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Spice-Rubbed Turkey Tenderloin with Raspberry Shallot Chutney

Do you ever go to the supermarket and think, what am I going to make for dinner this week? There are many times I arrive at the store, walk through the meat section and think, I don't want chicken, we had pork last week, and I'm so done with hamburger. This week, as I wandered the aisle, I came upon some turkey tenderloins. We make quite a few turkey cutlet recipes, but tenderloins offered something new. 

On Wednesday night, turkey tenderloins became my meal challenge. Since we make pork tenderloins quite often, I figured I would need a good rub and a sauce or dressing once it was cooked. My friend, Sharon, visited and dropped off a quart-size container of fresh raspberries, picked from her mom's garden. A-ha, here was my sauce base. I found a recipe for a Blackberry Shallot Chutney and changed it quite a bit. I added raspberries (and lots of them), flavored balsamic and chicken broth. This was a recipe that I had great success with because not only did we eat it with the turkey tenderloins, but later in the week, we fought over it for grilled chicken. I think I won getting an additional spoonful for my dish!

That's one of the problems with making one dish wonders. Everyone loves them, we fight over leftovers and then very rarely will we make the dish again. Since we began this blog, 5-1/2 years ago, we have made over 2000 different recipes, yet, we have only written about a quarter of them. Sometimes we don't get a picture or the dish was just OK. I'm trying very hard to capture more pictures and get a few more recipes out to you.

Back to the tenderloins - for mixing two very different recipes, we ended up with a fantastic meal. The rub for the turkey looked simple and flavorful. I love what we call "sweet heat". It's that wonderful flavor that starts sweet and ends with a bit of a burn. Nice, warm and spicy. The Raspberry Shallot Chutney seemed appetizing with a bit of fruity sourness that goes perfect with a spicy rub. You can have some fun with the chutney adding blackberries and sage instead of raspberries and thyme. Blueberries with fresh rosemary could be good, too. 

The preparation was easy and I liked the spicy rub ingredients so much that I actually made another batch of the spice and keep it handy as a quick pork or chicken rub. While Jeff was cooking the turkey tenderloins on the grill, I made the raspberry shallot chutney. As the chutney reduced, I had the rice pilaf cooking and when Jeff brought the tenderloins in to rest, everything was basically done.

If you are looking for an easy summer meal, with great flavors, this is a dish you should try. It also gives you the opportunity to cook with turkey tenderloins, if it's not something you eat on a regular basis.

And, try not to fight over the Raspberry Shallot Chutney!

Spiced Rubbed Grilled Turkey Tenderloin from Southern Living

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 pounds of turkey tenderloin
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Spice-Rub Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon of ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon of coriander

Preparation:

1. Preheat grill to medium high - 350 to 400 degrees.

2. Place all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together to make the rub.

3. Brush the tenderloins with olive oil and then generously sprinkle the spiced rub all over the tenderloins.

4. Place tenderloins on the grill and cook for 10 minutes on each side or until a thermometer, in the thickest portion, registers 165 degrees.

5. Remove from grill and allow to rest for 5-7 minutes, cut into slices and serve with the Raspberry Shallot Chutney.

Raspberry Shallot Chutney 

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 4 shallots, quartered
• 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme, chopped
• 3/4 cup of chicken broth
• 2 cups of fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries or cherries
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of flavored balsamic vinegar, we used lemon balsamic*
• salt to taste

*if you don't have flavored balsamic vinegar, regular will do

Preparation:

1. Preheat a large sauté pan over medium heat, add two tablespoons of olive oil.

2. Once olive oil is heated, add shallots and cook for 2-3 minutes or until slightly softened.

3. Add thyme and cook for 30 seconds, add the chicken broth, fresh raspberries, dried cranberries, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar.

4. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 7-10 minutes or until the mixture reduces and becomes slightly thickened.

5. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with turkey tenderloin.

