Quite some time back I started a series of posts titled "Low Carb Meals that don't Suck!". Sadly, I didn't get very far with them because, well - lockdown hit, my entire life went for a ball of sh!te and ALL the carbs came back out to play, lol! And well, it has not changed much since then... until this last Sunday - and for no doing of my own either...
My 74 year old dad came into the kitchen and announced that he is going to start eating low carb again. Although incredibly healthy as well as active for his age, he has always suffered from high cholesterol, so he wants to get that back into check again. I will admit that upon hearing this announcement I was less than enthusiastic because I do all the cooking here and now this would require me actually having to "think" about what to make for dinner and how to make the plate as good as it would be with a carb on it... although, admittedly - after some thought, I actually stirred a little bit of enthusiasm. The last year of gorging myself on carbs has not really done me any favours, lol - so now seemed a good a time as any to at least attempt to rectify that.
My dad mostly enjoys pork and chicken as far as meats go, so I decided to get two pork tenderloin. I have actually blogged about this specific recipe for the pork in the past, but the rest of the plate is entirely different and apart from that, this is one of those really awesome and easy things to prepare, so always great to make and share it again because even those who consider themselves complete novices in the kitchen can prepare this successfully.
To begin with, you need to sear the tenderloin, so season them lightly with a little salt, freshly ground pepper and then lightly coat them with olive oil. The objective here is simply to seal the meat - NOT to cook it, so it is an incredibly quick process... no more than 2-3 minutes, just making sure that ALL sides have had a flash in the pan.
Once that is done, place them into a large piece of foil and allow them to cool for a minute or two. Once cooled, season them with a little butter, garlic, freshly chopped parsley, oregano, sweet basil and two bay leaves. Wrap them up in the foil and pop them into the oven. If you are doing one single tenderloin, you can pop it in at 180 degrees Celsius for approx. 30 minutes and then let it rest for 20 min outside of the oven. I was doing two tenderloins as well as whole roasted sweet potatoes on the same tray, so I put the timer on for one hour.
Whilst those, along with the sweet potato were in the oven - I began to prep the other veg. I had a little bit of baby spinach in the fridge as well as some cabbage, so I thought it would be nice to combine the two. Now keeping in mind that this was dinner, not lunch - so I didn't want the cabbage to feel "raw" on the palate - I wanted it al-dente (tender but firm), so I heated a pot of water and once boiling, added the diced cabbage in for five minutes, turned off the heat and threw in the chopped baby spinach because you literally just want that blanched / wilted.
Once that was done, I drained it well and put it one side for a minute or so, just enough time for the steam to dissipate. I then, spooned it into a Pyrex dish and gave it some flavour. I seasoned it with a little Ina Paarmans vegetable spice and a little potato spice, because the combination of those two will transform even the most bland of vegetables. I finished it with a little olive oil.
With that finished and the tenderloins almost done, I quickly cooked a couple of halved gem squash. It is always fun to pop yummy things into the centre of a gem squash once cooked, but I kept it pretty simple last night and just added a little crumbled feta cheese... because CHEESE!
Not a complicated plate of food, but REALLY tasty as well as nutritious. A great marriage of flavours too - and honestly, I didn't miss the carbs at ALL!!! The baked tenderloin as I mentioned earlier is ALWAYS a win too. I served it all, along with the whole roasted sweet potatoes, to which each of us simply added a little butter.
On the plate, I also put a little bit of the garlic butter as a "gravy" for the tenderloin and well, anything else on the plate really. It was a fantastic re-start to the low carb lifestyle and I am quite looking forward to exploring this avenue again... perhaps not as fastidiously as I did with my first four year stint of banting and low carb habits - but something is better than nothing, right?! lol! - Well, I will keep telling myself that at any rate, haha!
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Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx
Jaynielea
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