Pork with Robiola
Several years ago we donated a few hundred cook books to the local library book drive. That left us with only a hundred or so downstairs - since there's no room upstairs to keep them. A hundred flippin' cook books. It's rather ludicrous on one hand - but on the other hand, these are the books I keep going to for inspiration. They're mostly the classics - Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Lidia, of course, Vegetarian Epicure, Greens, Moosewood, Chez Panisse, Marcella Hazan, Joy of Cooking, and a pretty beat up copy of Better Homes and Gardens. Along with those hundred books are a few dozen copies of La Cucina Italiana magazine, Cooks Illustrated, Bon Appetit, and a couple of old Gourmet magazines - and a file folder of recipes I've cut out of magazines and have never done anything with.
I'm not really obsessive. Really.
Okay... maybe a little. The odd thing about it all, though, is I really don't follow recipes very well. I read them, get ideas, and then make something - often completely different from what I originally read.
And the hard part is translating what I did to paper - or - electronic media. Whatever.
Like tonight's dinner...
Someplace, somewhere, I saw a recipe using Robiola Cheese - a cow, sheep, and goat milk cheese from Italy. It sounded really good - and I promptly forgot about it. Today, I was at the grocers, and saw a half-round of Robiola cheese. It was one of those OMG! moments! I picked it up without even looking at the price or really knowing what I was going to do with it. I'm usually a reasonably-savvy shopper, but sometimes... Fortunately, I didn't have to take out a second mortgage for it - it was pretty reasonable.
UNfortunately, I got home and started searching for that robiola recipe - and couldn't find it. It doesn't help that I really don't remember what the recipe was, but I'm semi-reasonably sure I'd recognize it if I saw it, again. Maybe. Or maybe not.
What I did find was a recipe for Pork Loin with Robiola - Lombatine di maiale con robiola - on the La Cucina Italiana site.
Here's the translated recipe:
Pork Loin with Robiola
- 4 pork loin 450 gr
- robiola 100 gr
- yogurt 50 gr
- butter 50g
- 1 orange
- 1 egg
- stewed onions
- bread crumbs
- flour
- mild mustard
- mixed pepper
- chopped parsley
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
Melt the butter with whole orange rind and a good grinding of pepper mixed. When it is melted, add a pinch of chopped parsley, turn off and let cool. Mix the soft cheese with the yogurt and the cold use butter, formed a Salametto and wrap in baking paper. Put it in the freezer for 30 '. Brush the mustard loins on both sides, then roll them in flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs. Cook them in a pan with hot oil. Add salt and serve with a Salametto washer robiola and stewed onions.
First, you'll notice that mine looks a bit different. The recipe was actually for a robiola compound-butter that was placed atop the cooked pork chop. I was using a pork tenderloin and wanted a more pronounced sauce - not a cold butter.
I did spread a bit of dijon mustard on the pork scallops before flouring, dipping, and bread crumbs, but the sauce was wing-it. I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in a small pan, added half the cheese - maybe 3 ounces - and let it melt. I stirred in the grated rind of 1 lemon, a handful of chopped parsley, and a handful of chopped chives - and a hefty pinch of pepper.
Yumlicious.
A fun primi needs a fun secondi so I did a search for patate and found a really interesting potato torta - Torta di Patate. I had the ingredients for the potato cake itself, and had a bag of spinach that needed using. To work I went.
Potato Cake
- milk 250 g
- potatoes 200 gr
- Dry homemade bread 150 gr
- beans 120 gr
- 3 eggs -
- a tomato -
- butter -
- flour -
- basil -
- extra virgin olive oil -
- salt -
- pepper -
To prepare the cake of peeled potatoes and cook the potatoes in boiling water for 15-20 ', then drain and sieve. Private bread crust and ammollatelo in milk. Mix the potatoes with the slightly squeezed bread, eggs, a big dollop of chopped basil, salt and pepper; pour the mixture into a mold (ø 22 cm) greased and floured. Bake at 160 ° C for 25 '. Slit tomato, sbollentatelo for half a minute and remove skin; remove the seeds and cut it into cubes. Trim the green beans and boil them in boiling water for 6-8 '. Drain, cut into bobbins and toss in a pan for 3-4 'in a thin layer of oil. Remove from the heat and add the diced tomato. Remove from the oven and cover the cake with green beans and diced tomato.
I made the potato cake pretty much as written, except I used three small individual molds. Presentation is everything, right?!?
I sauteed shallots in a pat of butter, added the spinach, a splash of white wine, and some S&P. Done.
