ArcaMax

Will you be Taking Bread?

Thanksgiving was kind of goofy for us this year. We weren’t able to travel so we decided to have a quiet Thanksgiving; just the two of us.

One of our favorite Thanksgiving memories was of a time when we traveled on Thanksgiving. We were in Paris because my husband was giving a speech. When it came time to decide what to do for dinner we ended up consulting the hotel elevator.

Consult the elevator?

Posted in the elevator was a menu. The hotel was going to serve a Thanksgiving dinner for American travelers. Nice concept. Bad execution. Someone had done some research on American Thanksgiving traditions. They found out we don’t all cook the same dinner so they improvised. They decided that in order to please everyone, they’d offer a dish from each region of the country and put that all together with turkey.

Well, when you read the menu it sort of made your gag reflex come forward. The combination of things was making no sense together. I have forgotten most of it, but they had pulled one specialty from Hawaii, one from the South, an Eastern one, etc. The mishmash on the plate was going to taste pretty horrible. Nice try.

We went to a restaurant instead.

The restaurant was located in a romantic part of Paris. It was a One-Star Michelin-rated restaurant. It was the first time I walked into a dimly lit dining room that was painted navy blue. It was stunning. The only lighting in the room was over the artwork, which was breath-taking and then of course, we had little lamp-candles on our table. Plenty of light to read and see your food but incredibly dramatic at the same time. Loved it. I had lamb. My husband had sea bass. We cuddled and cooed over our food. It was beautiful.

So this year my husband decided he wanted to try to re-create that in Chicago. He put me on the hunt for a French restaurant.

I failed. I could not find a French restaurant in Chicago that was going to be open. I had to fall back to restaurants located in hotels. There’s a law in the US that the restaurants in hotels have to serve food on the holidays. So hotel it was.

I started my search. They all had buffets. That wasn’t going to work. My husband didn’t want turkey. He didn’t want a buffet. He wanted Paris. Hmmm.

I kept calling hotels. I even tried the Trump Tower restaurant called Sixteen. The restaurant has a beautiful view so I thought I’d try that. When the young lady and I spoke she proudly announced that they were serving a very special turkey buffet that evening and that it would on run us $125 per person.

I about laughed out loud in her ear. $250 for turkey for two? You have to be joking. I could not think what could be THAT special. That’s no special. That’s robbery!

When I called The Palm located in the Swisse Hotel, I started the conversation by asking if they were serving anything but turkey. I was so sick of hearing, “yep, we’ll have turkey” that I took that tact instead. The young lady told me that yes, they’d have a turkey buffet but also the regular menu. Bingo. Found one. I made our reservation and my husband was happy because he loves that kind of clubby atmosphere and he could not recall ever eating in The Palm.

So when we arrived, we were seated in the bar for a bit before our table was ready. Lots of families came in that didn’t want to cook and a few lone guys were sitting at the bar drinking. I felt kind of sorry for them. I wasn’t sure if they were traveling and lonely or if they were products of divorces, or what. Whichever, they looked lonely.

We got to our booth and our waiter approached. He took our drink orders and came back to tell us about the specials. First he said “Will you be taking bread?” “Not even on holidays”, I answered. My husband and I looked at each other and both laughed. I have learned on The Zola Diet that my body cannot tolerate much bread. I just start to gain weight if I eat it, so I have given up eating bread at dinner. Okay, if I’m tempted with really great, warm bread, I might succumb, but not that night. If I was asked, I just politely declined. Our waiter understood completely. He is a delightful fellow.

We had a wonderful meal. They had this amazing recessionary deal that gave us steak and lobster. Both of our dinners cost less than one of Donald Trump’s turkey dinners. Our waiter was a blast. We had a really good time.

I just wrote a new Special Report at the Zola Diet site that I thought you might be interested in. It’s the story behind how a diet like that gets built. You can check it out at www.zoladiet.com. There’s no charge. I’m just determined to get information out that can help people get to, and maintain a healthy weight.

Today I’m giving you a special “deal” too. When I bought my pork loin roast they had a Buy One Get One Free deal. I took two, of course. And so I developed two completely different recipes. The first one is perfect for Christmas. It’s even got a red and green filling.

