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Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Easy, so delicious pork chops

October 4, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Garam masala pork chops with mushrooms and fresh herbs on a white plate.
I made the most amazing, simple dinner the other night. I had thick cut pork chops – two meals for me, one for my husband and about 30 small portobello mushrooms, fresh oregano and fresh sage – and we were hungry and needed to eat quick. I also had some spinach that was begging to be of service.

I used Garam Masala for a quick and delicious flavoring. It is an Indian spice that I love, a mixture of coriander, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon. To me, it’s a terrific, already made up spice rub! I like to use it on pork, although it’s probably good on chicken and maybe even roasted cauliflower. I’ll have to try that and let you know.

Here’s what I did.
Garam masala pork chops with mushrooms and fresh herbs in a skillet.

GARAM MASALA PORK CHOPS WITH MUSHROOMS AND FRESH HERBS
– serves 2-3

1.5 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. unsalted butter
2 thick, center cut pork chops with the tenderloin section
Salt
Pepper
Garam Masala
About 30 small Portobello mushrooms, washed quickly and cut in half.
¼ cup leftover dry white wine or dry vermouth
¼ – 1/3 cup chopped fresh oregano
¼ – 1/3 cup chopped fresh sage leaves

Wash your chops thoroughly and pat dry. Wash the mushrooms in a cold bath of water quickly, lift them out of the water and drain and dry on paper towels. Mushrooms are delicate and very porous do you don’t want them lingering in the water and soaking it up. When the mushrooms are dry, trim a little bit off of the stems if necessary and cut in half to make them all the same approximate size.

Sprinkle the chops with salt and pepper and then cover with Garam Masala and rub in with your fingers. Do this on both sides. See photo.

Heat the oil on medium high heat. Add the butter and when sizzling subsides, add the chops to brown. After about 4 minutes, add the mushrooms on both sides of the chops and sprinkle on 2/3’s of the chopped herbs which have been mixed together. Do not disturb for 3 minutes. The mushrooms will absorb the oils and then emit their own juices while browning underneath. Then turn your chops, and when you see the mushrooms getting juicy, you can toss those around to brown on the other side. After about 2 more minutes, add the white wine and continue cooking the chops until done. You will most likely want to remove the mushrooms beforehand, if your chops are as thick as mine were. Put the mushrooms in the center of your platter and place the chops on top of them when done to rest and warm the mushrooms up again. Drizzle all pan juices on top. I like to remove my chops at about 140 degrees as they will continue cooking when resting on top of the mushrooms. Let the chops rest for 5 – 10 minutes and sprinkle with remaining herbs before serving.

I served this with some spinach sauteed in olive oil and garlic. A perfect, quick, early autumn dinner!

Filed Under: Dinner, Meat Tagged With: baby portobello mushrooms, Garam Masala, great autumn dinner, mushrooms, oregano, pork chops, sage, white wine

Pesto!!

July 15, 2012 by Mary Frances 7 Comments

Pesto on a spoon.I had a dinner party this past Wednesday night that was so much fun. One of my senior designers who worked for me years ago, I think back in the late 80’s, was in town and got in touch. She now lives in Singapore. She connected with another former designer and I got in touch with Carl, who was the second person I ever hired for the firm in the early 80’s. So with other friends, we were 8 people in total and three were past employees of PM+CO! It was just great catching up. Linda is a vegetarian and I wanted to make sure the whole meal was amassed with local farm vegetables from upstate, to bring great country flavors to a NYC dinner party. So I started with a salad of farm lettuce and arugula from my garden, topped with roasted beets, Coach Farms goat cheese, toasted pine nuts and a sherry vinaigrette. I then roasted two huge trays of vegetables – yellow squash, zucchini, Portobello mushrooms, eggplant, Vidalia onions, smashed whole garlic cloves (from Ethel’s garden), red, and orange peppers and baby turnips – with Greek olive oil and French grey salt. I made a mass of steamed Jasmine rice, folded in Goya black beans (for protein) and for the non-vegetarians, I pan roasted 2 whole chickens seasoned with salt, pepper and Garam Masala. It was all really simple. I also had made some basil pesto the night before from basil in my garden, picked on Monday. I decided to put some of that in a bowl and people spooned it on everything and even took some home! I was originally going to fold the pesto into the rice and beans but after taking a survey from everyone during the cocktail hour, we decided this was the way to go. A dollop on top on the vegetables was divine. Barbara asked for a batch as her Christmas present and Mary Beth took a container full home. People just wanted to eat it straight. I really never dreamed of that for pesto. I just wanted to serve it because I had just made a bunch and with our youngest being in Europe, we couldn’t possibly eat it all, although pesto does freeze quite well.

We finished the meal with a rhubarb crisp (really quick and easy to make) topped with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream. Not bad for a weeknight dinner party!

Here is the pesto recipe. Remember, it’s all about the quality of the ingredients for any dish you make, so use the very best you can.

PESTO
-makes about 3 cups

3 cups of packed basil leaves, thoroughly washed and dried
6 – 7 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups Greek extra virgin olive oil (I like Athena brand)
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan (Reggiano) cheese
2/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano (Locatelli) cheese
salt
pepper

In a large food processor, combine basil, garlic and walnuts. Process to make a near paste. Scrape bowl. With machine on, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Scrape bowl again. Add the cheeses, a big pinch of salt and 20 grinds on fresh pepper. Process again, taste and add more salt, if necessary, to your liking.

A one cup portion is enough to coat 1 lb. of dried pasta, cooked. I like it on fusilli best as it can get in all the little groves for maximum coverage and flavor.

This freezes well.

Basil in garden.

Basil in my garden.

Pesto pasta and tomatoes in a white bowl.

Dinner with our good friend, Nancy, on Saturday, started with this course.

Filed Under: Dinner, First Course Tagged With: basil, Garam Masala, Locatelli, parmesan, pecorino Romano, pesto, PM+CO, Reggiano, rhubarb crisp, roasted chicken, roasted vegetables, senior designers, weeknight dinner parties

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