{cali-persian dinner party menu}

{dress from here}

Remember a few weeks back when I said I really wanted to recreate the entire "Cali-Persian" menu in Bon Appetit?  Well this past Sunday night we had some friends over for a little dinner party and we did just that!  The dishes in the article are not only super colorful and photogenic, but also bursting with flavor.  The best part of these recipes is while some of the preparation uses some foreign cooking methods (especially the rice), there are no hard to find or odd ingredients that will have you running all over town.

We opted to switch out the main lamb entree for a pork loin in the favor of mass appeal for our guests and you can see the recipe for the pork at the bottom of this post.  Overall this menu came out perfect for a warm summer evening- the food was refreshing yet satisfying and filled with interesting herbal flavor combinations.

Our menu for the evening was as follows:

Appetizers:

• simple cheese plate and snacks
• lavender & lemon champagne cocktail (recipe coming on Friday!)

Dinner:

• shirazi salad
• shallot yogurt
• jeweled rice
• old grain toasted bread & herbed butter
• herb marinated pork loin- recipe at bottom of post

Dessert:

• rose water cookies served with vanilla ice cream**

**our dinner guests insisted on bringing dessert, but had they not offered this was the dessert I would have made to accompany the meal. 

Herb Marinated Pork Tenderloin

what you need:

• 1 pork tenderloin
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 3 tablespoons of salt
• 2 teaspoon of chopped rosemary 
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

1. For Brine: Combine orange juice, salt, chopped rosemary and 1/2 cup of water in bowl and stir to dissolve salt.  
2. Place the tenderloin in a ziplock bag and add brine.  Brine for 6-12 hours
3. Remove pork from brine and pat dry.  Brush with olive oil.
4. Sear pork loin on high heat in a grill pan or cast iron skillet until nicely browned.
5. Finish in a 400 degree oven until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees. (approximately 10-15 minutes)
6. Rest for 10 minutes and then slice on the bias into 12 pieces.  Top with chopped parsley.  

{chipotle-lime compound butter}

I've had flavored or compound butter on my to do list ever since Bon Appetit's October issue which gave size different recipes for it.  Last night I whipped up the chipotle-lime butter to go along with some new mexico rubbed pork loin chops.  Making compound butter is incredibly easy and quick, you could make all of the different recipes from the original article in less than an hour.  The best part is compound butter can keep for up to 3 months in your freezer so you can spend an afternoon trying out all the recipes and have them at your cooking disposable.  You can use compound butter to add flavor to a variety of dishes.  While this particular flavor is best suited for pork, you could also use it to saute vegetables or even as a fun alternative to regular butter on crostini and toast.