The main thing you need to remember when doing a Google-translated recipe, is that Google does not translate recipes very well. Another thing is European recipes do not give the step-by-step detailed instructions the modern American cook has gotten used to. They start off on the premise that you know where the kitchen is.
And ya need to know Metric. I have a little electronic scale that can be set to just about anything from grams to ounces, pounds to kilograms - and it was under $10. You can Google temperature conversions...
In the meantime... I think it may be time to revisit some of those books downstairs... There's a feast awaitin' us, I just know it!
Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
It's so nice to be married to a man who can cook!
When I spoke with Victor at lunch, today, he said dinner was taken care of. As much as I love to cook, those are great words to hear - and since he's a great cook, it doesn't even matter what it is he does.
Tonight was a bit of a clean-out-the-refrigerator stuffed pork tenderloin. One of those things that will never be replicated because we'll most likely never have this particular combination of things lying about, again... It was delish!
He took bread crumbs, onion, bell pepper, carrots, celery, a bit of pancetta, hard cooked eggs, golden raisins, some homemade pasta sauce, garlic, and some S&P, and made a stuffing to die for.
He butterflied the tenderloin, pounded it to an even thickness, stuffed it, rolled it, tied it, and baked it off in a 350°F oven for about 30 minutes.
Parsley buttered potatoes and green beans finished off the plate.
Did I mention it was delish?!?
My stomach is smiling.
Empanadas
Tonight's dinner was brought to you by the fine people at Goya.
I was passing through the frozen aisle at the grocery store on Monday and espied Goya Empanada Disks. Impulse buy of the day. I have not made empanadas in quite a while according to a blog search - or - I just didn't write about it. More likely the former since Nonna really doesn't do Mexican food...
Mexican/Central American/Southwestern-style flavors used to be my go-to dinners when I didn't have any idea what I wanted. The first solid food I ate as an infant was a chili bean, according to my mother. That pretty much set the tone. I love chilis, spice, and that blend of flavors.
I have never been into Mexico, proper... I've been to Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Acapulco, and Cabo San Lucas - all in the '60s and '70s - but haven't yet made it into Mexico City. Maybe one of these days.
I have, however, eaten the foods of 24th Street in San Francisco back when immigrants could afford to live there.
Empanada dough is pretty easy to make, but, impulse buys being what they are, I decided to go for the frozen ones. They're actually pretty good - and really easy to work.
I made a filling of ground pork, fresh sweet peppers, cumin, ancho chili powder, Mexican oregano, garlic, hatch chili salsa, green onions, and a bit of S&P. Not exactly authentic, but close enough for a gringo dinner. The beauty of empanadas is you really can fill them with anything.
The package has 10 disks. I had filling for about 16, so I made taquitos with some corn tortillas in the 'fridge. They went into the freezer with the empanadas I didn't cook.
I need to work on my crimping technique, but they came out really good. I fried them, but you can bake them, as well. I like them fried, better.
I made yellow rice and refried beans as side dishes - with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa for dipping and dunking.
Nonna had a ground beef patty, yellow rice, and her favorite canned green beans.
All-in-all, a successful south of the wall dinner!
Wild Boar Risotto
I've had about a half-pound of wild boar sausage in the freezer for a while, now, and decided it was time to bring it out.
We have a rule that I constantly break about using up things in the freezer. The main reason we don't have an extra freezer downstairs is because I would fill it up - and still shop for more stuff. It's just what I do. I see something that looks good or is on sale and a recipe starts formulating in my mind. Into the cart it goes. Having one freezer does keep me in line - a bit - but I really do need to be better at clearing it out before bringing home more goodies.
I had planned on making risotto with the Moliterno al Tartufo I picked up at Downtown Cheese last week but the kitchen gods conspired against me. I made it tonight.
Risotto really is one of the easiest dishes on the planet to make. It has a reputation for being difficult, but I think that's just so Italian restaurants can charge a lot of money for rice.
It's easy.
Risotto is also a wing-it dish at our house. We don't use a recipe - we just make it.
Because it's easy.
This is tonight's version.
Wild Boar Risotto
- 1 cup arborio, carnaroli, vialone nano, or other risotto rice
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 18 oz wild boar sausage
- 2 cups cauliflower, finely chopped (riced)
- 1 cup white wine
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup grated Moliterno al Tartufo cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- S&P, to taste
Chop onion and saute in a combination of butter and olive oil until wilted and starting to caramelize a bit. Add sausage, broken up and out of the casing. Add minced garlic. Saute until sausage is almost done.
