Rosemary Tenderloin With Warm Asparagus Salad

Haven't made tenderloin in a while so trying it again. It's actually pretty easy to cook. Yes it would be better if I cooked part of it in the oven, but who has time to remember it's in there when I've got things on the stove top and a baby to watch. Right? 

Pork Tenderloin
Cornstarch - seals in the juices
Soy sauce
Rosemary
Cumin
Garlic

Warm salad:
Asparagus
Butter
Salt
Costco kale salad (minus fixings)

Marinate the tenderloin and then pan sear...I think 5 min per side? You want it to be medium in the middle. Yes, contrary to what I've been taught all my life, good quality pork can be eaten medium! So much juicier and softer!

The salad is prepared by sauteing the asparagus in butter. As it's getting soft I add the Costco kale salad. And when everything is warmed, but not wilted, it goes onto the plate. The seasoning is kept simple because of time...but let me know what seasoning you find works!

Enjoy!

Gazpacho

Fall means harvest time and we were passed a ton of heirloom tomatoes from my Uncle. One giant yellow one was too old and ripe to eat by itself so I thought a gazpacho would be nice to cap off the last of the summer harvest. I looked up recipes for inspiration and then made my own. Sorry, the picture should really feature the gazpacho in the top right corner and not the rest. =) But what a colorful meal no?

Tomatoes

Cucumber

Purple Onion

Garlic

Balsamic Vinegar

Lemon Juice

Cayenne Pepper

Cumin

Tomato Juice

Olive Oil

Basil for garnish

Just puree everything raw, add S&P to taste and enjoy! 

Salmon was seared with rosemary, garlic, S&P. Salad is bagged kale salad mix from Costco. And basmati rice...leftover from Indian take out. 

Warm Israeli couscous salad

 

Another meal where I didn't have enough of anything to make as a main....but the bits and pieces could come together in one of my favorite catch-alls : a salad. Other great catch-alls...stir fry. Stew. Soup. Fried rice. Pita pockets. Lots. =)

Pork cubes

Soy sauce
Israeli Couscous
Cumin
Yams
Gailan
Pine nuts
Butter
Green Onions
Garlic  

S&P

Basically...cook everything separately and then toss together. The only exception are the green onions. That I tossed in at the end when assembling. That way it won't brown and get mushy.

Ox-tail Stew

 

Winter is stew season....love! Hence this will be the Valentines post....though oxtail doesn't sound romantic. I'm non-cliche like that.

This is my first try at ox tail stew. Actually, I bought the ox-tail for soup, but since I didn't have any other meat defrosted, I used it for dinner instead. 

 

Ox tail

Tomatoes
Carrots
Veggie stock
Onion
Garlic
Wine
Ketchup (decent substitute for color when you don't have tomato paste)
S&p

Stews need to simmer for a while to get the meat fall-off-the-bone soft. I started cooking it at 5:30pm and we ate at 7pm. While it tasted very good, especially on rice, it was chewy. In this case, ox tail also has some tendon/cartilage that adds to the chewiness if not cooked long enough. I should've started the stew after lunch and then let it stew away in a slow cooker or thermal cooker for the afternoon before consuming at dinner. Ah well, lesson learned. Still tasty. =)

Chipotle Mayo Pork Chops on Spaghetti Squash

I asked my husband to help marinate the pork chops we got and he creatively put this marinade together:

Chipotle mayo
Soy sauce
Mustard

Quite a tasty marinade I must say. The chops were pan seared...about seven minutes on each side because it was so thick. I've started to be daring and take pork to a medium well instead of fully cooking it. It's so much juicier and tender that way. It was served topped with mango salsa (from Costco). The flavors worked really well together!

As for the spaghetti squash...after it was baked and scraped into a large pan, I added all the little extras for additional flavor and texture and color. Hard to go wrong.

