Weekend Cooking: What We Ate Last Week

When working on my meal plan last weekend, I was feeling totally uninspired, but finally came up with a two-pronged approach. I wanted to cook with seasonal vegetables I could get at the farmer's market, and I decided to stick with trusted recipe sources.

First up was from Skinnytaste One and Done (personal collection). I made the Garlic-Dijon Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Potatoes and Green Beans. The scan of the finished dish is from the book. The pork, green beans, garlic, and potatoes were all sourced locally, and the rosemary came from my own plantings. The only thing I did differently was to add in some cabbage (also locally grown), which I wanted to use up.

I didn't find the recipe on the Skinnytaste website, but this is basically a sheet-pan super. You coat the pork in a sauce made with mustard, lemon, garlic, olive oil, and rosemary. You toss the potatoes and beans in oil, rosemary, and garlic. Salt and pepper all to taste. The veggies are given a head start in oven (at 425F) and the tenderloin is added after about a half hour. Roast until everything is cooked, slice the pork, and serve. I made a simple cucumber and tomato salad to serve on the side.

Next I turned to one of my very favorite cookbooks, Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion's The Dinner Plan (which I received as part of the Abrams Dinner Party). I made the Eggplant and Tomato Pasta (recipe below with my photo). This was delicious! Eggplants and tomatoes are abundant at the farmer's market and the recipe is dead easy to make. The surprise? My husband, who is not a big fan of eggplant, really loved this dish. Total win!

The authors didn't think the sauce would heat up well, but I disagree. This meal was just as good the second day. The only change I made here was to throw in a red bell pepper. Also note that I used fresh yellow tomatoes instead of red, because they are just so darn good right now.

We almost always have a bean dish every week, and tonight I'm making white beans with rosemary, collards, and more of those lovely yellow tomatoes. Of course I'll use onions and garlic too. I'll quick-soak the dried beans this afternoon and then throw everything into the pressure cooker with some chicken broth and will cook for 23 minutes. I plan to make focaccia for soaking up the broth.

Earlier in the week I was in a baking mood, and when the King Arthur Flour email hit my inbox with a recipe for a semolina seed bread, I couldn't resist. I didn't have the exact seed mix called for in the recipe for Light-As-Air Seed Bread, so I simply sprinkled on poppy seeds and sesame seeds before baking. This was delicious and really was light. The angle of my photo makes it look as if the bread didn't rise much, but it really did. You'll have to trust me. I take my bread out of the oven when the internal temperature is about 200F, even if the crust could be darker. To my taste, the bread is always perfectly done at that point. I had avocado toast for lunch and almond butter toast for breakfast. Yum.

Note that the KAF recipe calls for a covered stoneware bread baker, but I baked mine in a regular (9-inch) loaf pan until the temperature was right. If you have a stoneware bread pan, lucky you -- give it a try for this recipe.

Eggplant and Tomato Pasta (Serves 4-6)

Click image to enlarge. The photo is mine (and, yes, I know I forgot to garnish the dish with the extra herbs).

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