Add 1 cup of rice and saute until the rice is translucent. Add 1 cup white wine and stir until most of it has been absorbed.
Heat the broth and add by half-cupfuls, stirring and waiting until it has been absorbed before adding the next. About halfway through, add the cauliflower.
Continue cooking and stirring, adding broth by half-cupfulls, until rice is fully cooked.
Stir in the cheese and the parsley. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.
Nonna cleaned her plate - that's my barometer about how good a meal is.
Simplicity. Really.
And later on we have banana cake with a banana cream cheese frosting that Victor made while I was at work.
It looks really awesome!
More on that, later!!
Ravioli
Thanksgiving is a week away. That means cleaning out the 'fridge so we can get more food in there. I'm finally getting better at holiday cooking amounts - I get that we really don't need 20 pounds of potatoes - but what screws me up is adding yet another dish to the menu.
There are just so many different foods out there screaming to be eaten and Thanksgiving is the perfect time to cook up 27 or 28 of them. And that's just the appetizers. Then there's the actual meal. There are so many ways to cook sweet potatoes that three of them would not be unheard of. And a couple different stuffings. I draw the line at green bean casserole, though. No green bean casserole on our table. No. Absolutely not.
But desserts... We really can't have too many desserts. Several pies, tarts, at least one cheese cake. I think a lemon ricotta cake will be made this year. There's a dozen different things I've been eyeing. Let's face it - there just aren't a lot of days that are dedicated to unbridled gluttony. I have to take advantage of this.
We have one refrigerator/freezer. I actually refuse to get another because I would fill it up. I can't even imagine the havoc I would wreak with more freezer and refrigeration space. As it is, a couple of times a year I don't shop and force the use of stuff in the freezer. It can get interesting, but I just can't see letting things sit anywhere for years. Buy it and use it within a reasonable time. It's a great concept and sometimes I even follow it.
But back to Thanksgiving. In order to cook and store food for the holiday, I have to make sure there's room for everything. Clean-out-the-refrigerator-time. In years past, I've actually been able to leave things outside. This week will be in the 50s & 60s. Mother Nature doesn't always play nice.
Tonight's clean-out was ravioli, ground pork, and pancetta. I decided we needed something a bit different, so I made a creamy cheese sauce for the ravioli instead of opening a jar of Victor's sauce. The sauce is downstairs in the basement with all the other canned foods from this summer so it doesn't count against the refrigerator and kitchen cabinet clean-outs. My house. My rules.
There wasn't really a recipe... these meals are generally wing-it because odds are they'll never be replicated - but the concept was pretty straightforward.
I sauteed a small chopped onion with 4 oz of diced pancetta. I added a pound of ground pork and cooked it all through. Then a splash of white wine - because it was right by the stove - and about 2 cups of chicken broth that was opened in the 'fridge and also needed using up.
About a half-cup of heavy cream, a hefty pinch of herbes de Provence, maybe a half-cup of grated parmesan, and a bit of cornstarch to thicken, and dinner was served.
Things should be more or less emptied, washed, and ready for refilling this weekend. The other upside, is the shelves all get a good cleaning - not that they need it. Much.
Butternut Squash and Candied Bacon
Ya know what it's like when you've cooked the same things over-and-over-and-over?!? Of course, you do. We all do. It's the infamous dinnertime rut.
It's rather amazing that I am surrounded by food all day, have at least three cooking magazines delivered to my door every month, have a couple score of cook books, and an internet connection with access to several million - billion?!? - recipes - and the same things keep getting cooked.
The Dinnertime Rut.
I just broke it. Well... I put a snag in it, anyway...
I've been looking at the December/January issue of Fine Cooking magazine thinking there are easily a half a dozen recipes that could fill the rut holes - and that's not counting the Italian cookies!
The first one I decided to try tonight was Butternut Squash with Kale, Cranberries, Hazelnuts, and Candied Bacon. The title had me at candied bacon, but, naturally, I had to take their idea and rearrange things to fit our tastes.
First off, I think kale sucks. I'll eat it if I have to, but at best, I just tolerate it. And please don't bother sending me your favorite you won't believe it's kale recipes. I'm over it. And second, I pretty much never have hazelnuts in the cupboard, but I always have pistachios. They're pretty different, but I'm a rebel.
Substitute 1 = Spinach for kale
Substitute 2 = Pistachios for hazelnuts
Substitute 3 = Smoked Maple Syrup for brown sugar
Yeppers, boys and girls... In making the candied bacon, the recipe calls for brown sugar. I just happened to have a bit of Sugar Bob's Smoked Maple Syrup left, so I used it. It was ridiculously good.
