I’ve almost gotten into a rut with pork chops.  If they’re not braised with pears and red onions, they’re topped with spicy fruit salsa of some sort.  Really good, but been there, done that.  A lot.

So as I’m planning which salsa I’m going to make (apricot or peach) I see two tomatoes that are getting riper as I look.  And there’s some endive in the fridge I didn’t use last night.  In my mind, dinner starts taking on a bit of an Italian theme…  I had already baked some bread.  Pork chops.  Italy.  Let’s do it.

I marinated the pork chops in red wine, garlic, and dried Italian seasoning.

For the salsa, I basically made a chopped tomato salad:

Italian Tomato Salsa

• 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 small red onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• splash olive oil
• basil, oregano, and parsley, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste

Mix and chill.

I’m a west coast boy.  If you chop stuff up and mix it together, you make salsa.  But this really was just like a bruschetta or tomato salad.  Really simple and no-brainer, but really flavorful.

I braised the endive in a hot skillet with just a splash of olive oil and pat of butter, salt and pepper.  After it browned for a minute, I covered it and lowered the heat and let it cook about 6-7 minutes.  I then topped it with just a tiny bit of shredded Locatelli.

The rice was lazy-man’s Risotto.  I cooked a cup of sticky rice (I picked up a 5-pound bag at the Asian grocery store on Sunday) and after it was cooked, stirred in some shredded Locatelli. Lazy.  But good.  And just different enough that we didn’t have just plain ol’ white rice with dinner.

A  little later on, there’s chocolate banana pie.

It’s 74° outside, windows are open and a breeze is blowing through the house.

Life really is good!