Mushroom-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Judging by the crazy spike in traffic in the past week and the Halloween decorations looming in Target, it's back to school season. I know everyone's schedules got a lot more hectic, and it's already easy enough for me to cave and just get food delivered, meaning that the need for easy but tasty dinners is much higher. Meals like this roasted pork dish only take an hour, make me feel super fancy, and make enough to feed the whole family and/or make leftovers for the next couple of days. They're perfect for weeknight cooking when you want something delicious, reasonably healthy, and in your stomach before Bachelor in Paradise is on.

Regular pork tenderloin is already a great starting point, but this filling really kicks it up a notch. It starts by sauteeing some onions, then adding mushrooms, garlic, and spices. This step is critical because mushrooms contain so much liquid. It's better to cook it all off now than have it all seep out from the pork during roasting. Fresh herbs will enhance the flavors, but dried ones will still taste great.

The one problem with the stuffing is that you need something to stuff it in, in this case the pork tenderloin. It's already so perfectly round and ready for roasting, and it can be a bit intimidating to cut it up and tie it back together. There are plenty of videos to make butterflying a bit more approachable, but essentially you're going to make one cut down the length of the loin, open it up, and make two more lengthwise cuts, one on each flap. It's helpful to take a meat mallet to the butterflied pork loin to make sure it's all even (especially at the seams), plus it makes it even more tender.

Once your pork is butterflied and your filling has cooled, you're going to spread the filling along most of the pork and roll it up, just like you would with cinnamon buns. Unfortunately, pork won't adhere back to itself like dough will, so it's best to use butcher twine or toothpicks to hold it together. Searing it prior to roasting will get some great color on it and help keep its shape. You'll still need to finish cooking the pork in the oven so it cooks through, but that frees up your searing skillet to make an irresistible pan sauce. Add a bit more garlic to the pork fat, deglaze with white wine, and stir in some chicken broth and herbs. Again, fresh herbs will brighten things up but dry herbs will work in a pinch. Once it simmers and reduces while the pork finishes cooking, stir in a splash of cream for some velvety richness and a little bit of luxury on a crazy weeknight. Serve it up with simple sides like some veggies and a mound of mashed potatoes and you've got quite the impressive dinner (the pan sauce makes a fantastic gravy).

1 Yellow Onion, Diced
8 oz Mushrooms, Sliced
5 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 1/2 tsp Oregano
1 1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1 1/2 lbs Pork Tenderloin
1 Cup White Wine
1 Cup Chicken Broth
1 Cup Cream

Heat some oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 3 minutes or until translucent. Add the mushrooms and 3 cloves garlic. Season with 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and pepper. Saute for 6-8 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Seat aside to cool.

Butterfly the pork and pound until thin. Spread the mushroom mixture evenly on the pork, leaving a 1-2" barrier along one of the long ends. Roll tightly and use butcher twine or toothpicks to close.

Heat oven to 400F.

Season the pork with salt and pepper. Wipe out the skillet, then add some oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and sear until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to an oven-safe dish and roast for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Meanwhile, pour most of the fat out of the skillet. Add the remaining 2 cloves garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until golden. Deglaze with the wine and simmer for 3 minutes or until reduced. Add the chicken broth and remaining 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp thyme, and salt and pepper. Simmer for 8-10 minutes. Stir in the cream and heat until warm.

Serves 4-6

Thai Steak Salad

My main qualm with salads is that so many of them have no substance. They're just piles of sad wilted vegetables that don't actually fill you up, so you end up bingeing on exactly what you were trying to avoid later in the day. The key to making a salad you enjoy eating is to add stuff to it that you enjoy eating and slather it in a good salad dressing. This salad has both juicy marinated steak and a bright homemade dressing that pairs perfectly with it. You can dress it up with whatever extra veggies (or fruits) you want for a hearty salad to keep you going throughout the day.

The steak is the component that takes the longest, but that time doesn't really count since most of it is just leaving the steak to marinate. The marinade consists of coconut milk, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and sweet Thai chili sauce. It's sweet, spicy, salty, and savory, so it should hit all the notes you're looking for in a meal.

Since it needs at least two hours to soak up all the flavors, you can prep it with your dinner and grill it before bed to take to work for lunch the next day, or you can prep it in the morning and grill it when you get home for a basically ready-to-eat dinner. Flank steak cooks up very quickly, just a few minutes on each side, and it stays incredibly tender with enough time in the marinade. Other steaks could work too if you have other preferences or another cut is on sale, just make sure it's a grilling steak and not a braising one like brisket.

The salad dressing highlights the flavors of the steak marinade without tasting too similar. It includes mangos, limes, sriracha, and spices for another sweet, spicy, salty, savory (and sour) blend of flavors. What makes the dressing so special is that the mangos are roasted, enhancing the natural sweetness and adding a hint of char to match the crust on the steak. A blender or food processor is key here, since the mangos need to be pureed until smooth and the olive oil needs to be fully emulsified for a creamy, cohesive dressing. The trick to emulsifying the dressing properly is adding the oil very slowly, basically just a trickle as you keep the motor running. If you're short on time, you can go with your favorite store-bought dressing, but as with the steak most of the time involved is pretty hands-off, and a blender or food processor makes the actual mixing a cinch.