Candied Bacon
- 12 oz thick-sliced bacon
- 6oz smoked maple syrup, regular maple syrup, or brown sugar
Preheat oven to 400. Line a sheet pan with foil and place a rack on the pan. Dip the bacon in the maple syrup and lay out on the rack. Bake about 6 to 8 minutes. Brush with more syrup and continue to bake until the bacon is brown and glazed - another 10 or so minutes.
Put the sheet pan under the broiler and broil the bacon until the sugars bubble and you start drooling looking at it - another couple of minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
Candied Bacon. I've seen it but I've never made it, and now I'm wondering why it took me so long. I had twice as much as I needed for dinner tonight, so the rest has gone into the 'fridge. Victor will probably have it finished off before dinner tomorrow. It's crazy-good.
The finished dish was spectacular. The flavors melded together perfectly, there was just enough crunch from the pistachios and sweetness from the cranberries and squash. And the smokey-chewy-sweet-bacon pieces sent it right into gastronomic heaven. It did take a little time but it was time well spent. The biggest surprise was that Nonna actually cleaned her plate. She's not an adventurous eater, by nature, but she all but licked her plate clean!
So the rut is getting slowly filled in. Let's see what tomorrow brings...
Oh... and I'm linking to the original recipe and not copying it, here...
Bone-In Pork Chops with Leeks
I got a great deal on a bone-in pork roast the other day. It was much too big to actually cook as a roast for us, but perfect for cutting into bone-in pork chops! I really do like bone-in steaks and chops - and chicken, too, for that matter. The flavor is so much more pronounced.
I usually go the quick-and-easy route with boneless whatever just to get it on the table quickly, but when I have the time... Besides, I needed to practice for my life of leisure after winning the $900 million+ Powerball tonight. Almost a billion dollars. That could build one hellava kitchen in our new house - and pay for someone to clean up after me. That would be such a luxury - and Victor would be so happy since he's the one who cleans up after me most days. I mean, it's not like I'm a total slob, but I can definitely dirty some pots and pans.
Armed with my trusty knife, I cut six huge chops. I have to admit it was not the neatest butchering job I have ever done, but, I had six edible portions and no waste when I was finished. That's pretty much all that matters, right?!?
I found a recipe in a 10 year old Bon Appetit that seemed perfect - being that I had all the ingredients in the house - and to work I went!
Pork Chops with Leeks and Mustard Sauce
- 4 1 1/2"-or thicker bone-in pork chops
- 2 tsp coarse salt
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp rosemary
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 bacon slices, coarsely chopped
- 4 cups thinly sliced leeks
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup brandy
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp sage
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup sour cream
Mix the salt, thyme, rosemary, and pepper. Liberally cover the pork chops and let sit at room temperature about an hour.
Saute chopped bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Remove bacon and set aside. Add pork chops to pan with bacon grease and cook about 5 minutes on each side.
Remove pork chops from pan and add leeks.
Cook about 7 minutes or so and then add the garlic. Cook another minute or two and then add the brandy and broth and bring to a boil. Add the cooked bacon and the sage and let simmer a moment.
Nestle the chops into the leeks and simmer about 3 or 4 minutes. Flip the chops and cook another 3-4 minutes or until cooked through.
Remove the chops and set aside. Bring the leeks to a boil until most of the liquid evaporates. Stir in mustard and sour cream and just heat through.
Spoon over pork chops and enjoy!
I served them with broccoli rabe and parslied potatoes.
The pork chops were extremely tender and the sauce really worked well. The flavors all played well together and in each bite there was a hint of bacon, a hint of mustard, a hint of brandy... As silly as it may sound, I could see this sauce atop a nice hamburger steak.
We shall see... In the meantime, there are still three more huge pork chops in the freezer...
Stay tuned...
Farfalle Pasta with Lamb Sausage and Pork
I was perusing old issues of La Cucina Italiana last night looking for dinner ideas. I am still pissed at Condé Nast for folding the US version of the magazine. It was the best food magazine out there - and puts Bon Appétit to shame. I still get the La Cucina emails - in Italian - and get some good recipes - also in Italian - but it's just not the same as getting the magazine and drooling over what's going to be the next meal.
I especially miss Victor's recreation of the Pasta Issues - where he would make the majority of the recipes from scratch with fresh pasta. They were some good-eating years.
