Frittata Di Riso & Pork Chops with Pears and Onions

Oops! I gained a pound!

I'm sure it has nothing to do with being sedentary with a bum foot and eating like I'm still going to the gym. Yeah. Right.

Oh, well... I need to be a bit better before the big over-eating day on Thursday. Next Friday's weigh-in will be interesting, for sure!

Last night's dinner started off with a recipe I found on La Cucina Italiana - in Italian, of course. Conde Nast stopped the English issue several years ago - bastards that they are. It sounded intriguing - and easy.

The recipe was for 4 servings, so I cut it in half and made two individual tarts. I think the recipe should have been for 8 - we both ate half and were more than satisfied. You definitely want to use a good parmesan, here.

Fritatta Di Riso

adapted from La Cucina Italiana

• 500 g milk
• 150 g arborio rice
• 60g grana padano / parmesan
• 6 eggs, separated
• butter
• salt

Bring the milk to a boil. Boil the rice in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Drain and finish cooking in boiling milk for about 15 minutes.

Put the cooked rice in a cold bowl, add a knob of butter and stir vigorously; When the mixture is lukewarm, incorporate the egg yolks, one at a time, the parmesan cheese and finally the egg whites, whipped until stiff.

Pour the mixture into a cake tin with a diameter of 22 cm/8" lined with baking paper.

Bake at 180 °C for about 1 hour. Here is your rice omelette ready.

I also made an old standby - Pork Chops with Pears and Red Onions - a Lidia recipe from 20+ years ago.

I foolishly added potatoes to the recipe because I have been doing that for years. I definitely didn't need them last night.

As with most recipes, I tend to make my own tweaks – and this one is no different. The base is fabulous, but there are a couple of steps I don’t bother with.

First, is making the balsamic reduction. I generally don’t have the cheap balsamic in the house – but I do have a really good 15 year aged balsamic I used for drizzling on top when it was time to serve.

Next is finally realizing that bone-in pork chops are the only chops worth buying. Boneless tend to be too tough and inconsistent. Also, I don’t peel my pears. I don’t peel a lot of fruits and vegetables – lots of texture and nutrients, there.

Lidia’s Pork Chops with Pears and Caramelized Red Onions

• 2 cups balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 center-cut pork rib chops, each about 12 ounces and 1 1/4 inches thick
• 1 large red onion, cut into 8 wedges
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 ripe but firm Bosc pears, peeled, cored and each cut into 8 wedges
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey

In a small saucepan, bring balsamic vinegar to a boil over high heat. Adjust the heat to a gentle boil and boil until the vinegar is syrupy and reduced to about 1/3 cup. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet with a flameproof handle over medium-high heat. Whack garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife and scatter over oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until brown, about 2 minutes. Lay the pork chops in and cook until the underside is browned, about 6 minutes. Remove and reserve the garlic cloves if they become more than deep golden brown before the chops are fully browned.

Turn the chops, tuck the onion wedges into the pan and continue cooking until the second side of the chops is browned, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. About halfway through browning the second side, tuck the pear wedges in between the chops.

Stir the red wine vinegar and honey together in a small bowl, until the honey is dissolved. Pour the mixture into the skillet and bring to a vigorous boil. Return the garlic cloves to the skillet if you have removed them. Place the skillet in the oven and roast until onions and pears are tender and the juices from the pork are a rich, syrupy dark brown, about 30 minutes. Once or twice during roasting, turn the chops and redistribute the onions and pears. Handle the skillet carefully — it will be extremely hot.

Remove skillet from the oven. Place a chop in the center of each warmed serving plate. Check the seasoning of the onion-pear mixture, adding salt and pepper if necessary. Spoon the pears, onion and pan juices around the chops. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar reduction around the edge of the plate.

Makes 4 servings.

It was way too much food and neither of us cleaned our plates.

Back to being a little more realistic in our portions - until Thursday!

by Tim Dineen

Leftovers Reworked

Wednesday, I made a big pot of soup and had Phoebe and Nancy over for dinner and cards. It's definitely getting to be soup weather - and we do like soup around here.

Soups are generally something I just sorta make with whatever's in the house - even though I have so many soup recipes it's ridiculous. Wednesday's soup started off as one of those recipes.

It was an Italian Wild Rice Soup from Eating Well magazine.

