Pork Chop

So, a fun experiment.  This meal was a disaster.  Below, in bold and normal fonts is what I wrote in between cooking steps before the final product appeared.  In italics is what actually happened. No blame to the Kitchn. I’m sure all the mistakes are mine.  Enjoy!

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Woke up, watched a movie, went to the market, opened the windows and sat down with a book and a glass of wine, fell asleep, talked on the phone, ate pork chop. True day so far. Nothing fancy here.  Just a simple pork chop, prepared as described in the Kitchn (not exactly).  Tastier than it has right to be. Bu-u-u-ull-shit! The pork chops were super salty and I undercooked them three (3)! times.  Oh, and I tried my new rice cooker with some short grain brown rice and I made gummy rice.  Train wreck of a meal.  At least the arugula salad tasted good, but that involved no cooking and the dressing was store-bought Garlic Sensations.   Recorded here so I can find it again.

Brine

3 cups of water, 3 T kosher salt, 1 t black pepper, bay leaf in a freezer bag.  Cover the pork chops (I made 3, no bone, about a pound total).

Ingredients

• Pork chops
• olive oil, salt, pepper

Preparation

1. After brining for 1/2 to up to 4 hours, dry the pork chops with paper towel and maybe place them back in the fridge on a plate for a little while. I swear I brined for 4 hours.  That had to have been too long.  Next time, 30 minutes to an hour only.  
2. Heat your cast iron skillet in a 400 degree oven.
3. Rub the chops with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I also over-salted at this step.  If the Kitchn is to blame for anything here, if you brine for 4 hours, you probably really don’t need any surface salt.  
4. If you’ve got a probe thermometer, place it in a pork chop. And set it to the right temp (not 145 F), and read it when it beeps, and pay attention to the one pork chop that was thicker than the other two. You know, the one you didn’t put the thermometer in.
5. When hot, place the skillet over medium-high heat on the stove top and sear the pork chops. 3ish minutes
6. Flip the chops and place the skillet back in the oven.
7. Cook 6-10 minutes until done (~165 F). And not 145 F.
8. Rest before serving. And don’t rest and turn off the oven without fully cooking, and don’t do that again with the thicker chop.

Served with a simple arugula salad, some rice (some gummy rice, with no flavor.  This was at least salvageable with green onion, soy sauce, and white pepper), and a glass of red (or two!).

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Next time, whenever I get the courage to revisit the simple pork chop, I will salt soo much less, and not screw up the thermometering!  Not my best work, not at all.

Until we meet again, food! Until we meet again…

Bean salad

Calorie Estimate: 600

Ingredients

• 2 cups of mixed beans
• 1/4 large red onion, diced
• 1 cup grape tomatoes
• 8 basil leaves, shredded
• 1 t olive oil
• a few T of raspberry vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Make a salad.

Bean and Feta salad

Calorie Estimate: 800

Ingredients

• 1 can mixed beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/4 cup crumbled feta
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced
• juice of half a lemon
• lots of black pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Mix everything together and enjoy.  Season as you like.  I’m sure I’ll get better at this as it goes.

Salad Dressings

Happy Holidays!

After a nice Christmas break I’d like to start posting recipes again, especially since the run from fall dishes to spring and summer ones is always great.  Dressings are a good place to start.  The general base is equal parts acid (vinegar, lemon juice) and oil, plus salt, herbs and spices, and condiments (mustard, horseradish).  Diane and I usually use the recipe below on beet salad.  The horseradish rounds out the lemon juice extremely well.

Lemon-Horseradish Dressing

juice of a lemon

equal quantity of olive oil

1/2 to 1-1/2 teaspoons horseradish

healthy dash of salt

dash of garlic or garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon oregano

Some crumbled feta mixed in works well.  The proper way (so I hear) to make a dressing is to mix everything but the oil together, then whisk in the oil in a slow stream to create an emulsification.  Alternatively, just mix everything together vigorously – we have a bottle to store dressing, and it works great.

Red Cabbage and Lemon Juice

This was Jeney’s idea, and I like it quite a bit, although it’s not something everyone will get excited about.

Ribbon some red cabbage, squeeze lemon juice on it, let it sit a bit, and enjoy.  The correct ratio is about the juice of one whole lemon per half-head of cabbage.

The taste is clean and, for me, far better than a reasonable person would expect.

Meal Salad (800-900 calories)

Salad mix, dressing, cheese, bread, protein (smoked salmon, chicken breast, flank steak, sausage, etc; about 350 calories)