The magazine is no more but I do have my dozen or so issues I had saved, so out they come now and again, for inspiration.
The inspiration for tonight's dinner came from a recipe from the 2011 Pasta Issue - Mafaldine al Ragù di Coniglio - Mafaldine Pasta with Rabbit.
I've had rabbit many times and really enjoy it, but it's not all that easy to find out here in 'burbia. Well... other than hopping through the yard, that is... but I prefer my lapin already dressed, thankyouverymuch.
So, fresh out of Thumper, I did have lamb sausage and a small pork loin end - perfect substitutes.
One of the things that intrigued me about this recipe was using a teaspoon of cocoa powder in the sauce - and a half-cup of milk. Two ingredients I usually don't associate with Italian pasta dishes. But both of them did their magic. This sauce totally rocks!
I used D'Artagnan Lamb Merguez Sausage because I wanted a bit of an earthy flavor to kinda mimic the rabbit. If I didn't have the sausage, I'd probably drop in a couple of chicken livers. Not a lot - just something for a bit of back-flavor.
Pasta with Lamb Sausage and Pork
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Fine sea salt
- 8 oz Lamb Merquez Sausage - removed from casing and crumbled
- 2 lb pork loin - cut into 4 pieces
- 1 1/2 cups dry red wine
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound mafaldine or pappardelle - or farfalle
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and water. Set aside.
In a large skillet, heat oil until hot. Add onion, celery, and carrot; cook, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes, then stir in parsley and a pinch of salt. Add the meats and cook, covered, about 10 minutes. Add cocoa mixture, wine, and milk. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a gentle simmer and cook, covered, until pork is tender - about 1 1/2 hours.
Remove from heat. Shred pork and return to skillet.
Cook pasta according to package instructions. When pasta is cooked, drain and add to ragù, mixing well. Add cheese and mix well.
Check for seasoning and add additional salt and/or pepper, as desired.
This is definitely one of those times I wish technology could allow for scents to be embedded in web pages. Not only did this taste fantastic, it filled the house with a really rich aroma. It was ridiculously simple to make - and I know I'll be making variations for years to come!
Stuff
One of my more fun cooking styles is clean out the refrigerator. The dish is usually an amalgamation of pieces of this-and-that that are hanging around the 'fridge. Things that are too small for an actual meal and too big or too good to toss - things that just accumulate over time. It's the type of meal that is almost always stellar - and will never be replicated because the odds of having these same items in the 'fridge at the same time are between slim and none.
Tonight's meal started with 2 meaty country pork ribs, a single cooked Italian sausage, a bit of leftover flank steak, a green pepper, an onion, half a basket of mini heirloom tomatoes, and a single ear of corn. Oh. And three pieces of bacon.
I started with the bacon. I chopped it up and let it start to brown. Into the pan went the onion - the smell of bacon and onion cooking together is almost olfactory overload - and after browning everything nicely, I added the ribs.
After went the tomatoes, the green pepper, the corn, the sausage and the flank steak - and then a cup of white wine, salt, pepper, and a great spice blend my friend, Tyler, brought back from Florida - Old St Augustine Minorcan Spice. It's a blend of Datil peppers, Seville oranges, garlic, onion... Not too spicy and with a nice hint of orange.
Good stuff.
I covered the pot and placed it in a 300° oven for a couple of hours. It's cold and damp outside - it was nice having the oven on...
I pulled it out of the oven, shredded the pork and tossed the bones, and then added about a cup of beef broth and a half-cup of rice, mixed it all together, and put it back in the oven for another hour. Covered.
The end result was a rich, meaty rice dish with tons of flavor.
Nonna asked if she could have it for lunch, tomorrow. It was definitely a hit!
And there's more Strawberry Pie for dessert.
Life is good!
Baby Back Ribs with Spicy Bourbon BBQ Sauce
Baby Back Ribs. Meaty, tender, juicy, baby back ribs. Ya gotta love 'em.
There re many reasons why I would never make it as a vegetarian, and ribs slathered in BBQ sauce is one of them. They're just too damned good for words - although that's not going to stop me from waxing poetically about them for a few more paragraphs!
Whenever I cook ribs, I almost always start them off in the oven and then finish them off on the grill. It's time and convenience for me. I no longer have the patience required to let something smoke on the BBQ for hours and hours. Besides - I no longer own a BBQ. Or a smoker.
The oven works for me.
I did something a bit different this time around... I started the ribs off in the oven with a half-cup of apricot nectar. I made a boat with the foil, put in the ribs, added the nectar, wrapped them up, and baked them at 350° for a bit more than an hour. I let them cool down while I made the sauce.
