60: Herbed Pork Tenderloin / Tomato Fennel Sauce / Zucchini Coins

Two recipes posted in one night! Aren’t you lucky?

Simple, quick, and incredibly delicious! The sauce alone is out of this world. This is another one of those meals where I didn’t have to buy anything extra because I had all of these ingredients in my refrigerator. Pork filets are coated in fresh herbs with a tomato fennel sauce made complete with zucchini coins sautéed in oil and breadcrumbs. We drank Sebastani Chardonnay with this – toasted oak for smoke, citrusy, and crisp on the finish.

Ingredients and Directions:

2 pork filets (about 3/4 lb)

2 plum tomatoes, halved, seeded, and sliced

1/2 a fennel bulb, diced

1/2 an onion, diced

1/2 a zucchini, sliced

Small handful of breadcrumbs

1 tbsp each of fresh thyme and rosemary, minced (save some for garnish)

Splash of milk or cream

Olive oil

Salt and pepper (add to each component)

Pork—Coat filets in salt, pepper, and minced fresh herbs. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat, and sauté filets for a total of 8-10 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Thicker cuts will require more cooking.

Tomato Fennel Sauce—Sauté onion and fennel over medium heat for about 7 minutes. Now add tomatoes and sauté for another 3-4 minutes. The sauce is ready for the food processor once the mixture has broken down in the pan and the tomatoes almost look mushy. Puree in food processor with a splash of cream or milk, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Zucchini—Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add zucchini and bread crumbs, and sauté mixture for 3-4 minutes.

Plate as you wish, garnish with remaining herbs, and enjoy!

59: Pan Roasted Turbot / Tomato Parsley "Confit" / Garlic Broccoli / Roasted Potatoes

It’s been awhile since I posted a recipe because I just moved, which we all know is time consuming and stressful. Anyways, on to the food!

Turbot fish is absolutely amazing. It’s a big time food fish because of its delicate flavor yet somewhat meaty texture. The local markets only seem to have it for a short time over the summer, so I picked up a couple pounds to make over a few different meals. This recipe was probably the best of the ones I made, so here it is. The white fish is rounded out with roasted potatoes, broccoli sautéed in garlic, and a tomato parsley “confit” that lends incredibly bright acidity to the dish. I believe we drank this with a white wine, but I cannot remember what anymore. You could also make this preparation with just about any white fish.

I’m going to try something new for my blog. I’m going to break down the directions by each component of the dish, so you can more easily plan your timing. Give me some feedback on this.

Ingredients and Directions:

1 lb turbot filets

4 small red potatoes, quartered

Broccoli for two people

6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

1-2 tbsp parsley, chopped (save some for garnish)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper (add to each component)

Flour

Fish—Dust fish in flour, salt, and pepper to start. The key to a good pan roasted fish filet is to heat the pan on high heat for a few minutes before adding any oil. Heat a pan on high heat for 3-5 minutes before adding olive oil. Turn heat down to medium high while oil heats for a couple minutes. Add filets to pan and let cook for 4-5 minutes. Flip fish and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Potatoes—Boil potatoes until they’re almost easily pierced with a fork. I usually add my potatoes to the water while the water is heating up because this cuts down on boiling time. Potatoes should be ready in 10-15 minutes. Drain when ready. You can choose to boil them all the way for a healthy alternative to finishing them off in olive oil in a pan. If finishing in olive oil, heat a pan on medium heat with some olive oil. Add potatoes and cook for about 10-12 minutes, flipping once.

Broccoli—Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic and let cook for about 1 minute once the oil is hot. Add garlic and sauté for 4-5 minutes.

Tomato Parsley “Confit”—Confit refers to a cooking method to preserve flavor after being immersed in a substance. In this instance, the “confit” was used to bring out the bright acidity of the tomatoes. Heat a pan with olive oil on medium high heat. Add tomatoes and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add parsley and sauté for additional 2-3 minutes. Serve the tomato mixture with a slotted spoon, so you don’t spoon a ton of oil on your plate.

Plate as you wish, garnish, and enjoy!

58: Pesto Chicken Salad with Boiled Red Potatoes / Brussels Sprouts / Balsamic Vinegar

Lunch time! I often make salads for lunch, and here is a salad I made awhile ago. The weather must've been cooler, for this is a hearty salad. I had forgotten about it until I was cleaning up my blog pictures folder on my computer earlier today. I most likely made this post-workout one day.  At any rate, the pesto, boiled potatoes, brussels sprouts, and spinach round out this semi-rustic and earthy salad. You really could eat it any time of the year. Add some shredded parmesan to the top if you like.

