Walnut Crusted Chicken or Pork  – Whole 30

Lately I’ve been experimenting with some simple new recipes to add to my weekly repertoire. I must admit I’ve kissed a few frogs on this sojourn, but I’ll be sharing the best of the best of what I’ve experimented with so far.  So today I’m sharing a recipe from Whole 30 that we all ADORE!

It shouldn’t be hard to experiment since I own about 150 cook books…..s’riously..I do. Yeah,  it’s a problem. 

Thing is.  Even though I’m immersed in the world of healthy eating, I rarely get inspired by other “diet” oriented cookbooks.  I have a ton of them but I generally go back to my beloved classic go-to books (which I’ll share with you soon)  and play around with the ingredient lists to create something that fits how I want to eat now. This time I decided to dig in to a few current trends. (gluten, grain free, etc), and I found some simple ingredient recipes to try.  The first one I’m going to share is from Whole 30, and it’s delicious! Whole 30 is one of a handful of “diets” that I can get behind for the most part. Whole 30’s bigger picture main tenant is eat whole foods.  Which…..Hell YES! They do however have a lot of other RULES and that language can get cumbersome, IMO.  But the program is smart, solid, balanced, supportive and not full of fake versions of other fake foods. which is why it is right up my cruciferous veggie loving alley!

I tweaked this recipe a bit for the original as my first go around was too salty (you can always add more salt!) and I had tons of leftover seasoning powder.  I tried it with skinless chicken thighs the next time and it was FABULOUS!

I don’t eat very much pork.  I won’t go into “why” on this post…….but on occasion I do.  All things in moderation, No?

Free range organic chicken will be my more regular gig with this one.

What you’ll need:

1.5 lbs skinless chicken thighs OR pork tenderloin, trimmed of silver skin
1 tbsp. ground mustard
1/2 tbsp. paprika
1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped (or mash in a mortar & pestle)

How to make it:

Remove the  chicken or pork from the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes before cooking
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
Pat the the meat dry with a paper towel
Mix the mustard powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl
Rub the chicken or pork evenly with the spice mixture
In a food processor or by hand, pulse or chop or smash the walnuts until finely chopped
Coat the pork evenly with the chopped walnuts
Place the tenderloin in a baking pan and roast for 25 to 30 minutes (internal temp for chicken should be 165F for pork 145F)
Let the chicken or pork rest for 10 minutes
Slice the tenderloin into medallions or serve the thighs whole.

*It’s really easy to overcook pork tenderloin so using a good digital meat thermometer is important.  Here’s the one I have after binge-buying a bunch of others that sucked didn’t work.

Try it and let me know how it goes!

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