The dinner was a success; mom liked it. That's all that mattered in the end. But I was happy that I was able to create another gourmet meal and share it with the people I love.

For more information about Niman Ranch, click the link.