Roasted Pork Tenderloin with pear gravy, grilled zucchini, and roasted butternut squash basmati rice with cranberries

Whew! What a mouthful that title was! We had two friends over for dinner (last minute) and I threw together a meal with only needing a few essentials from the store.... sort-of. I had planned to make the pork tenderloin dish when my parents were in town (it's mom's favorite) but we didn't get home until late both nights! So I had the tenderloin in the freezer and pear nectar in the fridge (but who doesn't have pear nectar on hand? jk - but it was only about $1-2 from Peapod.)  The pork I adapted from Epicurious, as usual, the rest was my own creation...

I only took photos of the finished product (sorry!!) because I was trying to get the meal out in a hurry.  As it was, it was a late, late dinner!


Roasted Butternut Squash Basmati Rice with Cranberries
I was tired of plain old rice, so I decided to roast half a butternut squash while the pork was in the oven and mix it into basmati rice.  I added a few cranberries for some additional fall flavor.  Next time I'd add sage or rosemary and some chopped walnuts. Yum!
Peel a butternut squash (you can just use your vegetable peeler) and cut up the butternut squash.  This will probably take you the longest of anything, but not if you are using your knife properly! Squash is really hard to cut if you are holding your knife straight out.  If you cut at a 45 degree angle, a sharp knife should go right through the squash.  Cut in half, scoop out the inside, and dice the squash.  Put in an ovensafe baking dish and pop in the oven for about 30 min until roasted.  Stir halfway through the cooking time.
Prepare the rice according to package directions (including a bit of butter and salt) and then add the roasted squash and cranberries, stirring to incorporate.

For the pork:
3 TB olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp chopped thyme
a 2 lb pork tenderloin
3 large shallots, peeled and cut into wedges
3 unpeeled pears, quartered and cored
4 tsp butter, room temp
2 tsp flour
1 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock
3/4 cup pear nectar

Preheat oven to 475.  Mix the olive oil with the garlic and thyme and rub all over the pork. Have a roasting pan or baking sheet ready but sear the pork in a skillet over high heat along with the shallots.  Make sure you heat the pan up before you try to sear the meat so that it browns up well! Sear on all sides (should take about 5 min total) and place in the pork in your roasting pan.  Place the shallots on a platter. Put the pork in the oven and cook for 10-20 min, depending on the size of your tenderloin.  A meat thermometer should read 145 degrees.

[Side note: if you do not have a meat thermometer, it is well worth the splurge.  I have the Cuisinart one that you put in the meat, put the meat in the oven and the dial sits on your counter and beeps when it's done.]

Meanwhile, add the pears to your skillet and brown.  My pears were not quite ripe, so I should have added a bit of water to the pan, put a lid on, and let them steam a bit to soften.  This generally works anytime something is not cooking as quickly as you'd like (veggies, fish, etc) and / or if the pan is getting too browned.  (For veggies or fish I usually add a little white wine instead of the water.  Serves the double purpose of deglazing the pan so it's easier to clean.) Anyway, once the pears are browned up, add them to the platter with your shallots.

Mix the butter and flour in a small cup and add to the pan along with the pear nectar and chicken broth.  Boil this until the sauce thickens up, making sure you scrape up all the delicious bits left on the pan.  This gravy is the best part!!

When the pork is done, let it rest for 5 min before you slice.  Slice and add to the platter with the pears and shallots (I accidentally roasted my shallots with the pork and they got a bit.... crispy... so I discarded.)  It was delicious!

Grilled Zuchinni

Could not be easier.  I cut three zucchinis on the diagonal (for 4 people) and put them in a bowl.  Coat with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I had the hubby do the grilling so I could do everything else. Get a grill pan nice and hot and grill as though it's a real grill.

Grill marks and everything!

