You can't even think (out loud) about food without Cranky offering to buy the ingredients and get that salad/soup/steak/whatever on the table as soon as possible. He is not a food theoretician. If food gets mentioned, it must get eaten, and soon. He's so terribly suggestible. (Good thing he doesn't read cooking magazines.)And so it was, yesterday, that I found myself thinking (out loud) about a childhood dish I loved, pork chops and rice cooked in the same pan. Cranky offered to get the pork chops ASAP.
"Silly!" I said. "We have to save up our meat appetite because Thanksgiving is Thursday."
Um, no, he reminded me. We are not eating meat for Thanksgiving. (We are making turkey gravy from turkey necks, backs and wings, however.)
Oh! Well, then.
Without further discussion, Cranky went off on his usual morning rounds (coffee, library, bank) today and returned with one huge pork chop, to share. He wasn't going to wait any longer.
We just now ate it.
Is that soon enough, Cranky?
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17 comments:
Some times a mans got to do what a man has to do!!! Bring home the bacon or in this case a pork chop.
Hey, sometimes you just need a pork chop. You have to admire his decisiveness!
Greg: Yeah, because I probably wouldn't do it. I ate it, though!
J-in-Wales: His decisiveness has resulted in a very full freezer. :( But bless his hort.
(I was reading your blog when your message arrived!)
I understand the need for immediate pork chop gratification. Go, Cranky!
So, what ARE you having for thanksgiving then?
I have that same recipe, I recognize the stack of chop, onion, citrus and catsup. Only my recipe has no rice. I'd like to try it your way next.
I have that same recipe, I recognize the stack of chop, onion, citrus and catsup. Only my recipe has no rice. I'd like to try it your way next. May I ask for a little more specificity about how it is prepared?
Cranky is the Hunter. He locks in on the prey and has to focus to be succesful. You are a Gatherer.You survey the area and have to decied what is ripe or edible. That's just the way it is.
Dog: We liked it so much we're already talking about buying another pork chop. :)
Mouse: Well, turkey gravy with mashed potatoes. That's the main thing, innit? Also a stuffing/bread pudding dish with all the correct flavors. And a cabbage-fennel slaw. That's it. No dessert, probably, because I'll be so full of gravy. I could eat it like soup. And have a heart attack and die.
Zoomie: I wonder if this was some Navy Wives secret code? Anyway, if you click the link on the front page, it will take you to the previous time I made this meal, with pretty good instructions. Have fun.
Chilebrown: Yeah, and when he wants to have sex, he conks me on the head with his club and drags me into his cave. Men!
What ever rocks your boat is fine by me. Peace, Paul
My recipe came from perhaps the most non-Navy wife I've ever known. Thanks for the tip - I'll check it out. I found a wunderbar pork chop at the market yesterday.
P.S. Yay for convict Delay!
Zoomie: Yeah. My mom was a kinda non-Navy wife, too. I get that.
Death sentence for DeLay! Whoop!
(No. Maybe life.)
I tell you - between you and Pam of Zoomie Station, I have more ideas about eating pork than I have time (or the tummy alas) to cook and eat them. But stomach flu will pass but Cranky and Zoomie's idea will be eternal. Well, sort of eternal? How about yummy and good? I love pork chops cooked with rice and have a version that I learned in Trinidad which I have to find on my HD. I think that it involved lots and lots of peppers plus onions, garlic, lemon zest and with plantain on the side. Yay for starch!
Nancy: I NEED to hear about the Trinidadian pork chops and rice. Wow. You have certainly been around.
Well, like Zommie, I was a Navy Brat and did live all over the world. Then, as an adult, I traveled a lot, taught English in Turkey and married a guy who was half Italian - hence a year spent in Italy. Loved Italy, ditched the guy (eventually). Anyway, I haven't found the pork chop recipe but I've found something equally good. So, while I'm looking for the pork recipe, try this one:
Chicken with Rum Sauce, Coconut Rice and Sweet Plantains Recipe
Guest Author - Eileen Brown
Start the rice first. It will cook on its own while you prepare the rest of the meal.
Coconut Rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh gingerroot, minced
1 cup rice, long grain or Jasmine
1 cup water
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 teaspoon salt
Heat the butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion and gingerroot and sauté until tender. Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent it from burning. Add the water, coconut milk and salt. When liquids come to a boil give the rice a quick stir with a fork. Turn the heat down to low, cover tightly and let cook while you prepare the chicken.
Chicken with Rum Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, diced
1/2 cup dark rum
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups light cream
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Place flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a plastic food storage bag. Shake to blend. Add chicken breasts one at a time and shake to coat with flour mixture. Place chicken breasts carefully in the skillet and cook tilled browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Turn and brown on the other side, about another five minutes. Remove the chicken breasts from the skillet and set aside.
Return the skillet to heat and add the butter and onions. Cook until onions are translucent, scraping any remaining bits of flour or chicken into the butter-onion mixture. Add rum and sugar and reduce by half, stirring frequently. Add the cream and reduce that by half, stirring frequently. Before serving, return the chicken breasts to the skillet and cook over low heat until heated thoroughly. While the cream is reducing, prepare the plantains:
Sweet Plantains
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 very ripe plantains, peeled and sliced in half length-wise
1 lime, cut into wedges
salt
Place the olive oil and butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the plantains and sauté 3-5 minutes on each side, moving the plantains around a bit in the skillet to prevent them from sticking. Remove them to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Serve them with a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of salt.
Nancy: I never meant for you to copy a recipe so painstakingly. Oy. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your trouble. Yum.
(I was a Navy kid too! Brown shoe.)
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