Naturally, I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but it was a great foundation.

I had planned to make an Alaskan Cod something-or-other for dinner last night, and Victor suggested poaching it in some of the leftover soup! An excellent idea!

It was the original 20-minute-start-to-finish-meal. And it was really really good!

I simply heated the soup is a large skillet, placed the fish in, covered the skillet, and let it poach for about 10 minutes. The fish cooked to perfection. it was light, flaky, and had great flavor. I added a bit of Italian hot sauce and enjoyed every bite.

Here's the soup the following day - nice and thick, hearty and flavorful!

Italian Wild Rice Soup

adapted from Eating Well Magazine

• 1 pound ground pork
• 3 qts beef broth
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 leek sliced
• 1 fennel buld, chopped
• 3/4 cup wild rice
• 1/2 cup wild rice blend
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning, crushed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
• S&P to taste
• 1.2 tsp - or more crushed red pepper
• 1 (9 ounce) package fresh spinach, chopped
• 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, cook pork over medium heat until no longer pink.

Add onion and fennel and cook until onion is wilted. Stir in garlic.

Add tomato paste and cook a bit to remove the raw tomato flavor.

Add broth, tomatoes, rice, and seasonings. Bring to a boil.

Add rice, reduce heat, and simmer until rice is tender - about 45 minutes.

When soup is ready, stir in spinach or other tender greens of your choice.

Serve topped with cheese.

The original recipe was a crock pot recipe - something I do not own. I reworked it for stovetop.

by Tim Dineen

Pre-Diabetes Program

There's good news and there's bad news... typical in life, eh?!?

The good news is I've lost a bit of weight. The bad news is the program has been delayed - again.

To say that I'm a bit pissed is an understatement. To postpone something once is semi-understandable. To postpone something twice - the night before, I might add - is inexcusable. This postponement was because people dropped out after the first postponement, and they no longer have the requisite minimum of 8 people to run the cohort. The newest potential start date is now November 16th. And that's assuming, I guess, that they can miraculously find more people between now and then. I think I'm going to pass.

Back to the good news...

On September 14th - when I was first officially signed up and had my meet and greet meeting - I weighed in at 240 pounds. This morning, six weeks later, I weigh 232.4.

I've been going to the gym, seeing my Physical Therapist, eating better, moving more, and feeling great. I signed up for 8 sessions with a Personal Trainer to get me started and he has been great at pushing me and teaching me how to push myself. I'm a slug by nature, so the learning to push myself part has been important. It seems to be working.

Diet-wise, I'm weighing and logging things, but I'm not dieting. I'm eating what I want, I'm just making better choices and eating smaller portions. I usually have a popsicle at night for dessert, but there are also homemade brownies portioned and in the freezer. They're not off-limits, but I won't eat one if I had a heavy meal that day. Smarter choices.

I once thought that The Program would be my motivation to do this. What I've found out these past six weeks is that I am my motivation. My own confidence and ability to do this are what's going to get me through.

That being said, I do plan on doing weekly updates on Wednesdays. A little added motivation never hurts...

by Tim Dineen

Squash and Plums with Ricotta

Victor was reading the Washington Post the other day when he came across a recipe he just knew we had to try. It's not all that unusual for one of us to latch onto a random recipe we find - it's more unusual to ignore them.

This one was not to be ignored...

Squash and Plums with Ricotta

adapted from The Washington Post

• 1 pound ricotta or cultured cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 small yellow squash (12 ounces total), chopped
• 4 plums, preferably black or purple (12 ounces total) pitted and sliced
• Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
• Flaky salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons chopped pistachios, cashews or pumpkin seeds, for serving (optional)

In a food processor, whip the ricotta or cottage cheese until creamy and light, about 30 seconds.

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil until it shimmers. Add the yellow squash and sauté until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add the plums and sauté until they begin to caramelize, about 5 minutes. Add the thyme leaves, and then place atop the ricotta.

Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over. Sprinkle with chopped nuts or seeds.

It's ridiculously easy outrageously good. It's savory but sweet, almost dessert-like, but better as a side dish. It would make a great appetizer with a crusty slice of bread or a really good cracker.

It also went great with a Dungeness Crab Cake from The Beaverton Farmer's Market.

It took minutes to make.

Make some.

by Tim Dineen