Lovely Mushroom & Herb Pork Chops

A take-off on our family favorite, Lovely Garlic-Rosemary Pork Chops

Overview of Lovely Mushroom & Herb Pork Chops

Close-up and Side View of Lovely Mushroom & Herb Pork Chops

• 3 or 4 Pork Chops (allow one pork chop per person, don't worry that the recipe won't make enough sauce for four, it was originally written for four). 
• 16 oz Mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 C Olive Oil
• 1tsp + 1/2 tsp dried Rosemary (fresh is lovelier, if you have it, but you'll need more of it. It grows well in Austin. Just sayin').
• 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp dried Thyme
• 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp Sea Salt
• Black Pepper
• 1/2 C White Wine (My current white "cooking" wine is Cavit Pinot Grigio).
• 1, 12 oz, can Evaporated Milk (be careful that it is Evaporated Milk, and not Filled Evaporated Milk, they are different products).

Heat a large stainless steel skillet on medium heat for two minutes. Add the olive oil. Once it starts to look hot, and it won't take long, add the mushrooms, 1 tsp of the rosemary , 1/2 tsp of the thyme, and 1/4 tsp of the sea salt. Cook,stirring at least once, for about two minutes. Make space among the mushrooms and add the pork chops. 

Pepper the up sides of the pork chops, only. Once the juices pool, flip the pork chops. Then, cook until red juices seem to stop flowing. Flip once more. Basically, you're trying to fully cook the pork chops without overcooking them. Be careful, too, not to burn the pan because you're going to need it for the sauce. Shortly after the second flip, remove the pork chops from the pan and immediately reduce the heat to low. You can set the pork chops in a warm oven (not higher than 250F), or on a platter, covered or uncovered, while you make the pan sauce.

To make the pan sauce, carefully (there may be steam), add the wine to the hot pan. Scape the pan with a sturdy stainless steel spatula (the browning stuck to the pan, that you are in the act of unsticking, contributes  to the sauce's flavor. In other words, don't skip this step). Reduce by about half. Add the evaporate milk, 1/2 tsp rosemary, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/8 tsp sea salt and up to 7 grinds black pepper. Heat 'til it's warm. It may form a skin if you don't stir it often. This isn't a problem, just stir it. If low is too slow, it's alright to adjust the heat higher at this point, and don't worry if you accidentally bring it to a boil because that's not a problem with evaporated milk.

Serve the warm sauce over the chops.

I served the Lovely Mushroom & Herb Pork Chops over Brown Rice, and with Normandy Blend Vegetables (yes, frozen vegetables, yes, from Costco).

Ate on 3/11/2011

Are These Rings Cute, or What?

Miniature Food Rings Created By Sofia Molnar.

What fun!

St. Patrick's Day is Thursday, March 17th.

A musing post. Rather than an amusing post...

My mother's father was Irish. However, he died well before I was born, and any obvious Irish influence on our family, particularly our food, which probably owed more to Mid-Western farm country cooking than any other particular influence, was minimal, at best.

Potatoes.

I remember once, as a child, complaining to my mother that I shouldn't have to eat potatoes for dinner because I had them for lunch, at school. My mother responded that I should be glad that I only had potatoes twice a day, because, when she was a girl her father insisted on having potatoes at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

This conversation is really all I know of our Irish heritage. Particularly of our food heritage.

My mother sends me St. Patrick's Day cards, but I don't remember, that when I was growing up we celebrated in any particular way, except by wearing green, so as not to be pinched.

I made my own children green scrambled eggs (by green scrambled eggs I simply mean I added green food coloring to the eggs) one year, for fun.

They cried.

That wasn't much fun.


So, what is your Irish connection? Your thoughts about St. Patrick's Day? Any stories to tell? Any food, or memories to share?

Pi Day is Monday, 3.14

What pie do you plan to make, or buy?

Garlic Salt

From a Penzey's catalog.

1 TBSP Granulated Garlic
3 TBSPS Salt

Shake, in a carefully closed container, to mix. Store in the container, but, fill a salt shaker for serving (or rather, that's what I do).

I particularly enjoy garlic salt on pizza. Nick prefers it on nearly all foods, in place of table salt. 

Cinnamon Sugar

From a Penzey's catalog.

2 - 3 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 C sugar

I typically mix (shake to mix, that is) mine in a re-purposed cinnamon container. With a shaker lid, for easy serving

Today is Fat Tuesday.

Happy Mardi Gras !!!