Squash
Onion
Garlic
S&P
Tomato
Cilantro
Parmesan

Pomegranate Kale Salad

I whipped this up one day when trying to figure something out for vegetables. I had the kale, which I shredded. There was pomegranate in the fridge which I though would add some nice color and sweet tartness to the mix. A loose carrot "peeled" into the salad gave additional color and flavor. Considering kale was on the nuttier bitter side, I thought a sweeter salad with the pomegranate and carrot would be nice. Then I added the seeds and nuts for protein.

Pomegranate seeds
Baby kale leaves
Carrot shreds
Chia seeds
Hemp hearts
Pine nuts

Dressing :
Tahini
Garlic
Cider vinegar
Maple syrup
Grainy mustard

It was the second time I tried using tahini to make a dressing. The first time failed because I tried to thin it with oil...but it caused the mixture to break up and get really goopy. This time, it's thinned with vinegar or water, which worked out really well. Overall, I really enjoyed this combo for a tahini dressing...will be definitely repeated!

And Ta-da....a nice bright'n colorful'n tasty side.

And with that, here's to a happy and healthy New Year in 2014!! Keep cooking, experimenting and creating. God bless!

Christmas Steak

And just like that, Christmas is upon us! This isn't Christmas dinner, but it's close.

Boneless rib steak:
Montreal Steak Spice
Chopped cilantro
Olive Oil

Mushrooms:
Garlic
Paprika
Cumin
S&P

Salad:
Baby Kale
Chick Peas
Pomegranate
Avocado

Dressing:
Tahini
Grainy Mustard
Maple Syrup
Lime juice

Everything was delicious. The steak was eaten with a wedge of lime for a nice citrus note. And, the vitamin C from the lime helps your body absorb the iron better from the red meat. Just FYI.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. 

The Love, Joy and Peace of Christ be upon your household. 

And may every good and perfect gift find its way to you in the New Year!

My Go-To Trout

Trout has become a bit of a regular in our kitchen. My husband tells me it's not "fishy" like salmon can be. It's also super easy to cook. I just wash, scale (because I like eating the skin) and then put these ingredients on top:

Garlic
Rosemary
S&p
Olive Oil

Pop in the oven for 17-20 min (until the meat can be sliced easily with a blunt object)...or pan fry until the same consistency is reached (that'll take less than 10 min). Serve with a squeeze of lemon...or not. Because it's not fishy. Enjoy!

Beet & Brussels Sprouts Salad

There are SO MANY ways to do a good meal-worthy salad. I personally believe that raw nutrients are better than cooked stuff...even if the calories and vitamin/minerals are reportedly the same whether cooked or raw. Being Asian, I still eat a lot of COOKED vegetables....but I'm exploring the raw side now. I'm used to eating raw spinach salad....but beets and brussel sprouts were always consumed cooked. After seeing a few recipes for eating these items raw, I came up with this salad to see how it goes:

Beets - peeled and cut into matchsticks
Brussels sprouts - sliced very thinly, like slaw
Apple - thin slices
Spinach
Pine nuts
 
Dressing:
Mustard
Garlic
Tahini
Apple cider vinegar
Maple syrup

The dressing was completely eye-balled and adjusted to taste....but I really really liked the dressing. And when tossed with the salad...I thought it was a very tasty, earthy, hearty salad. My husband mostly agrees...until he realized I used raw brussel sprouts. "No wonder!! Something tasted off. I don't like that earthy bitter taste." Well, to each their own. Maybe next time I'll blanche the sprouts first?

Green Steak and Ham

A MEAT post!!! Finally! ...but no ham in this...I was just thinking about Dr Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham book.

My husband told me about a cilantro mint chutney that his coworker shared with him once. It's simply:
A bunch of fresh mint
A bunch of fresh cilantro
Thai chilies (as many or as little as you like....I would recommend at LEAST one)
A spoon of sugar

And then blend it to a saucy consistency.
We only have the Magic Bullet...and had trouble with the leaves sticking to the walls and not coming down. So we added about 1/3 cup of olive oil. It ended up being a thick paste. Keeps for a couple weeks in the fridge.

