Spicy Pork & Spinach Salad

I cobbled this together from several recipes.

Spicy Pork & Spinach Salad

1 (1pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
1-2 T Paprika Spice Blend (below)
1 bag baby spinach
Toasted pecans or walnuts
Crumbled goat cheese
1 red ripe pear, cored and thinly sliced
Pomegranate dressing (below)

Preheat oven to 500.
Rub spice blend over port.  Place pork in a roasting pan lined with aluminum foil (you'll be glad you did) an sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 500 for 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 155.

Let pork rest for 10 minutes, then slice into 1/4" slices.  Place spinach onto serving plates, top with several slices of pork, pecans, goat cheese and pear slices.  Add dressing to taste.

Paprika Spice Blend

1/4 cup paprika
2 T salt
2 T ground cumin
2 T brown sugar
2 T chili powder
2 T ground black pepper
1 T garlic powder

Combine all ingredients; store in an airgight container.  Yields about 1 cup.

Pomegranate Dressing

2 T cider vinegar
2 t Dijon mustard
1 1/2 t brown sugar
1 t minced garlic
1/2 t thyme
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
1/2 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup pomegranate juice

Combine vinegar through thyme and set aside.  Heat 2 T olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add shallots and cook until soft and slightly browned.  Add pomegranate juice and cook until reduced to about 4 tablespoons.  Reduce heat to medium low and add vinegar mixture.  Cook one minute.  Gradually whisk in 2 T oil, salt and pepper.  Cover and keep warm until ready to use.

Week of Oct 17 - 23

Sunday morning my wonderful husband made Bud's French Toast for breakfast!  We were going to ride our bikes on the Greenline, but my bike's front tire was "flatter than a fritter" so we just took a walk around our neighborhood.

Remember the pizza I made last week with the butternut squash?  Well, the squash showed up again in this bisque that I made for lunch.  I substituted my leftover carmelized onions for the shallots, and I used the leftover bechamel sauce to come up to 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk.  It was very good, but I think I'll add about half again more squash next time.  I also made Sour Cream and Cheddar Biscuits from a recipe that I got from Smitten Kitchen.  As you may know, I'm on a mission to duplicate the wonderful cheese biscuits that they serve at Kojay's in Blowing Rock.  Kojay's is very stingy with their recipe!  Today's biscuits weren't even close, but they were good just the same.  They have Jalapeno peppers in them, so they have a little kick.

Sour Cream and Cheddar Biscuits

No cooking Sunday night - our homeowners association had our annual fish-fry, yummy!

This was a fairly busy week for me as I had several site visits for the Women's Foundation.  So I fell back on what my family considers "favorites."  These are very quick, very easy, very good, and very inexpensive dishes that they request over and over.  I'll set up a page with links to these recipes so that they're easy to find.  These are the tried and true dinners that get my highest recommendation!

Monday 10-18-10

Summer Sausage Skillet Supper

Boys love this - Walter will even eat leftovers!  I cook this a lot on class nights cause I can fix it before I leave and it's on the stove for Walter when he gets home.

Tuesday 10-19-10

Chicken Salad

A couple of weeks ago in needlepoint class, we were comparing what we had brought for lunch and my friend Leslie had chicken salad.  So we started talking about the multitude of recipes for chicken salad and Leslie said one of her favorites was from the 1964 Women's Exchange Cookbook.  The Women's Exchange is a Memphis institution.  They have a tearoom (fabulous food!) and a shop where they sell exquisite handmade items to support the women who make the items and to fund their various charitable projects.  I asked Leslie to send me the recipe and I made it today.  It's very different from the recipe I usually make.  I like pecans and grapes in mine; this one has almonds and capers.  But I have to say it's pretty good.  I coated the chicken breasts with olive oil, sprinkled them with kosher salt and pepper, roasted them in a 450 degree oven until the internal temperature was 165, then covered them and let them rest for about 10 minutes.  Usually I flatten the breasts to an even thickness then saute them, but this worked just as well and was not as messy.  I doubled the recipe because I wanted to take some to my neighbor who has just had some surgery. 


Wednesday 10-20-10

Slow Cooker Pepper Pork Chops
Rice
English Peas (yes, from a can!)
Buttery Pecan Rounds & Ice Cream

My former neighbor and soul sister, Tandy Gilliland, was in town and came over for dinner.  She lives in Lexington, KY now but still has ties to Memphis.  It was so good to catch up with her!  One of my PAR buddies, Kay McAdams, brought these cookies to the picnic Saturday and she kindly sent me the recipe.  I served them with ice cream, really frozen vanilla yogurt.  Delish!