King Cake, 2008

King Cake, 2010

Old School Brownies

Close-up!

Apparently this is a Hershey's recipe. I actually got it from littleonefb (no idea who she is, now) on a long ago forgotten (by me) message board, a long time ago, and I have been making these quick (well, quick to put together) & easy (so easy even I don't use a mixer) brownies ever since. 

I should probably make altitude adjustments to this recipe, because, for me, they are a combination of dry and crackly, and intensely fudgy, with no middle ground, so to speak. But, I continue to make them, and eat them, and...

Mixing bowl One:

• 6oz (that is, 3/4 C) Unsalted Butter, melted
• 1 1/2 C Sugar 
• 1 1/2 tsps vanilla

Mix.

• 3 eggs

Add, and beat.


Mixing bowl Two:

• 3/4 C Unbleached Flour
• 1/2 C Baking Cocoa
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Whisk together.


Scrape, or as I call it, spoonula, Mixing Bowl One, into Mixing Bowl Two. Mix well.

Bake in a greased 8-inch or 9-inch pan, in a preheated oven, at 350F for about 40 minutes. Let cool on a not-hot burner, or a rack, for 5 minutes. Serve immediately thereafter. 

Serves four. Or more. Just don't touch my quarter of the pan.

New Mexico, In The News.

From The New York Times, New Mexico Takes Its Chile Very Seriously. Even The Spelling.

Yes, yes, we do.

Chocolate Sausage

Portioned

Flattened

Almost Ready To Eat

8 oz Ground Pork
1/8 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Brown Sugar
1 TBSP Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
1/8 Salt

1 tsp Vegetable Oil

Mix all ingredients together, except the oil. Heat a cast iron skillet, and the oil, for two minutes.

Portion sausage with a medium size scoop (mine is the Pampered Chef brand). Press into patties. I scoop them into, and press them in, the hot skillet, but, if you'd rather avoid the heat, oh, and the hot oil, you can scoop them onto, and press them on, wax paper.

I cook sausage patties on low - medium low so that the inside of the patties cooks at about the same rate that the outside browns. If you need pretty sausage for a photo, know that the chocolate makes for a beautifully browned looking sausage patty.

I don't have any bread in the house, today, but, if I did, I would have served the chocolate sausage with cinnamon sugar toast. 

Not bad, but it almost tasted like liver, to me. Not exactly the effect I was trying the achieve. If I make it again, and, oh, I probably will, I'll double both the chocolate and the salt. Maybe the chile, too. Not certain about the cinnamon, I may have had that right. The chocolate flavor did come through slightly better once the sausage had a chance to cool.

One downside to chocolate sausage is that I couldn't share any with Buddy (the dog). She was sad.

Chocolate Oatmeal

• 1 TBSP Cocoa Powder (Baking Cocoa)
• 20g, or 1 heaping TBSP, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 TBSP Brown Sugar
• 1 pinch, or shake, Cinnamon
• 1/2 C Oatmeal (Rolled Oats)

• 1 1/4 C Water (You may need less, only 1 C, if you don't live high & dry)
• Pinch of Salt

Mix the cocoa powder, chips, sugar, cinnamon, and oats, together in a bowl. 

Bring water and salt to a boil. Add the mixture to the water. What I do, when I make oatmeal, any flavor of oatmeal, is, I wait for it to try and boil over and at that point I reduce the heat to low, and wait for it to reach my preferred texture, stirring occasionally. 

Stirring occasionally, for the uninitiated, means, when I remember, or when someone says, "Mom, I think you better check the oatmeal."

Smells fabulous while it's cooking, and, to me, it tastes like homemade chocolate pudding. I like homemade chocolate pudding, so this is a good thing. 

You could top it off with milk, if you like to add milk to your oatmeal, or whipped cream. Me? I garnished mine with cinnamon sugar, because that's what makes oatmeal, of any flavor, taste so good.

German Cheesecake?

I learn something new-to-me every day. Really. Truly. 

German Cheesecake is what I learned about today. Who knew, right? Not me. And it's made with quark. Quark was my something new-to-me a month or two ago.

Quark is a fresh cheese that has been described as a light soft cream cheese or a thick yogurt (but less tangy, if I'm not mistaken). German cheesecake, from what I've read, is a lighter and not so sweet cheesecake, but other than that it doesn't appear too different from what I think of as cheesecake. 

Surely I can't be the only one who has never heard of German cheesecake, right?

Diana's Desserts, and Steffen's Dinner's, both have photos of, and recipes for, Käsekuchen.