Serves 4

Grilled Pork Chops with Balsamic Figs

This year for Mother's Day, Jeff's daughter, Kristen, gave me a cookbook called Summer Food by Paul Lowe, Nina Dreyer Hensley and Jim Hensley. It is such a great recipe book because it uses, for the most part, summer fruits and vegetables. That is perfect for me since walking out to our garden and picking the ingredients for the recipe is so easy. 

During the winter, Jeff and I look up recipes before we head to the grocery store so we can plan our meals for the week. We, like many people, suffer from the "what are we having for dinner tonight? I don't care, whatever you want" syndrome. It takes the stress out of deciding what to make when we get home after a long day.

I pulled out the Summer Food cookbook and looked at a few of the recipes - BBQ Chicken looked tasty as did the Grilled Greek Kebab, but then I saw the Pork Chops with Balsamic Figs. Ah, my weakness...FIGS. I have never been one to eat fresh figs, but I LOVE them. Fig Newtons, Fig Squares, Fig and Arugula Pizza, Fig Jam, Fig Sauces...I think you get it. So, I picked that recipe along with another for a spicy hamburger.

Off to the grocery store and when I got home I realized I bought dried figs instead of fresh. Truthfully, the dried figs worked fine. It also called for balsamic vinegar but we were out so I went to our flavored balsamic vinegars. The peach flavored vinegar paired well with the figs. With four ingredients the figs were cooked, within 10 minutes, and ready to go.

So, I have to tell you, the figs were DELICIOUS! They were so good, I am planning to use this same recipe to create a jam to spread on one of our favorite fig, goat cheese and prosciutto pizza. You could actually use this as a topping on ice cream...that's how good it was. Oh, and the pork chops paired perfectly.

If you are someone who likes a sweet sauce with your pork chops, this combination is delicious. Easy and light, it's perfect summer dish. 

Grilled Pork Chops with Balsamic Figs

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar, we used a peach flavored balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 10 dried figs, cut in half
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 large pork chops, it calls for boneless, but we used bone in
• olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper for taste

Preparation:

1. Light your grill and get it ready for the pork chops.

2. In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, add the balsamic vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil.

3. Then add the figs and bay leaf. reduce heat to medium low. Stir occasionally until the mixture reduces and has a thick consistency, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat.

4. Rub the 4 pork chops with olive oil. Season with the salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

5. Place pork chops in center of hot grill and cook 4-5 minutes on each side. Pork temperature should be 140 degrees.

6. Remove from grill, transfer to plates and serve with the balsamic figs.

Serves 4.

Side note: You can grill nectarines and peaches so easily.

1. Cut fruit, brush lightly with oil so they won't stick to the grill.

2. Cook for 3-5 minutes. 

3. Remove from grill and add some flavor with honey, balsamic vinegar, walnuts and/or goat cheese.

Our nectarines have a drizzle of honey and balsamic vinegar.

Lemony Garlic Pea Pods

I love being able to walk into the backyard and pick vegetables. I almost get giddy thinking, "how many people have the opportunity to walk into the backyard and decide what they want to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner?" It's an amazing feeling.

The other night, Jeff and I were picking all the peas as they finally hit a point of pick or toss. The pods were full and starting to fade so we picked every pod from the branches. I broke them up into categories - peel for peas and heat and eat for dinner. The smaller pods are delicious for this type of recipe, still very sweet with baby peas inside.

I looked for a few recipes online and came across this Lemony Pea Pod recipe from Martha Stewart. I scanned it briefly and thought it would be easy to make, it had lemons and garlic and that was all I remembered. I headed to the stove and tossed together what I thought was Lemony Pea Pods. It came together very quickly and before I knew it, it was a perfect side dish for our grilled sausages. The pea pods were lemony with a hint of garlic. The mint was a perfect finishing touch. 

When I went back to get the recipe, I realized I was off by a bit. The measurements were wrong and I had a different, yet similar, recipe on my hands. For my cooking mistakes, the dish turned out very tasty, but you can't trust all your errors. Sometimes it works (like this one did) and sometimes it's a food disaster. 

Whether picking vegetables from your garden or at the local grocer, these Lemony Garlic Pea Pods are easy and DELICIOUS! 