Ingredients and Directions:

1/3 pound of chicken, diced

1/4 cup pesto sauce

2 red potatoes

4 brussels sprouts, sliced in half

Good handful of baby spinach
Shredded parmesan cheese (optional)

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

Boil potatoes whole in well salted water for about 15 minutes, drain. Let stand whole until ready to plate salad, which will help them keep cooking inside. Slice potatoes into quarters when you’re ready to plate.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add brussels sprouts and chicken with seasonings and cook for about 8 minutes, brussels sprouts cut side down in pan. Arrange brussels sprouts around chicken, which should be in the center of your pan.

Add raw spinach to a bowl – I start with raw greens because the heat of the cooked items will help naturally wilt the spinach after a couple minutes.

Now you’re ready to plate as everything comes to a finish. Two minutes prior to being done, arrange potatoes and sprouts (leaving chicken in pan) around the edge of the bowl, and add 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add pesto sauce to chicken and cook for 1-2 minutes to nicely coat the chicken. Add chicken to center of salad, and toss the salad to infuse all the flavors.

Enjoy!

57: Farmer's Market "Frittata"

I hadn’t been grocery shopping in a minute, so it was a challenge to throw together breakfast this past Sunday. Lucky for me I had a bunch of random veggies in my refrigerator and eggs to boot. Frittatas traditionally are baked in a dish and look more like quiche. Sometimes they are also considered open-faced omelets. This is my interpretation of a frittata. I call it a farmer’s market because of the number of different vegetables that would turn out rather well with this dish that, surprise, can be found at farmer’s markets, where I do the bulk of my food shopping anyways.

Ingredients and Directions:

4 eggs, beaten, dived in half

Handful of kale, shredded

Fennel, diced

Cremini mushrooms, diced

Red onion, diced

Cheddar cheese, thinly slice

Garlic powder

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in two separate 8 inch pans over medium high heat. Now add two eggs’ worth to each pan once oil is hot and season to your liking. Also began sautéing your veggies in an additional pan.

The trick to the eggs is to not overcook it on one side so as not to produce a rubbery frittata, but cook it enough that you can flip the eggs in the pan without it falling apart on you. I think I cooked it on one side for about 2-3 minutes, and then flipped it over very carefully. Once flipped, place cheese on the top. Cook for a few minutes more. Remove frittatas from pans, with the cheesy side up on the plate. Add your sautéed veggies.

Enjoy!

56: Pan Seared Steelhead Salmon / Spicy Kale Salad with Fennel, Cremini, and Tomatoes

I miss cooking salmon. Amber is allergic to salmon, so I don’t buy it often. Lucky for me I picked up a pound of steelhead salmon at a great price from the butcher to eat as post-workout meals. Steelhead salmon has such a rich and fatty taste and texture that I didn’t want too much the taste, so I just added a little salt and pepper. The key to a good piece of salmon is how you cook it in a pan. I like to let the pan get really hot with no oil or butter in it, then add the oil, then add the fish. This method creates a nice and crispy skin within minutes, with just a gentle flip of the salmon on the other side to finish it off.

Kale is a super food, so I added some of my favorite veggies in cherry tomatoes, fennel, and cremini mushrooms to round out my salad. This meal could also serve as a light dinner, even though I had it for lunch.

Ingredients and Directions:

1/3 pound salmon filet, skin on

Handful of kale, shredded

Fennel, diced

Cremini mushrooms, diced

Spicy sesame oil

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the salmon: Heat pan for salmon on high heat for 3-5 minutes. Generally, I like to let it start smoking a little before adding olive oil. You can dust salmon in salt and pepper while waiting for the pan to warm up. Let the oil warm for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, and add the salmon. Cook for 3-4 minutes on one side, flip, and turn off heat. This will create a medium rare salmon, so adjust cooking times as needed if you like your salmon cooked past medium rare.

For salad: Heat spicy sesame oil in a pan for a few minutes over medium heat. Sauté kale, fennel, and mushrooms with salt and pepper until kale wilts, about 4 minutes. I didn’t cook the tomatoes to add a bright contrasting flavor to the dish. Arrange your salad and fish on a plate.

Enjoy!