*insert silence,crickets,etc*
I don't know how that all started. Maybe because when I was younger cooking dinner was my "daily chore". Now after working anywhere from 8-12 hours in a day I love to come home and open a bottle of wine or a local seasonal beer and figure out what I can make for fun to take up my time until the husband comes home. Usually I try to have it ready for when Andy gets home, but with his unpredictable schedule it proves to be pretty difficult. Thus, I pick something, cook it, and post what it is along with a picture to Facebook. Unbeknownst to me, more people read of my culinary endeavors than I thought and comment or tell Andy that he is "lucky".
Tonight I decided to start a "food blog". I will post what I cook, and tricks/tips I have for cooking anything.
Above all, the cardinal rule of my cooking is TIMING IS EVERYTHING! It is possible to put together a multi part meal and have everything finish around the same time.
Tonight we will discuss:
Breaded Adobo Pork Chops
The beauty of prepackaged rice and beans
Apple Galette
BREADED ADOBO PORK CHOPS
There really is not much of a recipe here, as the thickness will affect the cooking time. Generally I use boneless thin chops.
Ingredients:
Boneless(Bone in) chops
Goya Adobo Seasoning
Italian (or plain) Bread Crumbs
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking disk with nonstick cooking oil. Pour out a small amount of bread crumbs, just enough to cover your chops, onto a plate. Roll chops in bread crumbs and place into baking dish. Sprinkle with Adobo and bake until the internal temperature is appropriate for pork. (With thin boneless I usually cook for 20-30 min depending on how my oven is acting)
I know it is "unusual" but I DO NOT baste in egg and flour before the bread crumbs. They get crispy without it, and it just adds extra calories with minimal flavor.
Rice: Tonight I used Goya Red Beans and Rice. I started the rice according to the package just before preparing the chops so that the within the 30 minutes that it takes the rice to cook, the chops can cook and rest. There is a ton of flavor and good proteins in prepackaged rice and beans. It is also much faster than soaking your own beans so it saves a lot of time for the full time worker.
Side dish: Tonight I cheated and washed and cleaned some snow peas. Sometimes the best veggie side is just fresh unaltered vegetables (even better if they are local!)
Dessert:
Apple Galette (From The Joy of Cooking)
One of my favorite things to do is look through The Joy of Cooking. It is a wealth of knowledge and gives tips/tricks so that you can prepare AWESOME and beautiful food. The recipe I used today can be found below.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/9123847/ns/today-food/t/joy-cooking-apple-galette/#.Tqdn5N7iGU8
But there is a secret...
I CHEATED!!!
With work today and a lack of ingredients I was unable to prepare fresh homemade pie dough. So, I used a mix. Jiffy makes a great boxed pie crust mix. I used Krusteaz, but it is made for a commercial bakery and I don't know if it is available in stores.
I also used crispin apples as they are nice and in season today.
On top of that I only had salted butter to use instead of unsalted. I love sweet and savory and actually loved the way the butter tasted against the flaky crust. It was especially flaky and crisp because I used a pizza stone instead of a cookie sheet. Yum!
There is something beautiful about butter brushed on a pie crust with sugar and fruit covering the top.
I made sure when sprinkling the cinnamon and sugar that it got on the crust too. The tart was excellent served about 20 min out of the oven. It was served just after we finished our dinner. The apples were al dente and not too sweet.
I hope this helps! I will gladly take suggestions, additional tips, and any feedback. I probably talked a little too much today, but hey what can I say. I love food!
Good Eats!
Jen