By the way, my favorite frozen yogurt is Fresh Market's Homemade brand.  It has just the right flavor and consistency and no yucky aftertaste.


Thursday 10-21-10

Fiesta Enchiladas

First I have to say that I met with my needlepoint group today and took some of the chicken salad and cheddar bisquits for my lunch.  The ladies loved both, but the big hit was the container of Buttery Pecan Rounds.  We even got a lot of stitching done between the eating and talking!  I'm almost finished with my current piece, which is a good thing since we're supposed to start a new piece soon.  I'll post a picture, hopefully in a couple of days.

Fiesta Enchiladas is another family favorite.  Very easy and tasty and quick.

Friday, 10-22-10

Ok, my kitchen is closed for the week.  Friday is International Date Night, you know, and tonight we're going to see Wicked at the Orpheum.  We have dinner reservations at Felicia Suzanne's (no relation, darnit!)  Have a great weekend!

Chicken Salad from the 1964 Women's Exchange Cookbook

Chicken Salad Recipe from the 1964 Women's Exchange Cookbook:

5 c. cooked cubed chicken                                                        1/8 t. white pepper

2 t. grated onion                                                                        1/2 t. curry powder

1 c. minced celery                                                                     1 T. taragon vinegar (or dry white wine)   

1/4 c. capers                                                                             4 hard-boiled eggs

1/4 c. coffee cream                                                                    1/2 c. toasted slivered almonds

2/3 c. mayo (or a little less)                                                                  

1 t. salt

Combine chicken, onion, celery, and capers.  Mix cream with mayonnaise.  Add salt, pepper, curry and vinegar.  Pour over chicken mixture, mixing well.  Just before serving, fold eggs and almonds into mixture. 

Dinner with Bud

My father and stepmother are making their fall move from their farm in Arkansas to their "fishing shack" in Florida.  They arrived about noon on Saturday and spent the night with us, leaving early this morning.  For dinner we had:

Beef Filets with Pomegranate-Pinot Sauce

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (you can do this, right?)

Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Stilton

Bananas Foster Bread

All of these recipes are in the October, 2010 issue of Cooking Light.  Are you seeing a theme here?  When I get the new issue, I immediately try new things!  As the month progresses, I'll use other sources or go back to old favorites.  As a matter of fact, my plan for this coming week draws from a different source every night with nothing from Cooking Light. 

But back to Saturday night.  I've never bought a pomegranate before and I must say I'm not that impressed.  The seeds had a texture that I didn't like that much and I really couldn't taste the pomegranate.  I guess I'll stick to Walter's famous Pomegranate Martinis in the future!

Everything else was great, though.  I chose the Bananas Foster Bread because I'm always on the lookout for good banana bread recipes.  We buy bananas every week and often end up with "ripe" ones that I hate to throw away, even if they do go into my compost.  Plus I figured that I could wrap some up for Daddy and Grace to eat on the road. 

Here's how I started.  I like to get everything out first, what the French call mise-en-place.  That way if I'm missing something, I can make substitutions or go back to the store before I start cooking.  Which happened, by the way, when I started making the Pomegranate-Pinot Sauce.  Who would have thought I'd be out of pomegranate juice?



I've really become a convert to weighing flour instead of measuring it.  So much easier!

My friend Leslie Hanna bought this great yogurt for me - Thanks, Leslie!

And here's the finished product - everyone liked it!

Here's Bud and Grace as they were leaving Sunday morning + a picture of Bud with his brown-eyed girl in her jammies!

Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Stilton

Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Stilton

This is really a main dish salad!  Use crumbled goat cheese in place of Stilton, if you prefer a milder flavored cheese.
Yield:  4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 1/2 tablespoons champagne or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 dried apricot, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups torn green leaf lettuce leaves
2 cups thinly sliced Belgian endive (about 2 heads)
1/4 cup (1 ounce) Stilton cheese, thinly sliced
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 (5-ounce) package baby arugula
1 ounce very thin slices prosciutto, torn
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a blender. With blender on, slowly add oil; process until well combined. Stir in salt and pepper.

2. Combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; add apricot mixture, tossing gently to coat.

CALORIES 294 ; FAT 18.4g (sat 3.6g,mono 8.9g,poly 5g); CHOLESTEROL 9.5mg; CALCIUM 254mg; CARBOHYDRATE 28g; SODIUM 429mg; PROTEIN 9.2g; FIBER 10.8g; IRON 3.7mg

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2010