RECIPE: Moroccan Marinated Pork Tenderloin

I often refer to Gavan Murphy's website for cooking adventure ideas. Two of my favorite dishes from his website are Orange-Ginger Pork and Moroccan Marinated Chicken. I decided to see how cooking a pork tenderloin would be with the moroccan marinade. The results? OUTSTANDING! I'm glad I doubled the recipe because now we'll have enough for several meals.
I paired it with some stuffed roasted zucchini. Excellent stuff!
***Please note***The meat must marinate for 4 hours, so there is preparation that needs to be done in advance.
MOROCCAN MARINATED PORK TENDERLOIN

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 pound pork tenderloin


Marinade:
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon groung Coriander
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 teaspoons Lemon Pepper
1 teaspoon organic Agave

DIRECTIONS:

Preparing/marinating the pork ...
Combine the marinade ingredients together and blend well. (I used my immersion blender) Taste and set aside.
Preheat large skillet on high heat. Lay pork on foil or a paper towel then sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to hot pan, then add the pork to sear all sides. This should take 2 or 3 minutes per side. 

Once all the pork is golden brown, add it to the marinade and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Baking the Tenderloin ... 

***Allow the meat to return to room temperature to insure even cooking.***
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place tenderloin on a foil-lined baking dish and place in oven. I doubled this recipe and it took 35 minutes, so be sure to start checking for doneness at about 20 minutes. 

I used my meat thermometer and checked the thickest part of a meat.  At 25 minutes the inside temperature of the pork was 139 degrees, so I returned the dish back to the oven for 10 more minutes. If you're checking with a meat thermometer you want the internat temperature to be 155 degrees.

Remove the dish from the oven and allow the meat to 'rest' for at least 3 minutes. This allows for the juices to be reabsorbed back into the meat for maximum juiciness.

RECIPE: Moroccan Marinated Chicken

I often refer to Gavan Murphy's website for cooking adventure ideas. Everything I have made from his recipes has been outstanding, so I rest assured that each new attempt will be delicious, as well. For years I trusted Southern Living cookbooks (and still do!!) but I just don't cook like a Southern gal anymore. Paleo cooking is much for rewarding, so why tamper with a good thing! (Actually, at some point I will refer back to some of my favorite Southern recipes and I will attempt to 'convert' them to Paleo.
I bought chicken breasts at the store yesterday, so I decided to try a recipe I've been curious about ... Moroccan Marinated Chicken. I paired it with some roasted zucchini filled with grape tomato halves, herbs, and mozzarella cheese ... That recipe will be posted shortly, too. Dessert was AMAZING! I made Paleo Strawberry Coconut Sorbet! Yes, I'll be posting that recipe, as well! 
***Please note***The chicken must marinate for 4 hours, so there is preparation that needs to be done in advance.

MOROCCAN MARINATED CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS:
4 large organic Chicken Breasts (Gavan used 2 whole organic chickens)
Marinade:
1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon groung Coriander
2 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 teaspoons Lemon Pepper
1 teaspoon organic Agave

DIRECTIONS:
Preparing/marinating the chicken ...
Combine the marinade ingredients together and blend well. (I used my immersion blender) Taste and set aside.
Preheat large skillet on high heat. Lay chicken pieces on foil or a paper towel then sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to hot pan, then add pieces of chicken to sear all sides. This should take 2 or 3 minutes per side. You may need to sear the chicken a few pieces at a time rather than all at once.

Once all the chicken is golden brown, add the chicken to the marinade and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Baking the chicken ... 
***Allow the chicken to return to room temperature to insure even cooking.***


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


Place chicken pieces on a foil-lined baking dish.

If you're cooking mixed pieces of chicken you will need to pot the dark meat pieces in first, as they take longer to cook.


After the dark meat pieces have baked for 8 minutes, add white meat pieces and return to the oven for approximately 12 minutes. 


Check for doneness. I used my meat thermometer and checked the thickest part of a breast.  At 20 minutes the inside temperature of the chicken was 139 degrees, so I returned the dish back to the oven for 5more minutes. If you're checking with a meat thermometer you want the internat temperature to be 160 degrees. It's easy to tell with dark meat ... cut into the meat and see if juices next to the bone are clear. If so, it's done.

Remove the dish from the oven and allow the meat to 'rest' for at least 3 minutes. This allows for the juices to be reabsorbed back into the meat for maximum juiciness.

RECIPE: Paleo Mexican Cauliflower "Rice"

What's a Mexican dinner without rice? Well, I never was a big rice fan, but Conrad likes it, so I decided to look for alternate ideas of how to fill the "rice void" in a Mexican meal. I have seen several posts about people using cauliflower as a rice substitute in a lot of dishes. Even though neither of us care much for cauliflower I thought it was worth a try. After all, I bought one today to the tune of $1.29 ... Gotta love living in California! I decided to try different seasonings and spices to "mask" the taste. It didn't need much!