What's great about it, is that it can be used to marinate ANY meat. In this case, I used it on steak. I thinned out several spoons of the paste with some grapeseed oil since it was going into the BBQ. In hindsight, I should've only used grapeseed oil since olive oil burns in high tempuratures....like in the BBQ. Here I've got some rib steak marinating in the green goodness:




And after grilling to a beautiful medium rare, I took more chutney, added some lemon juice and minced garlic to make a chimichuri sauce for the steak. SO GOOD.



The sides are a quick Asian pickles and grilled cauliflour.

Pickles:
Cucumbers
Couple spoons of white vinegar (you're supposed to use rice vinegar)
Spoon of sugar
Minced garlic
Spoon or two of soy sauce
few drops of sesame oil

Grilled cauliflour was tossed in grapeseed oil, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.

Zucchini Pasta with Kale & Tomato

I've been seeing posts about a gluten free zucchini pasta...and what makes it gluten free is because you're actually using whole fresh zucchini pieces cut into pasta shaped noodles as opposed to processing zucchini with other ingredients to make noodles. It's a bit labour intensive...I used a mandolin then stacked and sliced the zucchini down to fettuccine sizes. And then I made "pasta sauce" by just sauteeing and simmering the rest of the incredients together. Season to taste.

It's REALLY good. =) Hope you'll enjoy it too!

Zucchini

Pasta sauce:
Garlic
Onion
Basil
Savory
Salt
Soup stock
Kale
Tomatoes
 

Baked Miso Tofu on Salad and Burnt Tomato Soup

I can't remember where I saw a recipe for baked miso tofu, but it sounded interesting. I had both medium firm regular and soft egg tofu. I've been buying organic since I hear soy is a major GMO product now.

Miso sauce:
Miso paste
Soy sauce
Sugar
Grapeseed Oil

Mix this all together and then spoon over the cut tofu in a baking sheet. Bake at 350-385 F until the liquids dry and it starts to brown. Serve over salad with a garlic balsamic vinegar dressing that you can also easily throw together.

Tomato Soup....sadly was a bit of a fail. I was browning the onions and had added cut tomatos to simmer with it, except I didn't include enough liquids in the pot...or maybe the stove was on too high. Anyways....the bottom burnt. I picked out what I could, added veggie stock and then put the immersion blender in until I got the desired consistency. My husband said it tasted good...so I'll go with that. But I'm not aiming for a repeat performance for sure. =)

Tomatoes
Onion
Garlic
Basil
Oregano
Vegetable Stock

Bean Patties

Yup still going strong on the vegetarian kick. I still really love a good marbled piece of rib eye steak, med rare with a nice sear...but a much smaller piece now. Less is more! Anyways, as summer is swinging in, visions of bbq's and grills and burgers and wings start to float in. I realize the picture is of patties in a frying pan, but that's really only because we hadn't filled up our propane tank for the bbq yet.

So, patties...I've tried veggie burgers and I really don't like the ones that imitate beef patties. If I wanted beef patties, I'll eat beef patties. In this case, I wanted to try making bean patties....see if it can taste good. And also because that huge tub of nine-bean mix I bought at Costco isn't being used up fast enough.



I kinda followed this recipe for a Black Bean Veggie burger. I used a nine bean mix instead of just black beans. Sriracha instead of chili powder. Added paprika to the mix. And used flour instead of bread crumbs...because I didn't have any and didn't want to waste my bread to make some.

Everything was mashed/mixed by hand because we don't have a food processor. And maybe it could'e used more flour (or bread crumbs) because it wasn't holding together very well. The cooked result was quite crumbly too so it's a good thing I didn't put it on the grill. BUT, it was very tasty indeed. Yay!

