Unchartered Territory

I remembered to defrost something last night (a first for this week...it's been a crazy one since getting back to work after all the snow!)  And because I have little experience cooking pork tenderloin, I decided to actually use a recipe.  Well, my husband recommended I use a recipe (thanks honey, I get the hint.)  I did not plan/shop well before the week began so I found a recipe that I already had all the ingredients for.  A second dish in less than a week that includes cooked apples and onions, oh well, they do work really well together and it sure saves money on ingredients.  I had exactly two apples left!  So it's in the oven as I type and I will be done with the dishes before the timer goes off.  It was fast, easy and smells delicious (I'll have to update once I actually taste the dish.)
So here is the recipe.  For those who have never seared meat or cooked pork tenderloin, neither had I and voila!  I did it and so can you.
Enjoy!

***update
The pork was cooked perfectly, a gentle pink in the middle and not dry at all (as some pork dishes can be.)  My husband, the baby and I all enjoyed it.  Highly recommended!

Monday Night Chicken

Chicken with Onions & Apples
Fast, easy, completely made up (I'll do my best to recreate) and delicious!
You'll need the following...
2 boneless/skinless split chicken breasts, sliced into strips (whatever size you like)
1 can coconut milk
1-2 onions (depending on how much you are cooking, I'd say 1 onion per 2 people)
1-2 apples (peeled, cored and diced)
garam masala * or can simply use the spices that follow
cinnamon
corriander
cayanne
cumin
sea salt
ghee or coconut oil
Directions:
Coat chicken pieces in garam masala or a combination of spices
Heat oil in large pot on medium to medium/low heat (I used a Le Creuset cast iron oval french oven)
Cook onion and apples until tender (around 5-10 minutes) adding a few more spinkles of spices and salt.
Remove mixture from pot.
Add a little more oil/ghee to pot if necessary and add chicken, cook a few minutes until mostly done.
Add back in the onions and apples and 1 can of coconut milk.
Cook on medium to medium/low until chicken pieces are cooked through and sauce reduces and thickens a bit.
Serve alone or over some brown basmati rice.
I wish I had taken a picture but alas, it was gone to quickly!
The baby, my husband and I all enjoyed for dinner that evening and lunch the following day.  I didn't even heat it up!

Steak and Eggs

Well, Korean steak and eggs to be precise.  My husband made a delicious and different dinner on this snowed in Saturday night.  I know this blog is about easy dinners I made, but I must share his recipe.  It looked easy enough from my seat in the kitchen. 
Ingredients:
2 chopped scallions
2 chopped shallots
coconut oil
2 cups cooked brown rice (ensure the rice is dry before you stir fry)
1 1/2- 2 cups Kim Chee chopped fine
2 Tbsp mirin
1 flank or skirt steak (ours was a grass-fed flank from Fields of Athenry)
Ghee or lard (we used pork lard we picked up from a farm market)
course sea salt
fresh ground pepper
1 egg per person
butter or ghee
Directions:
Rub steak with sea salt, pepper and set aside. 
For the rice...
Saute scallions and shallots in coconut oil.  Add cooked rice, stir for a minute or two.  Then add Kim Chee and again, stir for a minute or two.  Finally add mirin and scrape down the rice sticking to the pan.
In a hot cast iron skillet heat oil or lard and add steak.  Cook until desired doneness and let rest before slicing.  Be sure to slice across the grain of the steak. 
In the hot skillet drop a bit of butter and fry an egg right on top of sizzling butter.
Plate the rice, then the sliced steak and top with the fried egg.  Sprinkle a little sea salt on top and viola, a warm and filling meal for a cold wintery night.

Lentil Soup

Here is a wonderful and hearty soup that has sustained the whole family (baby included) for the past three days (and two nights.)  Great for the winter weather this soup includes protein (from the lentils) and plenty of nutrients from the vegetables and the turkey stock.

Ingredients:
1 c. red or green lentils
4-5 c. water, broth or a combination
(I used 2 cups homemade Turkey stock, frozen from my Thanksgiving turkey and 2 or so cups of water)
1 5" (spprox.) strip of Kombu (it's a seaweed, find at your local health food store, Whole Foods or MOM's)
a variety of chopped vegetables, use what you like.
I used...
celery (a few spears)
onions (1 large)
garlic (2-3 cloves, finely minced)
carrots (2-3)
parsnips (1-2)
brown button mushrooms (1 pint)
1 zucchini
chopped lucinda kale
1 can of organic diced tomatoes (I used the juice as well)
a splash of apple cider vinegar
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
cumin (1-2 tsp.)
a dash of cayenne (or to taste)
1-2 bay leaves
Any other fresh/dried herbs you enjoy

Cook lentils in water/broth according to directions with a strip of Kombu in the pot as well.
Add vegetables and cook until they are done to your liking.
Remove strip of kombu and bay leaves.
I like to add a swirl of EVOO and some coarse sea salt  upon serving.
Enjoy!

