Tag: Malbec

Pork Chops with Squash and Mushroom Salad

rikicarignanLeave a comment

Friday night dinner was magnificent!

I made the Pork Chops with Squash and Mushroom Salad, on page 147 of the Weight Watcher’s PointsPlus Cookbook.  The result?  A delicious, healthy and enjoyable dinner.

The recipe calls for bone-in center-cut pork loin chops, but I made the thin cut pork chops instead, and they turned out really nice and moist.

Pork Chops

This recipe includes the Squash and Mushroom salad to be served with the pork chops.  It is a lively and wonderful grilled vegetables salad, which I made almost exactly according to the recipe, but added white zucchini squash, which I find to be slightly more delicate in flavor.

Squash an Mushroom Salad

If you are tracking your points for Weight Watchers, this delectable combo is only 6 PointsPlus per serving (1 pork chop and 3/4 cup salad).

An additional side dish (not part of this recipe) decorated our table.  Garlic couscous, is an out of the box dish, and may satisfy a craving you may have for the occasional carbs.  And… it is so very tasty!

Garlic Couscous

And of course… let’s not forget the wine.  I paired these dishes with the full body and “sophisticated” Argentinian Malbec.  Another favorite which I recommend you try if you haven’t yet.

Puramum Malbec 2011

 

Salmon and Asparagus with Citrus Gremolata

rikicarignanLeave a comment

I kept my promise to have everyone ooh and ah over Friday night dinner.  The Salmon and Asparagus with Citrus Gremolata was divine (recipe can be found on page 175 of the Weight Watchers Points Plus Cookbook).

Everyone gathered around the kitchen to enjoy a glass of excellent Malbec while I was making this very easy recipe.  No better way to start off the weekend and set a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere around the house.

The Gremolata is made of fresh chopped parsley, orange and lemon zest, and minced garlic, and it smells so fresh!  I once again followed the recipe almost exactly, and even served it with lemon wedges.  I decided to make more fish than the recipe calls for, and roasted it for 20 minutes to perfection.  It was delicious! And… looked beautiful!

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Salmon with Citrus Gremolata

 

Roasted asparagus paired perfectly with the fish, and was placed in the oven for exactly 12 minutes, to not overcook.  The orange fish, garnished with green herbs and citrus zest, looked very appetizing next to the green asparagus spears.  If you are tracking your Weight Watchers points Plus, this fabulous dish is only 7 points per serving (1 salmon fillet, 10 asparagus spears, and 1 tablespoon gremolata).

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Roasted Asparagus Spears

 

For this special dinner I ventured out of my Weight Watchers book and added some pasta, with [I Can’t Believe It’s Not] Butter and some goat cheese.  This pasta was fairly light in flavor and worked really well with our fish and the great wine we had with the meal.  Obviously, portion matters if you are trying to lose weight.

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Pasta with “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” and Goat Cheese

Not sure yet what’s for dinner tonight, but I am guessing some chicken with whatever I have around the house.  Once in a while it’s fun to just get creative in the kitchen, so it will be interesting to see what I will come up with.