Christopher Kimball....You're My Hero!

After several years of reading food blogs, watching food TV programs and reading recipes from various sources of text, I have reached the conclusion that recipes from Christopher Kimball and the folks at America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country will never disappoint. Hands down, without a doubt, they are the best. Want to know what equipment and tools you need in your kitchen....they know the answer. Want to know the best products...they know the answer. They are the BEST!

That being said, give this a try. You won't be disappointed.

Smothered Pork Chops (adapted from Cook's Country)

1 teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 bone in blade cut pork chops

1 ½ tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 onions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

¾ cup beef broth

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon beef broth

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine onion powder, paprika, salt pepper, cayenne pepper. Rub on both sides of chops.

2. Brown both sides of chops in oil. (The skillet needs to be oven proof.) Transfer to a platter.

3. Add butter to skillet and brown onions. Add garlic and bay leaf. Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Add chops.

4. Cover the skillet with a lid and bake in oven 1 to 1½ hours at 300°.

5. Transfer chops to a platter and discard bay leaf. Strain skillet drippings with a fine mesh strainer. Allow the drippings to settle and remove the fat.

6. Return drippings to skillet. Add corn starch to 1 tablespoon beef broth in a small bowl and slowly add to drippings. Stir in vinegar. Simmer until thicken. Return the onions and top with pork chops. Serve.

Enjoy...

Firing up the Ole Grill Part 1

While making plans to adjust to having no kitchen, my intend was to grill as much as possible. Living in a town where franchise restaurants lined every main thoroughfare, I knew going out to eat would get old rather quickly.

 

Grilling would be easy peasy, right? Wrong!! Little did I realize that in order to grill one needed a place to prep the food and a place to clean up. So grilling was held to a minimum. Other than hamburgers, hotdogs and steaks I did grill a few new recipes.

Here's one that we enjoyed:

Rosemary Grilled Pork Tenderloin

 1 cup olive oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Pork tenderloins

1.In large Ziploc bag combine oil, vinegar, rosemary, garlic.

2.Salt and pepper tenderloins and add to bag. Place in refrigerator for 3 hours.

3.Place on hot grill and brown each side of tenderloin about 2 to 3 minutes

on each side.

4.Move tenderloin to cooler side of grill and cover with lid. Tenderloin should 

read 160⁰ on meat thermometer. Let rest before cutting.

 

Enjoy...