Because I was suffering from a less than stellar blueberry pie experience, dinner had to be something good.  I had  pork tenderloin, a container of crimini mushrooms, and a head of cauliflower in the ‘fridge.  There are collards in the garden.  Almost exactly the ingredients for Mushroom Spinach Stuffed Pork Tenderloin. 

This is a somewhat involved recipe, because you need to flatten out the tenderloin, which can be a bit tricky, make the filling, brown the rolls, and then finish cooking.  Not something one would typically do on any given weeknight after a busy day, unless, of course, cooking makes you happy.

Collards are part of the cabbage family, really they are a non-head type cabbage.  I picked a good number of them, some sage, and some sorrel.  Sorrel is new to our garden, it has a tart, lemony flavor.  There are warnings about the oxalic acid content, and it not being good for certain people, but it’s not something I would cook in a large quantity like spinach, so no worries.   I sautéed some onion and the  mushrooms, and tossed in the (chopped) greens:

I spread half on each piece of pork, and rolled.  If this meal was being served to company, I would use some twine to keep the rolls round and tight.  It was not being served to company.  I put some olive oil in the same pan, and put in the pork, seam side down.  Browning meat is like playing chicken.  You have to be willing to leave it alone for 3-4 minutes, no matter what.  That includes oil spattering on the burner and setting off the smoke detectors, which, IMHO, distracts you just long enough...   Once everything was looking good, I put the rolls  in a baking pan and popped them in a 400 degree oven to finish cooking along with some roasted cauliflower.

Since I had time, I could have made the sherry cream sauce that goes with the recipe.  I did not feel moved to chop shallots.  Instead, I deglazed the pan with white wine, added some chicken broth, thickened it with Wondra, and seasoned with salt and pepper.  A pat of butter at the end made it silky.  The sherry cream sauce is very good, but I wanted something a bit sharper to echo the sorrel. 

The men folk were happy.  Brian, because  he loves roasted cauliflower, and husband/farmer because so many ingredients came right from his garden.  Me because it distracted me from the pie.   Also because I only had one pan to wash.   Hopefully it goes without saying that it was darn tasty!

Add Mushroom Spinach Stuffed Pork Tenderloin to your meal plan if you need a special meal.  If you’re very very lucky like I was your kids won’t even care that they’re eating…gasp…green vegetables!!!

That was the question; whether ‘tis nobler to take off the shells before grilling, or leave the task to your diners.. .  The fishmonger at Whole Foods assured me, as he stood in front of some pre-seasoned grill-ready peeled shrimp kabobs, that leaving on the shell would give a “shrimpier” taste.   Who wouldn’t take the advice of a cute guy in a bandana?

But first, I must digress.  I am having an oil-crisis.  It annoys me when a recipe calls for more than 1/4 cup of oil in which the grillee soaks, and then the marinade is disposed of without a fare-the-well.  Some reasoning is called for here.  Of course a marinade needs some oil to release the oil-soluble compounds, and to lubricate things like shrimp, chicken breast , or vegetables that don’t have a lot of fat.  SO, I’m guessing that the excess oil is there just to add volume, and instead of using a barrel of oil, how about some water, beer, or juice?  And then one has to wonder “how much marinade do I need?”  Unfortunately, it’s subjective.  If you can’t be around to flip the bag (I usually marinate in a zip top) to make sure all surfaces have a chance to be flavored, then by all means make up a big quantity,   But, if you are around, just make enough to come halfway up the sides (approximately 1 cup of marinade per pound of marinadee), and flip away. 

Ok, back to the shrimp.  I made the marinade and dropped in the still in shell shrimp, and gave them a flip every so often.  One nice thing about the shrimp being still in shell is that they weren’t too delicate.  Once they were done, it was time for skewering.   Here is a very bad thought process:  Shrimp cooks quickly, so there is no need to soak the skewers.  At first read, that probably sounds ok.  But consider that oily marinade plus thin, dry pieces of wood essentially equals fire-starters.   Oops. 

Finally the Marinated Grilled Shrimp were on the table.  The 11 year old complained about having to de-shell, because they were too good to eat so slowly.  Once we got to our second skewer, the shells were harder remove, but we didn’t mind that much because they were delicious (3 of us ate a whole pound, and one of us is not such a seafood lover).  Next time shrimp are on sale we’re going to repeat this without the shells..and of coursed, soaked skewers!

When you’re grilling for a dinner party, the biggest problem is serving people at roughly the same time.  Unless you’re doing something simple like burgers or hot dogs (and weren’t we tired of those by the end of June?), or seafood (fussy and can get expensive), you need a new plan.

Last weekend we had 10 people for dinner.  With some advance prep work and a clean, hot grill, dinner was served in no time.  The key?  Chicken that was pounded thin and marinated well.

Grilled Greek Herb Chicken is definitely going into my rotation.  The combination of right-from-the-garden herbs and freshly-squeezed lemon juice infused  into the chicken made it tasty and moist.

You can buy chicken cutlets, but they tend to cost more.  I bought a “family pack” 5 pound package of chicken breasts for a little over $10.  Pounding them is a bit time consuming and slightly messy, but pretty easy.  Take a chicken breast and trim off the excess fat.  Rinse it in water (keeps it from sticking), put it into a gallon sized zip top bag, press out most of the air, and use the flat side of your meat mallet to pound the meat into an even thickness.  After every few whacks, run your hand across the bag to find thick spots, and hold up the bag to the light to see which spots need to be left alone.  Yes, there will be pieces that come off or get trimmed away; save them and either poach for a small chicken salad, or for your dog. 

I layered the cutlets with the marinade in a large shallow dish and left it in the ‘fridge for about 8 hours.  Surprisingly they all went onto the grill in one layer (we have just a standard gas grill), and went from cold to cooked through in about 6 minutes.

This was fabulous served with a Greek Orzo Salad, Zucchini Gratin, and a Plum Upside Down Cake (if you want to see photos – follow me on Twitter).