The salad itself is very simple, just some greens, leftover mango, thinly sliced onions, and whatever else you feel like adding, maybe some shaved cucumbers or carrots. Anything you don't really want to eat can be easily hidden under the steak and the dressing. I caught my dad eating the dressing with a spoon, so you can throw your oldest, saddest veggies that have been buried in the back of your fridge all week and this will breathe some new life into them.

Steak:
1 1/2 lbs Flank Steak
3/4 Cup Light Coconut Milk
1 T Sesame Oil
2 T Soy Sauce
4 Cloves Garlic, Minced
2 tsp Grated Ginger
2 T Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup Sweet Chili Sauce

Dressing:
1 Mango, Diced
Chili Powder, To Taste
1/2 Cup + 1 tsp Olive Oil
Juice of 2 Limes
Sriracha, To Taste

Salad:
6 Cups Mixed Greens or Arugula
1 Mango, Diced
1/2 Onion, Thinly Sliced
Cucumbers, Carrots, etc.

For the steak marinade, combine the coconut milk, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and chili sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Add the steak, toss to coat, and let sit 2+ hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 400F.

For the dressing, spread the mango onto a greased, foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with the chili powder (start with 1/4 tsp) and toss with 1 tsp olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes until caramelized. In a food processor, blender, or using an immersion blender, pulse the mango, lime juice, sriracha, and salt and pepper until smooth. Slowly drizzle in the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil and blend until smooth and emulsified.

Cook the steak on a hot grill or grill pan until cooked to the desired temperature, about 4 minutes per side. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing against the grain. Meanwhile, toss the greens, diced mango, onion, and other veggies together. Serve with the sliced steak and the mango dressing.

Serves 4-6
Recipe Adapted from How Sweet Eats

Peach Salsa

I spent the last week in Atlanta, and literally the only thing I wanted to do when it's that hot and humid was to cozy up as close as possible to the air conditioning. Of course, I had to occupy my time somehow, which usually means cooking. However, as I've found out with my woefully inadequate wall AC unit in Chicago, avoiding using the oven or stove is the key to success with summer cooking/overall survival. Now that I'm back in Chicago, I'm trying to make snacks for the 4 hours of Bachelorette this week and keep my apartment under 80 degrees, so heat-free recipes are definitely the way to go. And with all the ripe Georgia peaches I scavenged last week (well, purchased legally from Costco), peach salsa seemed like the best course of action.

When you incorporate a sweet fruit into a salsa, there's a lot of directions you can go in. My first instinct was to do a dessert salsa with all sorts of fruit and maybe some sweet cinnamon sugar dusted chips. Unfortunately, my family may have overdone our Costco trip and we were drowning in tomatoes and onions. Fortunately, those still pair well with peaches if you know what you're doing.

It's all about the balance between sweet, savory, and spicy, so you need ingredients from all the categories in both the chunky part and the dressing part. You can adjust the proportions depending on your personal preference, how ripe your produce is, and, of course, the natural sizes of the ingredients because it's basically impossible to get exact weights of anything. I aim for about a pound of tomatoes, a pound and a half of peaches, and bell pepper, onion, and jalapeno to taste. Remember that knife cuts do matter here because what you see when you're cutting is what you get when you're eating. Nobody wants a giant chunk of raw jalapeno (at least anyone I know of) or a piece of tomato you can barely fit in your mouth. Yes, some bits may get squished and produce can be naturally uneven, but try your best for even cuts.

The dressing is a combination of lime juice, olive oil, honey, and salt and pepper. You can also add some chili powder or other seasonings if you're feeling a little spicy. As with the fruit and veggies, you can adjust the proportions to taste, especially given how much the sweetness of peaches can vary, even when they're in season. The flavors will keep improving if the salsa sits overnight, so don't worry about browning because the acid from the lime juice will keep everything bright and fresh.

The last piece of advice I have for making this salsa involves the peaches themselves. Peaches seem to have a very short window when they're in season, and even then it can be tough to find perfectly ripe ones. Luckily, you can harness the power of science to ripen the peaches yourselves, and it's all because of a helpful gas called ethylene. No, you don't have to go buy any big tanks or fancy equipment, just a paper bag. Fruits like peaches release ethylene naturally to self-ripen, so closing them off in a paper bag out of direct sunlight traps the gas and ripens them faster. To really speed things up, throw in a banana too. I don't think the banana would be a particularly good addition to the salsa, but if it gets you good peaches it's worth the investment.

1 1/2 lbs Peaches, Diced
1 lb Tomatoes, Diced
1 Small Bell Pepper, Diced
1/2 Red Onion, Minced
1 Jalapeno, Minced
Cilantro, Optional
2 T Lime Juice
2 T Olive Oil
1 T Honey
Tortilla Chips

Combine the peaches, tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, and jalapeno. Add cilantro, if using. Whisk the lime juice, olive oil, and honey together, then season with salt and pepper. Drizzle onto the salsa and toss to combine. Chill overnight if possible, tossing occasionally. Serve with tortilla chips.