Week #8

I know, I know. I didn't start at the beginning. Better late than never.


My New Year’s resolution this year was to make one recipe each week that I’ve never made before. It’s now March 1, and I’ve been at it for a solid 8 weeks. It’s been a pretty sweet challenge, and my cooking skills have truly noticeably improved over a short period of time. I’ve been making a mental list of kitchenware I’d like to acquire, and have added a zester, griddle, and several cookie sheets to my weaponry over the past few days.

So far, I’ve made meatloaf (too dense), Cincinnati Chili (too chocolately), stuffed pork chops (perfect!), stuffed pasta shells (minus the shells, did you know DC does not carry jumbo pasta shells?? This called for improv…did not turn out well), Japanese peanut soba noodles, (peanut sauce made from scratch=too much work) Thai pizza (YUM), quinoa tortino with eggs and cheese (kinda weird), and double chocolate cookies (sadly, tasted like dirt).

To keep myself honest, I’ve decided to start keeping an online journal of my cooking adventures. In restaurants, I find myself going back to the familiar and the loved—moules fromage bleu and the bison cheddar at Granville’s, the reuben at Hobans, chicken makhani at Himalayan Heritage, the three-cup tofu at Natt Spil, the meatloaf at the Great Dane, you get the picture. When I find something I like, I stick to it. But to stick to the Thai pizza and stuffed pork chops would defeat the entire purpose of my resolution—to challenge myself once per week to be creative and try something new, no matter how much cursing and sweating ensues (and the peanut soba noodles did in fact cause lots of swearing and sweating to occur, ask Ben). I also think keeping a record of this will inspire me to try more difficult things, like beef bourguignon instead of...pancakes. Although, for the record, I have never made pancakes in my entire life.

Before I start a weekly diary of this journey, let’s go back to something that has recently become both familiar and loved. I’ve made this two additional times since the beginning of January and while I’m nowhere close to perfecting the art of cooking meat, the stuffed pork chops have been a real winner with neutral parties (IE not me) and it pairs nicely with grilled asparagus or green beans and a salad.

It’s also is great with a side of spaghetti tossed with fresh basil, spinach, baby Portobello mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, lemon zest, grated Romano Parmigiano cheese, and rosemary enhanced olive oil, which is what I had for dinner tonight. I really can’t eat like this for 46 more weeks, I’ll weigh 300 pounds by 2011.
I saw this cooked up by Giada de Laurentiis at the gym while I was running on the treadmill, trying not to think about food. Here’s the recipe. Serves 4. Bon Appetite.


• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
• 1 (10-ounce) bag of frozen spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed out
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) goat cheese
• 1/3 cup reduced-fat cream cheese
• 4 (4-ounce) center-cut pork chops
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 lemon, zested
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard


Directions
Warm the 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook until combined, about 2 more minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Add the goat cheese and the cream cheese. Stir to combine and set aside.

Use a sharp knife to cut a pocket into the thickest portion of the pork chop. Stuff each pocket with 1/4 of the spinach and sun-dried tomato mixture and close the pork around the stuffing. Season the outside of the pork with salt and pepper.
In a small bowl combine the chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice, and mustard.

Warm the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the pork. Cook until golden and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the pork to a side dish and tent with foil to keep warm.

Add the chicken broth mixture to the skillet over medium-high heat. Scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan as the chicken broth simmers. Reduce the broth by half to make a light sauce, about 8 minutes. Spoon some sauce over the pork before serving.


My note: You might find that the outside gets dry while the inside stays pretty pink. I’ve taken to finishing this in the oven at 325-350 for a few minutes and that seems to work pretty well.

I’ve also learned that all of these recipes taste much better, and are WAY WAY more fun to make, with a few glasses of wine. Duly noted. No wonder people say you should never trust a skinny chef.