The other one is an Asian pork roast with a crazy warm salad. This can be for one of those nights surrounding the holiday when the last thing you want to see is Christmas food. Or any other time.

Pork Loin Roast with Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach Stuffing
Serves 4 but can be doubled easily.

Ingredients:

1.5 lb pork loin roast

1 tsp of garlic

1 tsp of Italian seasoning, divided

1/2 cup of roasted red peppers (You find these in the Italian section of the grocery.  They are pre-roasted and packed in a jar.  You just need to pull out enough to cover the roast and rinse them well before using them.  Pat dry.  Store the rest for another use.

1 cup of baby spinach

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees

You are going to “butterfly” your pork roast.  This means you are going to open it up so the whole roast will lay flat and you can stuff it and roll it.  It’s not difficult to do if you are careful.  Take a sharp knife and cut across the roast about 1” down from the top.  You are then going to continue to cut in a circular motion as though you are opening the roast in a spiral.  This is very difficult to describe with just words but all you have to do is imagine that your pork roast is spiral, like a cinnamon roll and cut into it to “re-open” the spirals.

Then lay the roast opened flat on your work surface.  Spread the garlic across the roast and sprinkle with half of the Italian seasoning.  Now take pieces of the roasted red peppers and cover the surface of the roast.  On top of that scatter your spinach leaves.

Carefully grab one end of the roast the long way and begin rolling it back up.  If you tuck in the edge as you start you will roll it up jelly-roll fashion and your stuffing will all be encased inside the roast.  You can secure the roast to stay closed by wrapping kitchen twine around it in a few places or if you are lucky like me, when you put the roast in the roasting pan with the seam side down it will stay rolled up and stay put.  Whichever works best.  You could also use turkey pins and hold it shut that way if you prefer.

Sprinkle with the rest of the Italian seasoning and give it a good grind of sea salt on top too.

Roast your meat until it reaches 170 degrees.  This will take up to 90 minutes.

When you take it out of the oven, slice it in 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick slices.  They will hold together best that way.  Gently place on your plate and serve with side veggies.

Serving Suggestions:

If you serve with broccoli and red bell pepper bits you’ll have more red and green!

Spiced Pork Loin with an Asian “Creamed” Salad
This is a very fun dish. I sort of landed on it accidentally as I cleaned out the refrigerator. I had the pork loin in the freezer and the rest was just in the produce drawer and on the shelves. Sometimes the best new recipes present themselves that way.
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:

1, 1.5 lb pork loin roast

Olive oil spray

1 tsp of Emeril’s Essence (or your favorite meat rub)

2 baby bok choy, cut into chunks. (2 cups of bok choy)

1 Tbl of butter

4 green onions, diced, white and light green parts only.

2 Tbl Bragg’s Aminos (this is a healthy substitute for soy sauce)

1 tsp of fresh garlic, minced

1 tsp of ginger minced

2 Tbl Boursin cheese spread (this comes in more than one flavor. Any will work)

2 Tbl of sour cream

3 cups of baby salad greens

Directions:

Spray the pork loin roast with olive oil. Dust the top with the meat rub. Put in a pan and roast at 350 degrees until the roast reaches 165 degrees (1 to 1 and 1/4 hours)

In a large sauté pan. Add the bok choy with butter, green onions, Braggs, garlic, and ginger. Saute on medium until the veggies are loosened but still slightly crisp.

Then add the cheese and the sour cream. Warm thoroughly and just leave until the roast is ready. When the roast comes out of the oven let it rest in the pan for a few minutes while you reheat your sauce. Don’t boil it. Just warm it up. It will be creamy, dreamy.

Slice the pork and put it on one side of the plate. On the other side, place your salad greens and then mound the veggies and cheese on top of the salad. Toss slightly with your fork as you eat the salad. The warm veggies and sauce will wilt your salad a bit and taste really rich and creamy.

Believe it or not, this is diet food. Not low fat diet food. This is The Zola Diet food for Phase 3 of the diet.

Cheers
Enjoy,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.