Date Night Recipes

We had a wonderful time entertaining people for a four course fundraising dinner a couple of weekends ago. I've been so busy with everything that I am just now getting around to posting about it! The dinner would be perfect for a date night where you want to impress that certain someone, eat paleo, and not have to explain your diet. It consisted of a fall salad, pumpkin soup, fig and onion pork and pumpkin custard! Below are the recipes and images, please donate to my cause if you like them, any amount helps!

Fall Salad

Ingredients:

1 apple

1 beet

4 c mixed greens

1/4 head purple cabbage

1/2 scallion

1 chicken breast

1 tbsp marjoram

1/2 lime, juiced

1/4 c oil

Check ingredients

Chop mixed greens in thing 1/8 inch strips. To do this, hold a handfull of the mixed greens against the cutting board exposing only a thin strip from under your fingertips, and chop near your finger tips. Do the same with the cabbage, and chop the length of the cabbage strips down to about 2 inches. Julienne the beet, apple and scallions. Add all ingredients and half of the dressing into a small bowl and toss thoroughly. Press salad mix into a serving size cup and quickly turn over onto the serving plate, shaking lightly to allow the pressed salad mixture to release. 

Over medium heat, cook the chicken breast in oil. When just cooked through, remove and slice the breast. Add a few slices of chicken breast to each salad serving and drizzle remaining dressing over them.

Pumpkin Soup with Candied Sausage

3/4 c coconut cream (You can also refridgerate/freeze a can of coconut milk and skim the cream off the top)

16 oz pumpkin, purreed

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

2 c soup stock

1/2 lb sausage, casings removed

1 tbsp maple syrup

Add celery, carrot and shallot into an oiled skillet and cook until browned. Add in pumpkin puree and soup stock and bring to a boil. Blend, add in coconut cream. 

Meanwhile, in a seperate skillet over high heat cook the sausage meat, mixing often and seperating it to make a ground beef texture. Finish over very high heat to make a crunchy outside. Remove from heat and stir in maple syrup. Place blended soup into a bowl and top with the crunchy sausage pieces. 

Fig and Onion Pork

12 dried figs (keep them whole)

3 c apple cider

3 tbsp oil of your choice

1 large onion, cubed

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and cubed - leave the skins on

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 tbsp fresh sage (this ingredient is the deal maker)

2-4 lbs pork loin

1 c white wine (or red, depending how you feel about whites)

Twine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium pot combine the figs and apple cider, simmer over low heat while covered for about 25 minutes. Then uncover and reduce until there is only about 1/4c of liquid remaining (this takes another 25 minutes or so) - this is your most delicious fig syrup!

In a large oiled skillet brown the onions, apples, sage and garlic. Remove figs from the syrup, remove stems, cut up and add into the mix. Set the pan aside to cool.

Open up your pork loin, stuff with the onion-apple mix and tie closed. (mine was really two 2inx8in pieces, so I made a sandwich out of them)

Heat a dutch oven over high heat and add a little oil, sear the stuffed roast on all sides, about 2 to 3 minutes each. Add in any remaining onion-apple mixture that didnt fit inside the pork and place in the oven uncovered for 15-30 minutes (make sure the internal temp reaches 135)

Remove the prok and place on a dish to cool. In the dutch oven, add in the fig syrup, wine and remainin apple cider and reduce over high heat, scraping the burnt bits of the pan during the process. Spoon the mix over the cooked pork and serve!

Pumpkin Custard

1 Can pumpkin puree

1c coconut milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Mix pumpkin puree with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Add in beaten eggs and mix well. Add in coconut milk, pour batter into a 13x9 pan and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for  20-30 minutes. Remove and let cool. Serve.