Orange & Dill Salmon

TUESDAY, MAY 11TH, 2010

4 stars (out of 5 - an easy salmon dish, with an interesting blend of flavours)

1 serving = ~209 calories.

I am really trying to get SB to eat more fish, less red meat which means that I am now trying to conquer my fear/disgust of cooking fish. I have a Company's Coming cookbook that has a lot of really good, yet really simple fish recipes, and this is another one of them. I decided to try it out today because I needed to make the marinade in the afternoon.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (125 mL) orange juice
1/3 cup (75 mL) maple syrup
1/4 cup (60 mL) dry white wine
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill*
1 tbsp (15 mL) soy sauce
Up to 4 salmon steaks, ~2cm/1" thick, 113 g each**

{*Note. You can also use 1 tbsp of dill weed if you prefer. I used fresh dill and then sprinkled some dill weed over top for good measure}.

{**Note. I only cooked 1 salmon steak, but the recipe is for up to four}.

1. First, I combined the first 5 ingredients in the small bowl, and mixed well.

2. I then placed the salmon in the bowl, covered it, and stuck it in the fridge for up to 4 hours.

3. When I was ready to cook, I removed the salmon from the marinade (and discarded the leftover marinade), and fried it with some olive oil on medium heat in a non-stick pan for about 3-4 minutes per side (until it flaked away easily). The original recipe said to use an electric grill (or gas bbq to medium), and to cook it 5 minutes per side. I think I will have to get one of those!).

4. I served it with some baked asparagus (and a avocado-orange salad on the side - post to come!).

Overall, this was really easy to prepare ahead (the most time-consuming process was chopping up the dill, and it still only took about 5 minutes) and then just fry up when I was ready. SB said it was a really interesting mix of flavours with the maple, and that they blended together well. It was nice and moist and flaky inside. I might try this again with a grill. One note, SB kept adding the dill to the frying fish, which is why it blackened so much. I think that (presentation-wise) it might have looked better if we hadn't done that, or had used a grill instead.

Pork Tenderloin w/ Sage-Parsley Crust

TUESDAY, MAY 4TH, 2010

4.5 stars (out of 5 - a super-easy, yet impressive pork dish!)

It was yet another Hockey Night in Canada, and we were invited over to PTL's place for dinner. Unfortunately (for me), I had already purchased my groceries for this dinner (a new recipe attempt). Soo, I decided to be brave and try it out on both SB and PTL (usually, I like to try things out at least once before making them for guests). Luckily for me, it turned out really well, and my fears (of a dried out roast) were unfounded: it was a great combo of flavours and the meat was very tender.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (125 mL) orange juice
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp (30 mL)liquid honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
~1 lb (~450g) pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat
1.5 tbsp whole grained mustard
1/4-1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped*
2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped**
1 tbsp course ground pepper

{*Note. I didn't have fresh parsley, so I substituted this with 2 tbsp of dried parsley and it worked well}.

{**Note. I used a bit more than this. Basically, for the parsley and sage, you want a nice layer around the meat (see pics below)}.

1. First, I mixed the first four ingredients into a medium-sized bowl.

2. I then added the tenderloin, coating all sides, marinating it in the fridge for at least 4 hours (turning once and a while), or overnight. You can see from the picture that I didn't have the courage to trim the fat myself, so I just marinated it all and had SB trim it when he came home!

3. {Preheat oven to 375F} After it had marinated, I then coated the roast with the whole grained Dijon mustard (all sides)...

4. ... mixed up the sage, parsley, and pepper mixture...

5. ...and rolled the roast around until it was coated on all sides. Unless you have really coarse pepper (I didn't), be careful with the pepper mixture. I found it stuck in big patches, so had to rub quite a bit off. I would instead recommend just sprinkling the roast with the pepper by hand (still be generous with it). I placed it on a cooking rack (greased) in a baking pan with sides.

5. I then placed it in the oven, with a meat thermometer in it, and cooked it until it reached 155F (about 45 minutes).

6. After I took the roast out of the oven, I covered it in tinfoil for 10 minutes to let the juices mix, and the temperature to rise a few more degrees.

7. As the juices were mixing, I poured the leftover marinade in a frying pan on medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes until it reduced and thickened slightly (second pic).

8. I then unwrapped it from the foil...

9. ...and sliced it in ~2cm/1" slices.

10. I then drizzled the sauce over top (to each person's liking), and served it with a simple salad and sweet potatoes (recipe entry to come!).

Overall, even though I was nervous making this, the meat thermometer made it a stress-free experience. I didn't have to guess whether it was cooked well enough or not, and it definitely was not overcooked or dried out in any way. In fact, I was surprised by how moist/tender the meat was (well, looked since I didn't taste!), and the sauce makes it even more so. SB and PTL both thought it tasted really delicious, so I was pleased! Will do again - easy and stress free, yet impressive!