Lemony Garlic Pea Pods

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of water
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 lemon, cut into 8 pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 4 cups of pea pods, ends cut
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of fresh mint, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. In a large saute pan, over medium high heat, add water, salt and lemons. 

2. Bring to a boil and add the pea pods. Boil for 2 minutes or until the pods get bright green.

3. Remove the pods, add the smashed garlic and olive oil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until the liquid reduces to 1/3 cup.

4. Add pea pods back to the liquid, stir to incorporate. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

5. Sprinkle with mint and serve.

Serves 4.

 

Tuscan Apple Cake

The other day, I was thumbing through some magazines and came across a Tuscan Apple Cake recipe. I knew I needed a quick dessert for the 4th of July and this recipe looked easy to make. The next day, as I gathered a few of the ingredients - I knew it had butter and 2 granny apples - I couldn't find the recipe. I looked at all the magazines we had in the kitchen and couldn't find it. It wasn't in Real Simple, Bon Appetit, or Foodies of New England. I searched the house and finally came upon a Tastes of Italia magazine from February 2013. At the top of the magazine it said, "Take a Trip to the Rolling Hills of Tuscany". I'm still not sure how I ended up with this magazine, but I found the recipe. 

What I liked about the recipe was the simplicity of the cake and the flavors that complemented it. The topping was made of almonds, sugar and lemon peel. The cake was very plain and there were only two apples in the cake. As I was making the recipe, my head was already filled with ideas...Could I add cinnamon? What if I used blueberries? Or maybe some different nuts? Oh, all the things I can do with a simple recipe.

Outside of grinding the almonds, I had the cake together and in the oven in less that 15 minutes. I don't know what it is, but there is nothing better than the smell of a cake cooking in the oven, even if it is 85 degrees outside. In 40 minutes the cake was done and I couldn't wait to taste it. 

After a paella dinner with friends (yes, I missed the photo opportunity on that recipe), we brewed some coffee and cut the cake. The top was a little loose, almost as if we sprinkled sugar on the cake rather than have baked it in. The apple cake was light and moist with a thin layer of apples through the center. It was the perfect dessert, not overly sweet and just enough as an after dinner dessert.

The next time I make this cake, there are a few combinations I would like to try:

1. Blueberries with pecans and lemon peel (zest)-or
2. Dried  cherries with pistachios and orange peel (zest)-or
3. Fresh blackberries with walnuts and lime peel (zest)-or
4. Raisins with walnuts, orange rind and a touch of cinnamon -or
5. Chocolate chips with hazelnuts and orange peel (zest)

There are endless possibilities, or I could stick to the basics and make a Tuscan Apple Cake. Enjoy!

Tuscan Apple Cake

Ingredients:

Topping - 

• 1 cup of almonds, ground
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• Lemon peel from 1 whole lemon

Cake - 

• 6 tablespoons of sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup of butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1-1/3 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 granny apples, quartered and sliced thin

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8 or 9 inch round cake pan. Line with parchment paper.

2. In a small bowl, mix the ground almonds, 1/2 cup of sugar and lemon peel. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer. Beat the eggs and sugar for one minute on high.  

4. Add the butter and beat for another minute. Add the vanilla and incorporate.

5. Add the flour and baking powder and beat until well blended.

6. Pour into cake pan and place the apple on top, pushing them down into the batter.

7. Once the apples are covering the top, sprinkle with the sugar and nut mixture.

8. Press down slightly to pack the topping onto the cake.

9. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

10. Allow to cool on a rack. When taking the cake out of the pan, cover with a plate as the topping tends to be loose.

Serve warm or cooled. 

Roasted Cauliflower with Smoked Paprika

Sometimes you can make complicated recipes and other times you just want something quick, easy and delicious. This recipe definitely falls into the category of quick, easy and delicious. 

Roasted Cauliflower with Smoked Paprika

Over the past year, we have become big fans of cauliflower. We've always loved cauliflower, but when we started roasting many of our vegetables, it became a staple.

