last week i made a dinner of boneless pork loin, green beans and waffle fries. i actually had intended to just make some boiled potatoes but kinda forgot to buy the potatoes. so i used the waffle fries that were supposed to be for the turkey burgers. good thing i never got to make the burgers.
i used the recipe for maple grilled salmon in this months cooking light. but willie's not a big fan of salmon....i'm not a big fan of meat with lots of gristle or fat on it. so there ya go. lean pork loin. then for the green beans i used their tomato garlic vinaigrette recipe. the meat was a little dry. i didn't get to marinate it as long as i would have liked and didn't get as good of a glaze. next time i'll add more glaze to the meat. but that vinaigrette! wow! sooo good! very garlicky but so flavorful! it would be great on lots of different steamed veggies. and super simple to boot!
so here are the recipes for ya! obviously substituting the salmon for pork.
Maple Grilled Salmon (Pork)
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
4 (6 oz) salmon fillets, skinned
cooking spray
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Combine first 3 ingredients in a large zip top plastic bag; add fish. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 3 hours.
Preheat grill or grill pan to medium high heat.
Remove fish from bag, reserving the marinade. Pour marinade into a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 2 tablespoons (about 5 minutes).
Place fish on grill rack or pan coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of duneness, basting occasionally with marinade. Remove fish from grill; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Steamed Green Beans with Tomato Garlic Vinaigrette
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup seeded chopped tomato
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 lb green beans, trimmed
Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl; slowly add oil, whisking to combine. Stir in tomato and thyme; let stand 10 minutes
Steam beans, covered, 7 minutes or until crisp-tender. Cut into 2 inch pieces; add to tomato mixture, tossing gently to coat.
and THEN....
i made chocolate & orange sandwich cookies from 500 Cookies. for the most part, these turned out awesome. they taste amazing! they really are pretty simple cookies to make. the problem came with the filling. the filling tastes great too. but, it's a butter based filling. and it didn't sink in until i practically had doubled the amount of confectioners sugar and the consistency was STILL too thin, that that might be a problem. with it being so hot, that butter just can't stand up. i wound up having to refrigerate it for a couple of hours before i could even work with it. so i think next time, i'll make it with cream cheese. even though i added all that confectioners sugar, it still tastes great and you can still taste the orange in it. so all in all...it worked out fine. i just have to keep the cookies in the refrigerator. and after icing them, i really had to rush with the pictures because within a few minutes, the filling was already getting really soft.
Chocolate & Orange Sandwich Cookies
for the cookies:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped coarse
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup superfine sugar
grated zest of 1 orange (2 to 3 tsp)
for the filling:
6 tbsp sweet butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
grated zest of 1 orange (2 to 3 tsp)
juice of 1 orange (3 tbsp)
Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Melt the chocolate and allow it to cool slightly. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in another bowl. Whisk the eggs, sugar, and orange zest, and stir into the melted chocolate. Stir in the flour. Spoon small amounts of the dough onto the baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 25 minutes. Slide the parchment onto cooling racks.
Beat the filling ingredients together until fluffy. Spread a bit of orange icing on the base of a cookie, and sandwich with another. Store the cookies in an airtight container for 4 to 5 days.
