This pork and apple recipe reminds us to relax and have fun in the kitchen.

Image: Recipes Recommended/Lisa Schattenkirk

Looking, as I often do for inspiration, I gravitated again to one of my mom's recipe binders. They've been around for almost 40 years now, and some of the plastic protective pages where she would store her clipped and taped-together pages from food magazines are starting to fall apart. As if yanked by the hand of my mom, a recipe slipped out of its disintegrating three-hole plastic pocket and fell literally into my lap. Staring up at me was a picture of what looked like beef and peaches, swimming in a beige sauce with bits of who-knows-what, resting on maybe the ugliest plate you could choose for taking a picture. It was just a terrible shot, but it got me to look closer to identify what the heck I was looking at. I think the recipe was clipped from a Bon Appétit magazine, but there isn't an indication anywhere, so I'm only guessing. Pork with Calvados and Apple Cider. As I was reading this, it was the beginning of October, and the air was starting to get cooler here in the Pacific Northwest. There's a demarcation to the seasons, and to me, it's always been about what food I'm enjoying and also when weekly farmers' markets start to disappear. Apples are plentiful here, and I love utilizing them in ways other than just snacking on them. I have two small children, and they get homemade applesauce and applesauce-based food often. So, seeing a way to cook apples that weren't headed for a pie made me super interested.

This one is definitely a candidate for one of those "dance in the kitchen with a bad bottle of wine and let your friends help" kind of recipes.

Poaching pears is one of my favorite things to impress non-cooks with. A go-to fancy dinner I would make for people when they wanted to help in the kitchen was some cut of pork, usually a bone-in chop with pears braised in red wine and finished with blue cheese, which I put under the broiler for probably a little too long. It was the first cooking I did where I relied wholly on instinct and commonly held complimentary flavors and textures. I didn't reference a dozen recipes as I do now. I was a bohemian behind the stove, drinking terrible wine with my friends, and I was happy. I still make variations of this concoction, but with my better knowledge and technique, it's probably about 5% better. Although, there is certainly a lot of value in winging it and dancing with your friends to great music while letting things go in the oven or stove for just a little too long.

Image: Recipes Recommended/Lisa Schattenkirk

Glancing over this new recipe made me think of how I used to cook, and also how I was maybe a little less uptight about every detail. As fate would have it, I had all the ingredients I needed, including Calvados, an apple brandy from the Normandy region of France. I had it for another recipe I made maybe a year ago. I hadn't pulled it out of my booze cabinet since, other than to show it to people. At the time of writing this blog, I've made the recipe three times and will probably need to get more soon. The rest of the ingredients are what I usually have around anyway, maybe with the rare exception of when I don't have whipping cream, and let's face it, it's already fall, so of course I have whipping cream in heavy rotation. I was ready to go the same day I found this recipe, maybe a couple of hours later. I used and have since used them two more times, Cosmic Crisp apples instead of Golden Delicious apples. In the corresponding video we shot, I mention that some varieties of apples didn't exist back when my mom saved this recipe. I know that when she passed away, she regularly enjoyed Honeycrisps, which I remember still amazed her with how sweet they are. The recipe asks for the addition of sugar when browning in butter, but like I said, the apples I've used are so sweet and have such a high sugar content, I didn't go overboard. Rest assured, everything worked out just fine.

Image: Recipes Recommended/Lisa Schattenkirk

I really love one element, maybe more than any other, in this recipe, and that's how the pork tenderloin is prepared. Almost exclusively, I only cook my pork tenderloins whole. It never dawned on me that it's the perfect candidate for cutting into portions and pounding into thin medallions. My brain immediately went to German cooking and schnitzel but on a much smaller scale. It is so simple and makes so much sense. Also, because the surface area of the meat is much bigger, the pan sauce we make with the brown bits left over is even better.

Image: Recipes Recommended/Lisa Schattenkirk

I know it sounds a little bonkers, but the prep for this fancy French meal takes longer than the actual cooking. All told, I think I started cooking around five o'clock and had the kids in their seats before six to eat. Peeling apples, mincing the shallots, and stripping the thyme leaves was really the biggest time sink. Cutting the pork and pounding it took less than five minutes. I served this with egg noodles, mostly because my small children can't resist them, but also it just seemed like that's what my mom would have done. I'm sure some red potatoes would also be nice, and the skin would add a nice contrast. This one is definitely a candidate for one of those "dance in the kitchen with a bad bottle of wine and let your friends help" kind of recipes. I also don't think you can screw it up. The French were onto something when they decided to cook everything with tons of butter and heavy cream. Add a little brandy, and now you're talking.

Image: Recipes Recommended/Lisa Schattenkirk

I always love picturing people from long ago, in far less modern kitchens developing these dishes. For this one, I was picturing some 90-year-old French apple farmer with his granddaughter, slowly cooking slices of apples until they turned golden, while they thickened up a cream sauce, which he fortified with the apple brandy he made from last year's harvest. It warms my heart so much. It reminds me why I love cooking so much and why cooking for my family is what I live for. I hope you also remember to have fun and to spend time with people you love—bad bottle of wine with the accompanying dance party or not.