Last year, we grew turnips, carrots, kale, beets, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes in our garden. It became easy to grill or roast whatever we were picking from the garden that day. As the winter months set in, and we didn't have our fresh vegetables, roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower became the new "go-to". 

Roasting vegetables is delicious in itself, but add some herbs and spices and you've got a totally different flavor for a side dish. One evening, we added some paprika to the cauliflower and it was really good. Then, we ran out and used the smoked paprika, it was even better. Now, I'm addicted. I could eat the entire tray, the minute it gets out of the oven. It has a wonderful smokiness that I love. 

This cauliflower dish is very easy to put together.

1. Chop one head of cauliflower into florets. 

2. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika. 

3. Place on a cookie sheet and bake in a 425 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

4. The roasted cauliflower is done when it is golden brown.

5. Remove from oven, salt and pepper to taste.

The next time you are roasting vegetables, think about bringing a unique flavor to the dish. A little dash of smoked paprika could make all the difference.

 

Extremely Moist Apple Cake Recipe

Oh, it's so nice to be back writing about food. For the past few months, I have been busy with some marketing projects and have neglected this blog, a food blog I have been writing for 5 years. I'm hoping with the time off, I will come back with fresh ideas and a passion to share everything we create.

Back in March, my mother was raving about a cake my cousin had brought to her house that week. She said it was a dense apple cake that was delicious. As the week went on, she commented on "the cake got better and better." She remarked that the flavors were amazing with chunky apples, raisins and walnuts. With Easter a week away, I decided I would make the recipe and have it for Easter breakfast.

A quick story on holiday breakfasts. Jeff and I normally have the three major holidays at our house. When I say major holidays, for us it is Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Being a mixed family with 6 children between us, there are traditions to where everyone will spend the holidays and they aren't always at the same place. Our tradition is "last resort". If you don't have a place to go, or don't want to attend a holiday celebration at another relatives house, you can stay at home and celebrate with us. Every holiday, I bake a special treat which we enjoy at breakfast. Sometimes it's a sour cream coffee cake, other times it might be a quick bread, muffins or scones. The talk of an apple cake, just prior to the holiday, was perfect.

I had my mother get the recipe from my cousin and she had some crazy explanations for how to make this cake. It started with, "Beat the vegetable oil and sugar, in a mixer, for 5 minutes on high". OK, I can see eggs and oil or sugar and eggs...or anything with eggs but I didn't get the sugar and oil being blended for 5 minutes. I followed the instructions, put all the remaining ingredients together and it was a lumpy looking cake. There were lots of apples and it seemed like there wasn't enough batter to cover them. Then again, this cake seemed a little wacky from the beginning. I put the cake in the oven and waited to see if this was going to be a delicious treat or a bust!

As you can tell from the picture, it came out beautifully. It smelled heavenly with a hint of cinnamon in the air. 

Family members were starting to mill through the kitchen, looking to taste this breakfast cake. It was extremely moist and flavorful, slightly dense but delicious. It was sweet but perfectly balanced with the apples, raisins and walnuts. And like my mother said, "Save a piece because it gets better every day." Jeff was able to squirrel away a piece that he enjoyed for a number of days. As he finished the last piece he said, "That got better every day, I can't believe it's gone"

My response, "Want me to make another?" and Jeff said, "Yeah, at Thanksgiving."

Extremely Moist Apple Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1-1/2 cups of vegetable oil
• 2 cups of sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 cups of apples, peeled and cut into chunks (1 inch)
• 1 cup of walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup of raisins

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 9 inch tube cake pan.

2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda, set aside.

3. In a mixer with a paddle blade, mix together the vegetable oil and sugar, beat on high for 5 minutes.  

4. Add the eggs and beat until creamy, about 1 minute.

5. Add the vanilla and mix.

6. Add the dry ingredients and mix until blended.

7. Stir in, by hand, the apples, walnuts and raisins. The batter will be lumpy and you will feel like there isn't enough batter. Do not fear! :)

8. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

9. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes. Remove from tube pan. 

10. Serve warm alone or with ice cream.

11. Save some to eat over a few days. Like my mother says, "It gets better every day."

Feed 10-12 people.