Spicy Bourbon BBQ Sauce
- 1/2 cup bourbon
- 1/2 cup apricot jam
- 1/2 cup cane syrup
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp molasses
- 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp sambal oelek
- salt and pepper
Place all ingredients in a medium pot and bring to a boil, stirring well. Continue boiling until sauce reduces and begins to thicken - 5 or more minutes, depending on your personal preference.
Remove from heat and let cool.
I liberally coated the ribs with the sauce and then placed them on a medium-hot grill. I continually turned and basted them for about 15 minutes.They were sticky-perfect when they came off!
Baked sweet potatoes and braised artichokes finished the plate.
Yum.
New Year Ham
I've had city hams and country hams. Spiral cut and out of a can. Bone-in, bone-out, Virginia hams, Kentucky hams, and Honeybaked hams. Brown County Indiana hams, Niman Ranch hams, Cure 81 hams, and ham from Polyface Farm. Sliced hams, deli hams, hot hams, cold hams, picnic hams, deviled hams, ham salads, and just about every other kind of ham there is to consume.
Tonight, I had the perfect ham - and it came from Oklahoma. Yes, Oklahoma. Home of Robertson's Ham. So perfect, that I'm going to order one for Easter. And maybe my birthday.
The ham was a gift from our friends, Ann & Julie.
Did I mention I liked it?!?
The flavor was unbelievably rich. It had the perfect texture, the perfect moistness. I didn't do a thing to it. Nothing.
I wrapped it in foil and placed it in a 325° oven for an hour and 15 minutes.
It came out perfect. I know I've kinda overused that word, tonight, but...
It really was.
I've never been a huge-huge fan of spiral cut hams. I've bought them for the convenience, because they can be easy to slice when they're cut right, but this really has made me see the light. The little extra effort in cutting is worth the immense flavor you get when the ham isn't dried out from being cut in advance. And, of course, when it's the perfect ham to begin with.
And I'm totally embarrassed about having canned green beans on the plate! Really... I thought I had broccoli in the 'fridge. I forgot I used it. I buy canned vegetables for Nonna because she doesn't like her vegetables to have any crunch.
Oh well... At least the mashed sweet potatoes were fresh. Just added salt, pepper, and a pat of butter.
I'm going to go in and bone the rest of the ham and set the bone aside for Victor to make some Lentil Soup. I think it would be the perfect dinner for Saturday - along with that second loaf of bread I baked, today!
Ann & Julie... Thank you, thank you, thank you! You've just made the holidays easier for years to come!
Stuffed Pork Chops
I was grocery shopping on Monday and picked up a small pork loin roast that was priced about $10.00. I looked up and noticed that for $8.00 more, I could buy a whole pork loin - about three times the size of the roast in my hand.
I bought the whole loin.
I got 9 thick-cut pork chops, a pork roast the size of the original one I picked up, and a few stray pieces that will go well in a pasta sauce. I got four additional meals for 8 bucks. Not bad...
I took a couple of those chops tonight and stuffed them with raspberry chipotle sauce and blue cheese. I get the sauce from Cost Plus whenever we're near one.
I cut a pocket into them and then seasoned them with salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic powder. I browned them in a skillet, set them on their bottom, and added the raspberry chipotle sauce and placed them into a 375° oven for 20 minutes. After 15 minutes, I added a chunk of blue cheese and let it ooze and melt inside... Oy, they were good!
Oven-roasted sweet potatoes and some roasted corn finished the plate.
I tried to be a good boy and not dirty too much stuff because our dishwasher is on the fritz... It's been seeping water a bit and now it's just not behaving, at all. The Maytag Repair Man will be out on Monday. In the meantime, that means Victor is doing dishes by hand...
We have a great rule in the house... if I cook, Victor does the dishes. If Victor cooks, Victor does the dishes.
I'll be honest... I'm not sure how this all came about, but, at this stage of the game, I'm not going to argue the point.
I've been known to pretty much destroy a kitchen cooking a basic meal for two, so any and all help in the clean-up department is always appreciated. I have gotten better over the years, but... pristine is never going to be a word that describes our kitchen. The only one eating off our kitchen floor is Cybil - and there's generally plenty to keep her fed.
My dream kitchen would be tile walls, stainless steel counters, and a quarry tile floor with a properly-sloped drain that I could just turn the hose on after cooking. Or a steam hose like I had in the Navy.
Maybe in my next life...