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 head cauliflower
1 tomato
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
sea salt
ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Wash and cut cauliflower into flowerettes and microwave for 4 minutes.
2. Peel a tomato and remove seeds and water. Pulse in a food processor.
3. Pulse cauliflower in food processor until it's the consistency of rice.
4. Heat a pan over medium heat for one minute, then add olive oil.

5. Add cauliflower and saute for several minutes making sure it's soft.
6. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin and tomato.

7. Stir and simmer for another minute to make sure tomatoes are warm.
8. Serve with chicken, guacamole, and whatever your favorite Mexican dishes are.

Trust me - It does not taste like cauliflower - It tastes like Mexican rice!

RECIPES: Mediterranean Stuffed Eggplant

It has literally been at least a decade since I've had eggplant. As a child growing up in the South I remember my mom cutting it into slices, soaking it in milk, then rolling it in some sort of floury mixture before frying it in vegetable oil **STOP** What were we thinking back then??? My body cringes at the thought! As is visible in the photo of the vegetables I bought for the week, there's an eggplant among them. It has plagued me all week as to what to do with it. Upon my 'exploring' on the Internet I came across this recipe for food.com's Mediterranean Stuffed Eggplant, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I am very glad I did! It's an amazing recipe and one I will definitely use again and again. As a matter of fact, I bought extra mushrooms in hopes of having some stuffing left over, so guess what's for dinner tomorrow night? You guessed it! Stuffed mushrooms!

Ingredients

• 1 lb meatloaf mixture ( ground pork, veal, beef)
• 1 tablespoon lard
• 1 small onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon organic butter
• 1/2 pint white mushrooms, chopped
• 2 small eggplants, halved and contents scooped out and chopped
• 1/4 cup raisins, chopped
• 1/4 cup almond meal ( or finely chopped almonds)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 pinch cayenne powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese**Please note** The photo shows a jar with some bacon fat. I was going to use it instead of olive oil and butter but changed my mind. 
  

  Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a cast iron skillet over medium high heat, cook ground meat in lard until well browned, scraping bottom with a wooden spoon periodically to avoid burning.
  3. In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onions in butter, with a little salt, until translucent (about five minutes). Add chopped mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms have softened.
  4. Add onion and mushroom mixture to meat in skillet, and stir to combine. Add chopped eggplant to skillet, stir to combine. Add seasonings, raisins and almonds. When eggplant softens, add water to skillet, and deglaze bottom of the pan.
     
     5. Add olive oil to the empty saucepan. Lightly salt eggplant cavities, and place eggplant in the saucepan, cut side down. Cook eggplant this way for about 3-5 minutes. Flip eggplant, exposing cavities. Cook eggplant in a 400 degree oven for another 5 minutes. Remove eggplant from the oven.
     6. Add cheeses to the meat mixture and stir to combine. Check for seasonings, and add salt if necessary. Divide meat mixture evenly, and stuff into the 4 eggplant halves.
        
        7. Bake until delicious, golden brown, and bubbly, about 5 more minutes.
        
        8. Serve.
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        ***NOTE*** This is by far the best way I have ever eaten eggplant. It's amazing! (Even Conrad raved about it!!)

RECIPE: Broiled Sweet Potato Chips

I've always loved sweet potato fries, but not been too crazy about the grease. The other night I cut up a white sweet potato and made fries by broiling them. I tried this again, with a few modifications, and cut the sweet potato into slices rather than fries. I ended up only cutting one of these sweet potatoes, but should have done both. They were that good!
INGREDIENTS:
1 large white sweet potato
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp curry
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Wash sweet potato and cut it into slices.
2. Turn oven to Broil setting and temperature to 500 degrees.
3. With a paper towel, lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil, then sprinkle sea salt and pepper on the pan.
4. In a bowl mix olive oil, curry, cumin, salt and pepper. Place potato slices in the oil mixture, and stir them around to coat them evenly.

5. Place potato slices on prepared baking sheet and pop it in the oven.

Checking occasionally, at about 4 - 5 minutes, take pan out of the oven and turn each potato slice over, then return pan to oven to bake another 3 - 4 minutes. Be sure to keep an eye on them as oven temperatures vary.
6. Plate the potatoes with a small dish of Paleo Mermaid 'Secret Sauce' as described below.

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PALEO MERMAID'S SECRET SAUCE RECIPE: 

1/2 cup Paleo mayo

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Curry

1/2 tsp Onion powder

1 tsp Agave

water

1. Spoon mayonnaise into a bowl and add all ingredients except water.

2. Mix well.

3. Add only enough water to thin the mixture out a little - I'm guessing 1 Tbsp or so. The mixture should have the consistency of thick salad dressing.

4. Spoon into a small bowl for dipping. Enjoy!