This weekend was the first time I got to see Laura in several
weeks. She is a freelance illustrator and did some
comic book conventions out of town. As
a surprise present I bought her the Unofficial Hunger Games cookbook. We had both read the books and really liked
them. One thing that really stuck out
for us was the description of the food and often would find our mouth water at
the description of various breads and stews.
The protein in this week’s dish, Italian Breaded Pork Chops,
comes from that book. Surprisingly, I
didn’t alter it much and kept it more or less as it. The only real changes I made was I used Panko bread crumbs
instead of Italian seasoned bread crumbs and where the recipe called for an
Italian Seasoning mix, I had Laura look up what is normally in Italian Seasoning
mix and we just made our own blend.
Normally this is where I would put the recipe but because it
came from a book and I didn’t make it my own, I’m going to respect their
copyright and just tell you that it is a good cook book and I look
forward to trying more things from it.
For side dishes I made Jasmine rice which is always an
audience favorite and much tastier then normal white rice. I also made my Old Man Mitchell Tarragon
Carrots. This is a really simple and
flavorful way to prepare carrots.
Old Man Mitchell Tarragon Carrots
What you will need:
·
A pad of butter
·
Handful of Carrots (really as many carrots as you plan
on eating)
·
Dried Tarragon flake
·
a small to medium size pan that is just big enough to
comfortable hold the carrots so that will all be able to touch the bottom of the
pan at the same time
- Over medium to high heat melt enough butter to cover the bottom of the pan. Let the butter start to brown a little bit
- Add the carrots and sauté them until the start to change color
- Sprinkle a liberal amount of tarragon on to the carrots then sauté for another 20 to 30 seconds
- Sever hot and enjoy
In addition to those two sides I also took inspiration from
a Pear Chutney recipe I had made a few months back and created an Apple
Chutney. Because I’m not a big pepper
fan (and because I forgot to get some from the store) I double up on the ginger
to make up for a possible lack of heat that would have come from a jalapeno
pepper. That turned out to be a good choice and is now part of the recipe.
Apple Chutney
What you will need:
·
Medium to Large sauce pan
·
2 tablespoons of butter
·
3 granny smith apples
·
½ cup of apple cider vinegar
·
½ cup of raw sugar
·
½ cup golden raisins
·
3 tablespoons of Ginger
·
½ tablespoon of fresh ground pepper
·
½ teaspoon of hot paprika
·
½ teaspoon regular paprika
·
½ teaspoon of fresh ground all spice
·
¼ teaspoon of salt
1. Peel,
core and chop the apples into small pieces, ½ to ¼ inch in size
2. Place
all the spices in a bowl
3. Over
high heat melt the butter
4. Sauté
the apples for 2 to 3 minutes
5. Add
the vinegar and ginger then stir for 30 sec or so
6. Stir
in the spices
7. Turn
down to medium-high heat cook for 45 min stirring occasionally as the liquids
thicken. .
This meal turned out really well. All of the flavors play together nicely. I especially like the way the jasmine rice
took some of the bit away from the chutney but still left a pleasant warmth in my
mouth. Laura also really liked it and
said that it was even better as left over the next day once all the flavors had melted together.
One thing we found with the chutney is that it takes
a while to make, but you can leave on a low heat more or less as long as you
like and it’s actually going to be better for it. The longer the ingredients have to marinate together the tastier the chutney will be.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about this week’s meal and it inspires you to try it yourself.
Until next time, get the hell out of my kitchen.
No comments:
Post a Comment