Saucy Veggie Omlette...not really

I don't know what this is called....when you crack eggs into sautéed veggies. It's not a fritata, it's not a Spanish omlette, it's not really an omlette either....meh. It was tasty! And an easy way to use up various veggies in the fridge. I served it with some garlic naan to soak up some of the sauce.



I sautéed everything until it was nearly done, made four "wells" that I cracked the eggs into. Covered it for a few minutes then served it.

Button mushrooms
Yellow Pepper
Broccoli
Onion
Eggs
Cumin
Paprika
Sugar
Basil flakes
Garlic
S&P
 

Sautéed Mushrooms

I love mushrooms. I think my two favorite ways to eat mushrooms is in a chunky creamy soup or sautéed...which is what this post covers.

This one is sautéed in butter, seasoned with:
Chopped garlic
Cumin
Paprika
Salt
Chili flakes

Once everything is nicely coated with butter and spices, I cover the pan for a few minutes so that the moisture from the mushrooms come out. Then I uncover and let the water evaporate. I'll leave a minute or two between each time I stir so that the mushrooms almost char. Super yummy.

Veal Flank Stew and Spring Salad

I bought some veal flank meat and thought a stew would be nice....but as Spring is here, pairing it with a fresh salad would be even nicer.

Stew:
Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Veal flank
Onion
Garlic
Cumin
Paprika
Sugar
Sriracha
BBQ Sauce
Ketchup
Tomato Paste
Various herbs that seemed to smell good together

Salad:
Spring Greens
Naval Orange cut to bite sizes
Chopped Almonds

Dressing:
Olive Oil
Grainy mustard
Honey
Lemon Juice

Pork Tenderloin & Roasted Fennel

After the success of the medium cooked pork tenderloin last time...I wanted to try again. I browsed cookbooks and the Internet for inspiration and then combined a couple recipes together.

Marinade:
Soy sauce
Garlic
Onion
Honey
Lemon Juice

Pan sear tenderloin. Add cut fennel chunks. Bake until internal temp of tenderloin is 130 F. Remove from oven and tent until temp is 10 degrees higher.
Meanwhile, take the leftover marinade, simmer in a pot until the onions are soft...then pour over the tenderloin and fennel before serving.

Yum.

Parmesan Spaghetti Squash Bake

I'm not a big pasta eater. It's heavy and I usually feel pretty bloated afterwards. But, I love the sauces....the cheesy, creamy, garlicky goodness. I remember someone saying you can use spaghetti squash like you would pasta so I gave it a shot with just parmesan and some garlic salt (the bare bones seasoning of pasta). The end result...could've been broiled a little longer for some color...but was really tasty! And I could eat the whole squash skin portion without any bloat! A great vegetable side that also kind doubles as a pasta side. =)

Spaghetti Squash
Parmesan
Garlic salt


Bake the halved squash first. Loosen the cooked squash, sprinkle parmesan and garlic salt as you please, return to oven to broil for a couple minutes, then enjoy!

Garlic green beans

A super easy one!

Coconut oil
Garlic - either finely chopped or minced
Salt
Green beans



Though, I'm still having problems judging how long to sautee for to get my desired level of tenderness/crispiness. I tend to go under or over. Is there a length of time to aim for? Anyone know?

Pinto Bean Stew

I think I've mentioned that we're trying to reduce our meat intake...so we were doing Meatless Mondays before but have also added Vegetarian Vednesdays. I'm never full enough just eating vegetables so I'm learning to capitalize on the filling potential of beans. I know, beans are the magical fruit that makes you toot. It turns out the chemical factor that makes you socially unacceptable is found in the skin of beans...and it's water soluble! So, I just soak the beans for at least four hours if I forget to soak them overnight. Then drain the water. And we're good!

This stew is basically pinto beans plus whatever I could find in my fridge.

Pinto beans
Trader Joe's vegetable stock
Onion
Carrots
Cumin
Garlic
Some leftover butternut squash soup
S&P to taste