Guest Recipes: Pork Tenderloin with Fennel and Apple and Wild Salmon with Fennel and Orange by Susan B. Dopart, M.S., R.D

While attending a diabetes conference in San Francisco last week I was fortunate meet a fellow dietitian and cooking enthusiast, Susan B. Dopart, M.S., R.D. She is a nutrition and fitness expert based in Santa Monica, CA and has recently published a book as well! It is called A Recipe for Life by the Doctor's Dietitian (by Susan B. Dopart, M.S., R.D. and Jeffrey M. Batchelor) and you can find out more about it if you click HERE to link to her website. I thank Susan for contributing these wonderful recipes to my blog.



Pork Tenderloin with Fennel and Apple

A good dish for company that has a nice combination of sour with sweet.

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 large shallots, sliced
1 medium sweet-tart apple, Fuji or Pink Lady, cored and thinly sliced
1 large fennel bulb, trimmed, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fennel fronds, chopped and divided
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 475 degrees, and position racks to upper and lower thirds of oven.
Wash tenderloin, pat dry, and rub with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Toss shallots, apples and fennel with 1 tablespoon of oil and place in roasting pan. Place pan on lower rack for approximately 20 minutes, stirring twice until tender.

During roasting of apple mixture:
Heat ½ tablespoon of oil in large oven-proof skillet over medium heat. Sear and brown the pork on each side for two minutes. (Do not force turning the meat, since as it cooks it will easily turn).

Once the pork is browned, transfer the skillet to top rack in oven. Roast until internal temperature registers 145 degrees, approximately 12-15 minutes or barely pink. Transfer meat to plate or cutting board to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Place apple and fennel mixture in skillet. Deglaze pan with 3 tablespoons of vinegar. Slice pork and place on patter. Top with apple and fennel mixture. Garnish with fennel fronds if desired.

Variation: Chop apple and fennel mix similar to a chutney style.

Serving size: ¼ recipe Calories 227 Protein 32 g Carb 15 g Fiber 3 g Fat 2 g Sodium 98 mg




Wild Salmon with Fennel and Orange

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10-20 minutes

Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds wild salmon (filleted and skinless)
Juice of half a lemon
½ Fennel bulb (sliced in 1/8 inch slices) and fronds
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
Lemon slices (6-8 large)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (broken into pea-sized pieces)
⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Juice of half a naval orange

Preparation:
Rinse salmon with juice of half a lemon, and pat dry. Lay 1 ½ feet of tin foil, shiny side down on the counter. Lay fennel slices with some fronds, half of the grated fresh ginger, and half the lemon slices on the tin foil making a bed, so the salmon will not touch the tin foil.

Place salmon on the bed, with the filleted (edge with there the skin was attached) side down. Scatter butter pieces and red pepper flakes on top of salmon. Sprinkle the other half of ginger, lemon slices, and a few slices of fennel and fronds over salmon. Finish with juice of the orange on top.

To make a packet take the long ends of the tin foil fold together and seal over fish. Then take the short ends of the tin foil and fold in to seal.

Grill packets over medium heat 4 to 5 minutes, and flip packet over for another 4 minutes. Remove and invert back over. Open packet and serve.

Variation: Place in oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees or until desired doneness.

Serving size: ¼ recipe Calories 281 Protein 4 g Carb 4 g Fiber 1 g Fat 13 g Sodium 81 mg