Smoky Minestrone Soup with Tortellini and Pesto

I made a big batch of Minestrone soup when Jenna came over for dinner this week.  Very happy is was such a big batch, because I've been enjoying it all week fighting a awful cold!
I used the recipe from Food 52, almost verbatim, though I omitted the celery (thought I had some but didn't) and would sub out the kale for spinach next time. This is my second time trying to cook with kale, and I really just don't care for it that much.  If you do sub spinach, do it at the very end since spinach cooks so quickly!
Here's what you're working towards:

Here's what I used:

3 TB olive oil

2 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces

1 large onion, diced

2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 leeks, thinly chopped (Trader Joes sells ones that are already trimmed!)

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 ribs of celery, chopped (I accidentally omitted)

1 Zucchini, diced

1 potato, or I used one small bag of mini potatoes from Trader Joes

2 cans of low sodium chicken stock

1 can of cooked chickpeas

1 28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes, with juice

1 cup kale, chopped fine, although next time I will use spinach

1 14 oz package of cheese tortellini

I topped it with some pesto that I made with fresh basil (basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil in a food processor) but if you can use store-bought pesto, or omit entirely.  If you omit, I would add some chopped basil in the soup for extra flavor. 

Get a large pot (I used my 3.5qt Le Creuset that my dear friends the Hausers gave me!) going with 1 TB olive oil and fry up the chopped bacon. 

Once that is good and cooked, add 2TB of olive oil and add the onion, garlic, and chopped leeks. Cook for a few minutes until they are cooked through and then add the carrot, celery, zucchini, and potatoes. Stir those for a minute or two. 

Add the chicken stock, scraping the bacon bits up from the bottom of the pot.  Then add the chickpeas and add the tomatoes one at a time by crushing them in your hands.  Make sure to add the juice from the can as well. 

Bring the soup to a boil, and then turn it to low and let it simmer for 30 mins or until the potatoes are done.  It will depend on how big the potatoes are as to when they are done. It may take 40 min. 

Add the kale and the tortellini and cook for another 5-7 min. Taste and salt if necessary.  I did not need to add any additional salt. 

Serve in a big bowl, topped with the pesto.  You could also grate some Parmesan cheese on top to serve. 

 It was delicious! It was a lot of vegetables to buy, but I was able to eat the leftovers all week.  It made at least 7-8 servings. 

Enjoy!

Seared Sea Scallops over Quinoa Pilaf

Tonight was an easy meal to make for one.  I picked up some sea scallops and decided to make a quinoa pilaf with ingredients I had on hand - pine nuts, dried cranberries, frozen peas, and rosemary from the roofdeck.
Here's what I used:
-4 sea scallops
-1/2 cup quinoa
-2 TB pine nuts
-1/4 cup frozen peas
-1/4 cup dried cranberries
-1 sprig of rosemary
Total prep / cooking time: 10 min.

First I got the quinoa going, as that takes the longest.  Add it to a pot with 1 cup of water (or the same ratio for the amount you need.) and get it started.  You can also use broth (vegetable or chicken) for extra flavor, but I wasn't sure how the saltiness would pair with the cranberries, so I just used water.
I also added the frozen peas directly to the boiling pot (though I should have added them a bit later - they cooked a bit too long.)

Then I toasted the pine nuts just slightly in a small pan (the same one that I will use for the scallops.) Make sure to stir them while they cook and pull them off as soon as they start to brown.  Set aside and add to pilaf right after it is done cooking.
Then rinse the sea scallops, remove the mussel on the side and discard (you CAN eat it, but it's really tough) and pat them very dry with a paper towel.  Add some salt and pepper to the scallops and get the small pan very, very hot.  Add 1 TB of butter - butter should start to brown nearly immediately if the pan is hot enough.  Then add the sea scallops and do not touch them for 2-3 minutes.

Then flip them just once, and let the second side cook on high for one minute.  Then turn the heat down and let them cook for 2-3 more minutes until they are just opaque.

Once all of the liquid is absorbed in the quinoa, stir in the cranberries, rosemary, and pine nuts and serve the scallops on top.

