Planning Ahead: Frittata Muffins, Pork Roast, Gravlax, Tea-Smoked Steelhead

I tend to eat healthier during the workweek if I plan ahead and even do a little cooking on Sunday. Here's what I accomplished today:

Frittata "muffins"

These are easy to make. Using regular-sized muffin tins, fill each cup about 3/4 full with chopped veggies, fresh herbs and cheese. Sometimes I add Canadian bacon or sundried tomatoes. Scramble about 7 eggs with a tad of  milk, and put 1/4 c. of the egg mixture in each cup. Bake at 250 degrees for 20 minutes. Voila.

For this batch, I used jalapeno, tomato, parsley, cilantro and garlic. So convenient to grab two of these on the way out the door on a workday.

Marinated pork sirloin tip roasts
Let these marinate at least 4 hours, overnight or even a day or two. When you're ready to cook, remove the roast from the marinate, bake in covered dish at 375 degrees for about an hour or until the internal temp of the roast registers 160 degrees. We use the roast for variety of things during the week, depending on the flavors of the marinate includings enchiladas, sandwiches, salads, curry, shepherd's pie. . . I like to try different combos, sometimes with an Asian, Latin or Mediterranean twist. Instead of vinegar, I may use lemon juice with thyme. Sometimes I add honey and Moroccan spices, other times chipotles and maple syrup. Today:

• roast #1: rice wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, garlic, parsley
• roast #2: rice wine vinegar, madeira, light olive oil, garlic, crushed coriander and fennel seeds, cilantro, ginger root

Gravlax
I got steelhead instead of salmon this week, hence the substitution on the next two recipes.
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb. fish
• 3 T. kosher salt
• 2 T Splenda (most folks use sugar, but we're on Phase 1 of South Beach)
• 1 T. each crushed fennel, coriander seeds, black peppercorns
• 2 T. Cointreau

Directions

1. Rinse and pat the fish dry.
2. Remove any bones.
3. Put skinside down in a dish or ziplog bag.
4. Top with the ingredients, cover and refrigerate.
5. I understand this can be eaten in 15 hours, or left to cure for 24-48 hours. I'll let you know how this turns out. I've never made this before.

Tea-smoked steelhead

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds fish: brine w/ sliced ginger for 20 minutes
• in foil packet:
• 1 c. rice
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. salt
• Earl Grey/Irish breakfast tea: 6 bags worth
• Citrus chamomile tea: 1/4 c. loose tea
• 3 star anise

Directions:

1. Remove any bones and brine the fish.
2. Combine the tea and other ingredients, then make a foil pack.
3. Gently pierce the top of the packet with a few small holes.
   Put the packet on the bottom of a stock pot.
4. I place a steamer on top of the packet to hold the fish.
5. Rinse the fish and pat dry. Situate on the steamer.
6. Cover the stock pot with a good fitting lid and a wet towel.
7. Smoke for about 20 minutes. After that time, take the pot outside to open it and check the fish for doneness. If you need to, rinse and repeat.
8. This is fabulous on top of salad or toast or even as a snack