Thai Pork Tenderloin and Thai Coconut Rice

I think this pork tenderloin is unbelievably delicious.  The sauce is so dang good I swear I could drink it from a straw!!  It is very important that you not overcook the tenderloin, as it will dry it out.  You must use a thermometer and cook it to 160 degrees.  It will be melt in your mouth YUM!!!!!!!

P.S.  Okay I realize that yesterdays post and both of the dishes from today are very coconutty!  Don't worry I'll be taking a coconut break :-)

Thai Pork Tenderloin-adapted from Epicurious

2 pork tenderloins 

Marinade:
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Thai red curry paste
1 tablespoon fresh ginger-grated
1 can-14 oz coconut milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Sauce:
3 cups orange juice
1 carrot-chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro-chopped
1-2 tablespoons fresh ginger-grated
2 large cloves garlic-sliced
1 jalapeno-seeded and minced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon thai red curry paste
 
1 can-14oz-coconut milk
4 tablespoons butter, chilled and sliced

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl mix all ingredients until well blended.  Pour marinade into a one gallon zip top bag.

2. Trim tenderloins of any extra fat and remove silver skin.  Dry tenderloins.  Add tenderloins to marinade.  Refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours.

3.Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Remove pork from refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Remove pork from marinade and discard marinade.  Place pork in baking dish and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to cook for approximately 20-25 minutes. Check pork for doneness by inserting a thermometer into thickest part.  It is done at 160 degrees.  Cover loosely with aluminum foil and allow the pork to rest for 10 minutes.  As the tenderloin rests it will continue to cook and reach its recommended temperature of 160 degrees.

4. Meanwhile prepare sauce by placing all sauce ingredients, except coconut milk and butter, in a medium heavy bottom sauce pan and turn the heat to medium-high.  Boil mixture, stirring occasionally, until carrot is very tender and liquid is reduced by half.  Puree sauce in blender or food processor in batches until smooth.  Strain sauce and return to same saucepan.  Add coconut milk

5. Bring sauce to a simmer.  Take off heat.  Gradually add the 6 tablespoons the sauce.  Whisk just until melted.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6. Slice pork and top with sauce. 

Thai Coconut Rice

Thai Coconut Rice adapted from Recipezaar

1 cup uncooked basmati or jasmine rice
1-14oz can coconut milk
1/4 cup water plus more if needed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
chopped dry roasted peanuts

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, except chopped peanuts.  Stir well to combine.

2. Cook over medium high heat, stirring until mixture comes to a low boil.  Immediately reduce heat to low.

3. Cover and cook rice for about 18 minutes.  Checking the last few minutes to see if the rice needs more water.  Fluff with a fork.  Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.  Check seasoning and adjust with more salt if needed.

4.Garnish with chopped peanuts.

Wild Rice Pilaf

Tonight I got to do one of my most favorite things.  Try something new from one of my bazillion cookbooks.  Cranberry chicken.  Sounds perfect for fall.  Might be good enough to serve to friends around the holidays!  Yeah!!  Only problem was that it turned out to be a totally crappy version of a lovely dish.  Oh well.  My search for a great cranberry chicken will simple have to continue.  There was one high note to dinner tonight.  My favorite wild rice pilaf.  It is a recipe I put together from a bunch of different sources so now it's just the way the family likes it.  It is great with pork, fish or maybe even cranberry chicken!!!  hehe ;-)

Wild Rice Pilaf

1/2 cup wild rice
1 cup brown basmati rice
3/4 teaspoon salt ( divided )
2 cups apple cider
1 cup water
3 tablespoons Grand Marnier
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup orange dried cranberries
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 granny smith apple-chopped to size of almonds

Directions:

1.In a large pan combine apple cider, water, Grand Marnier and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Bring to a boil.

2. Rinse wild rice in hot tap water and drain well.  Rinse brown rice and drain well.  Add both rice's to boiling liquid.  Reduce heat to low and cover.  Simmer until rice is tender, about 40-50 minutes.

3.In a large skillet melt butter. With skillet on medium heat add almond and brown lightly.  Add cranberries, 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Stir in apple and rice mixture.  Cook for a few minutes to combine flavors and soften apple.  Check seasonings.  Enjoy.

Fish Tacos

Okay. Dinner. Well we had about a half a week of fallish weather and I loved it!!! I got all of my soup and casserole cookbooks out and was ready to finally enjoy the wonderful comfort food that just goes with fall. So today, the temperature cranked back up and you can cut the humidity with a knife!! So much for soup. Fish tacos sound perfect.  This is a huge family favorite!!  I'm not a big fish fan but I'm trying to find more good fish recipes ( that aren't FISHY ) because of the health benefits.  This one does the trick.  I think even fish haters will LOVE this dish.  And it's always better to be a lover!

Fish Tacos adapted from Cooking Light

Crema
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 finely chopped chipotle in adobo (optional-will add a lot of heat )
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
zest from 1/2 a lime
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 minced garlic clove

Tacos
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 pound tilapia fillets
8 ( 6 inch ) flour tortillas
2 cups shredded cabbage
mango salsa http://gonnawantseconds.blogspot.com/2009/09/mango-salsa.html

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425
Prepare crema by thoroughly mixing all ingredients in a small bowl. If chipotle seems to be too chunky you can use a stick blender to smooth sauce out.
Prepare the tacos by mixing the dry spices, 6 in total, in a small bowl.  Place tilapia fillets on an aluminum foil lined rimmed cookie or baking sheet.  Pat dry  tilapia with paper towels on both sides.  Sprinkle spice mixture evenly on both sides of fish.  Bake at 425 for 9 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.  Break fish up into shreds with a fork.  Divide fish evenly among tortillas; top each with a little crema, mango salsa, and shredded cabbage.  DIG IN!!!!!!

Mango Salsa

First Day!!!!

Well, I'm happy to say that after many days of terribly compulsive behavior, I have created my own blog! Frankly, the beginning part was unbelievably easy.  The rest OMG!!!!  So I wanted to post a recipe with some photos of the process.  After my stellar beginning what could be the big deal??!!!!  Who flipping knows but let me tell you for flip ( I'm sure you know the expletive I'd prefer!!!) sake it's been hellaceous! Let me just wrap up today by saying "I will persevere!!"  I'm a reasonably intelligent college educate woman.  How difficult can this truly be?  Let me quickly mention at 40ish my college days were a while ago :) .  Haven't worked in about  5 years so if ,( haha!) or when you notice the spelling and grammar errors, please in your mind pretend that it must clearly be a typo!!!  I have to figure out how to get the dang spell/grammar check to work!!!