Et Voila! Easy, fast, and healthy.  Enjoy!

Linguine and Meatballs with Homemade Tomato Sauce

Hello everyone! Sorry for my conspicuous absence... work got a little crazy combined with sending me out to LA.  It was a great chance to catch up with great friends who I haven't seen in far too long.  Andrew and Tuany took me to the coolest restaurant I've been to in a long time, Bazaar, and I'm now re-inspired to find more of those gems in NYC!
So after a long day of being outside on what felt like the first real fall day in quite some time, hubs and I both had a craving for old school spaghetti and meatballs.  I went with linguine and meatballs, actually, and after a bit of time (maybe an hour?), this was a delicious take on an old favorite.  Adapted on the go from, of course, my trusty Epicurious app.  What would I do without it?!?

Here's what I used:
For the sauce:
2 28-oz cans of whole San Marzano tomatoes, with the juice
1 really large yellow onion or 2 smaller yellow onions
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
For the meatballs:
1 lb ground beef or other ground meat of your choice
1 cup breadcrumbs - I used the Italian mix
1/3 cup chopped parsley
salt and pepper
2 eggs
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup ground parmesan (not shredded - I actually chopped up a block of parm really, really finely since I didn't have ground on hand)
1/3 cup milk

And of course, your pasta.  I only cook what I think we'll eat and then I just have to make the pasta fresh with the leftover meatballs and it tastes like brand new.

To begin, you want to get the sauce started.  Get a large stock pot out and add both cans of tomatoes.  In all the cooking shows I have watched over the years, cooks swear by San Marzano tomatoes, and I have bought into the hype.  I have no idea if they are better than the domestic or not, and they are more expensive, unfortunately.  If someone loves a domestic brand, I would love the name.  I do think the San Marzanos give it that New York pizzeria taste, so I cough up the extra $2-3 bucks a can.  Then I quartered my large yellow onion.  I diced one quarter, and threw the other 3 quarters in there whole (you will remove them and discard later - if that bothers you, then dice finely and add to the sauce.)  Add the 1/4 cup of butter (half a stick) and get the sauce going to a nice simmer and start on the meatballs.

 In a big bowl, add the breadcrumbs and the milk together and stir until combined.  Let this stand for 10 min while you prep the rest of the ingredients. Monitor to see if you have excess milk.  My breadcrumbs absorbed all of the milk, but I did not use fresh breadcrumbs.  I used store-bought Italian blend. If you have extra milk, then combine the rest of these in a separate bowl so you can drain the milk out later.

 To my breadcrumb mixture, I added the chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and parmesan.

Now it's time to incorporate the meat.  I had been hoping to do a ground beef / ground turkey or pork blend (which I think would be delicious) but I got caught walking home in the rain without an umbrella, so ducked into the only nearby grocery store - the Korean market - which didn't have anything but ground beef.
Anyway, put one pound of whatever combination of ground meat you like in a separate bowl.  In a glass measuring cup, I cracked 2 eggs and whisked in the chopped garlic. Add that to the meat and combine thoroughly.  Then add the meat mixture to the breadcrumb mixture.

   Before you roll the meatballs, get the sauce ready.  By now, it's probably been on the stove for about 30 minutes.  So take out the big pieces of onion and discard.  I then used an immersion blender to make the sauce nice and smooth, but I think that is more of an aesthetic thing than a requirement.  An immersion blender is so easy to use and makes the sauce nice and silky.  Look at it steaming away!

Once you are ready, start rolling the meatballs into golf ball sized meatballs and add straight to the sauce.  Make sure they are in one layer on top of the sauce.  Once you are done, cover the pot and let simmer for 15-20 more minutes.  Get the pasta going once the meatballs are done and cook according to the package directions.
Once that is done, plate the pasta, the sauce, the meatballs, and top with freshly grated parmesan.  Enjoy! This fed 3, with plenty of leftovers.  It would probably feed up to 6-8.