Fish in a Flash

SO I went from never cooking fish, to almost never cooking fish, to rarely cooking fish, to fish twice a week.  I never used to even like fish...until I really tried.  Little bites here and there and eventually I grew to enjoy certain fish.  There are a lot of mild fishes out there for beginners.  I like halibut, cod, mahi mahi and haddock.  Salmon is still not my favorite (I'm a nutritionist, I KNOW it's good for me!) but I will have it on occasion with the right sauce.  I choose to cook fish tonight simply because tomorrow is Thanksgiving (i.e. lot's of rich foods, and basically lots of food!)  So in a pinch (nothing was defrosted) I ran into Target, yes Target, and bought some frozen wild-caught mahi mahi filets.  They defrost in 20 minutes, or while you are bathing your baby and getting him to bed.  Out of the package, a quick rinse, pat dry and here goes the rest...

Preheat broiler with rack placed so fish will be 6-8 inches from heat*

Ingredients:
Wild caught mahi mahi filets (or any other wild mild fish you choose)
EVOO
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
herbs de Provence
zest and juice from half a lemon
Kale, washed in hot water, torn in pieces with stems removed
toasted pine nuts
a good aged parmesan cheese

Brush pan or foil with a little EVOO, place filets on pan also brushing with a little EVOO (I used my fingers, few utensils to clean)
sprinkle each filet with salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice and herbs
broil 12-14 minutes or according to package

While the fish is broiling, wash and tear kale.  Dry in a salad spinner or by hand.
Toast pine nuts over med/low heat being very careful not to burn (keep moving them around, they will burn very quickly.)
Shave pieces of parmesan, set aside for final plating.

In a bowl, toss the washed and dried kale leaves, EVOO, some lemon juice and lemon zest, salt and a little pepper.
Plate the kale leaves and top with a few pine nuts and some cheese shavings.
Slide next to that a piece of fish, garnish with a little more lemon zest and Viola!  Dinner in 30 minutes or less.

*I used aluminum foil on my broil pan for a fast and easy clean up.

From start to finish this dinner took me less than an hour to cook, eat and then clean up.

Delicata delight

A few weeks ago I had a few friends over for some healthy Saturday night cookin'.  Now I have tasted and cooked many seasonal squash (again, ask me a few years ago and I would've said I didn't like any squash) but that night I was trying a "new to me" squash that had showed up in my CSA box that week...the delicata.  What I learned from one of my friends was that this is one winter squash that you can eat the skin- and boy is it delicious!  It's actually an heirloom variety of squash that has only recently come back into the culinary world.  For the first time trying the delicata, we simply sliced in half lengthwise, baked in a glass baking dish, flesh side down in about 1 cm of water (400 degrees, 30-45 minutes) removed from oven, topped with butter and sea salt and WOW, a perfect snack or side.  I've been hooked on them ever since, always picking up a few each trip to the market.  Pictured here is a last minute dinner idea using what I had on hand.  I am changing the recipe from what I actually did, the chicken pieces and the onion needed to be chopped smaller.  I chose boneless/skinless chicken breast from Fields of Athenry (my favorite source for chicken!) and... read below...
Chicken Delicata Delight
2 servings, with leftovers
Ingredients:
2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch strips/pieces
butter
1 sweet onion (chopped small)
2 delicata squash (halved and seeds removed)
1 apple (peeled and cut into small pieces)
water or chicken broth
cumin
coriander
cinnamon
cayenne
sea salt
fresh pepper
honey* optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place squash halves flesh side down in a baking dish with about 1 cm of water and bake until a fork pierces the flesh easily (about 30-45 minutes)
While squash is baking...
Heat onions in butter in a large sauté pan.  Sprinkle with sea salt and cook on low until they caramelize.
Once onions are a gooey brown, remove from pan and set aside.
Add more butter if necessary and cook chicken pieces thoroughly.
add cooked onions, chopped apple pieces, spices, honey (optional, I just used a little drizzle) cook a few minutes to let the spices soak in.
Then add enough water to create a sauce but not a soup (approx. 1 cm in pan).
Simmer liquid down until it reduces by half and the apples are tender.
Spoon chicken mixture into baked squash halves and enjoy!

Friday Night Fish

Haddock and Asparagus with Caper/Lemon/Butter Sauce
Ingredients:
Haddock (or any other mild white fish such as halibut, cod, etc...)
Lemon juice (fresh if you have it)
Capers
Asparagus
Organic Butter
Cold Pressed EVOO
Sea salt
Fresh pepper

Preheat oven to 375
Rinse fish and pat dry.
Place in glass baking dish lined with parchment paper (I did  this for faster clean up!)
drizzle EVOO and lemon juice over fish, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh pepper.
Bake until done (depends on how much fish, my 2 filets took around 10 minutes, just watch and poke for doneness)
While fish is baking heat 1T butter with a little EVOO over medium/low heat, toss in asparagus.  Sprinkle with sea salt and continue to toss every few minutes until i has reached your desired doneness, I like it with a little crisp bite.)  Remove asparagus from pan just before it has come to the bite you enjoy (I like it still a little crisp) This is done because it will continue to cook even when removed from heat.  Add 2 more T of butter to pan, 1-2 tsp of lemon juice, 1-2 tsp of capers and some fresh pepper.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for a minute or two.  I plated the fish over a few asparagus spears and then spooned over the caper sauce...delish!