300 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes (28 page)

Cooking your pork steaks in your electric tabletop grill cuts the cooking time down to 7 to 8 minutes. The trade-off is that your steak will be less browned and crusty than if you'd done it in a skillet.

Pork shoulder steak, no more than 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) thick

Sprinkle-on seasoning—Cajun, Creole, Soul, Barbecue, and Jerk seasonings are all good used this way.

Preheat your electric tabletop grill.

While it's heating, lay the steak on a plate and sprinkle both sides liberally with the seasoning of your choice. When the grill is hot, throw the pork steak in and give it 7 to 8 minutes or until it's cooked through. Serve.

Yield:
Again, how many servings this makes depends on the size of your steak, but the carb count is unlikely to be more than 1 gram, even if you eat the whole thing.

Mustard-Maple Glazed Pork Steak

I rarely tire of pork steaks with just a little Cajun seasoning or barbecue rub, but this is very little more trouble and seriously tasty.

2 pounds (900 g) pork shoulder, steaks, no more than 1/2-inch (1.3 cm) thick

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

1/4 cup (60 ml) chicken broth or 1/4 cup (60 ml) water and 1/4 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules

1 tablespoon (20 g) sugar-free pancake syrup

1 tablespoon (11 g) spicy brown or Dijon mustard

Give your big, heavy skillet a shot of nonstick cooking spray and start it heating over high heat while you salt and pepper the pork steaks. In a minute or so, add the olive oil, slosh it around to coat the pan, and throw in your steaks. Cover them with a tilted lid.

Mix together everything else and place by the stove.

After about five minutes, flip your pork steaks and let them cook on the other side, again with a tilted lid.

With about 3 minutes left, transfer the steaks to a plate. Pour the mustard-maple mixture into the pan and stir it around, scraping up any tasty brown bits. Let it boil hard until it cooks down by about half. Put the steaks back in and flip them to coat and let the whole thing keep cooking just a minute more until the sauces is about the texture of half-and-half. Plate the steaks, pour the sauce over them, and serve.

Yield:
4 servings, each with 437 calories, 34 grams fat, 30 grams protein, 1 grams carbohydrate, trace dietary fiber, and 1 gram usable carb.

Maple-Chipotle Glaze Glazed Pork Steaks

2 pounds (900 g) pork shoulder steaks or pork chops, no more than 1/2-inch (1.3 cm) thick

1 tablespoon bacon grease (15 g) or coconut oil (15 ml)

1/3 cup (107 g) sugar-free pancake syrup

2 to 3 chipotle chiles canned in adobo

1 1/2 teaspoons adobo sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

Put your big, heavy skillet over medium-high heat and start the pork steaks browning in the bacon grease or oil.

Throw everything else in your blender or food processor and run until the chipotles and garlic are pulverized. Store in a tightly lidded container in the fridge.

When your steaks are browned on both sides, add the glaze to the skillet and flip the steaks to coat on both sides. Cover with a tilted lid and let it cook until the steaks are done through and the glaze has cooked down a little. Serve with all the glaze scraped over the steaks.

Yield:
4 servings, each with 434 calories, 32 grams fat, 32 grams protein, 3 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram dietary fiber, and 2 grams usable carb.

Pork Crusted Pork!

8 ounces (225 g) pork shoulder steak, 1/2-inch (1.3 cm) thick

1/3 cup (80 g) crushed barbecue-flavor pork rinds

1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 28 ml) oil

Coat both sides of the pork steak with the crushed pork rinds. (It's easiest to spread the crushed pork rinds on a plate and press each side of the pork steak into them.) Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the steak until it's crisp on both sides and cooked through—about 7 minutes per side.

Yield:
1 or 2 servings. There are no carbohydrates or fiber here at all, and the whole steak will have about 45 grams of protein.

Maple-Glazed Bacon

I know, I know, this is really a side dish. But it didn't really belong with the veggies and noodles and such, and it is pork, after all. It makes a great, festive treat for a holiday breakfast.

6 bacon slices

1/4 cup (80 g) sugar-free pancake syrup

Simply brush the bacon with the pancake syrup on both sides before laying it on a microwave bacon rack or in a Pyrex pie plate. Nuke on high for 8 minutes and then check—it may well need a few more minutes; I discovered that for some reason bacon cooks more slowly with the syrup on it. It may take 10 to 11 minutes to crisp, depending on your microwave.

Yield:
Each slice will have 41 calories, 3 grams fat, 2 grams protein, 1 grams carbohydrate, 0 grams dietary fiber, and 1 gram usable carb.

Main dish salads are one of the greatest ways to eat low carb. They're quick, simple, delicious, beautiful to look at, offer endless variety, and pack more nutrition into a single meal than most anything else you can think of. I hope you'll serve these main dish salads often, especially on hot summer days—and nights.

Here are some new ideas to take you beyond your old standby tuna salad and the ubiquitous chicken Caesar.

Tomatoes with Pecans, Basil, and Cheese

Originally I thought of this as a first course, but it's darned filling and has as much protein per serving as a couple of eggs, so I put it here. Still, it would make a nice starter if your main course is light.

1/2 cup (50 g) pecan halves

2 tablespoons (28 ml) olive oil

1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil

1/3 cup (80 ml) red wine vinegar

1/4 cup (6 g) Splenda, or equivalent in liquid sucralose

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (40 g) fresh basil leaves

2 scallions

1 cup (115 g) 6 cheese Italian blend, the finely shredded kind

2 big ripe tomatoes

In a heavy skillet over low-medium heat, start the pecan halves toasting in the 2 tablespoons (28 ml) of olive oil.

In the meantime, measure the 1/3 (80 ml) cup olive oil, vinegar, Splenda, garlic, pepper, and salt and whisk together. Don't forget to take a break to stir your pecans so they don't scorch!

Okay, pecans are toasted and dressing is made. Transfer your pecans to your food processor with the S-blade in place. Add the basil. Trim the root and any limp part of the green shoot off the scallions, whack each into three or four pieces, and throw them in, too. Now pulse until everything's chopped medium-fine.

Dump your pecan mixture into a small mixing bowl, add the shredded cheese, and toss everything together.

Slice your tomatoes and divide the slices between four plates, arranging them prettily. Sprinkle the pecan-cheese mixture evenly over them, drizzle with the dressing, and serve.

Yield:
4 servings, each with 525 calories, 49 grams fat, 17 grams protein, 11 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams dietary fiber, and 9 grams usable carb.

Tuna Salad with Lemon and Capers