Easy comfort food

Too tired from cooking all day at work, for dinner I made a simple meal of mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and pork chops in an apple cider sauce. Here's the chops recipe:

2 boneless pork chops (they were about 5 oz. each)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 tspn sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup apple cider
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350F. Heat oil in skillet over medium to high heat until hot but not smoking. Brown pork chops on one side only. Transfer chops, browned sides up, to baking dish. Bake chops until cooked thru, about 20 minutes.

While chops cook, melt butter over medium heat in same skillet. Once foam subsides, add onion, sugar and salt, stirring occassionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add cider and vinegar, boil, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender and liquid has become a glaze. About 15 minutes. Pour onions and glaze over chops.

This recipe is almost exactly a recipe from Epicurious, though they called for smoked bone-in chops (didn't have those) and said the glaze would form in 10 minutes. It took at least another 5 for me.

It was very tasty, quick and easy.

duck-DUCK-um...just duck

Wow. Last night, I made a ridiculously rich duck dish. It is the duck confit hash from this month's Gourmet magazine. It was really delicious, though not for anyone who wants to eat lightly.

If I make this again, and I'd say that there's a good chance of that, I would make a couple of changes: One, I found the dish to have a little too much sweetness from the combo of the madeira, carrot and cream. Next time I will use a less sweet wine, some sort of hearty red wine. Also, I like my hash to have a little crispiness to it. Therefore, I might make the recipe, then when I get to the end plop a serving of the hash on a greased up (because the dish really needs more fat) hot griddle, press it with a spatula, and crisp it up.

one of my faves

There's nothing better than lentils, sausage some sort of green and a nice bottle of red wine. This time the green was kale, in a lentil, sausage and kale soup. I could eat this year-round, and, if I had my way, I'd plop a fried egg on top, too.

Probably not again

Well, last night I was kind of craving a grilled cheese sandwich. Also, we have a TON of bacon we need to cook. But we were out of bread. So, in what I now recognize just crossed the line, I made a gouda and bacon sandwich on, um, banana bread. I think the gouda and bacon were fine together, and same with the gounda and banana bread. It's the bacon and banana bread that just didn't seem natural. I thought it might be reminiscent of sweet french toast with bacon, but it wasn't. It was just weird. Oh, and some cherry tomatoes on the side. What was I thinking?

Blueberry salad

An experiment that turned out pretty AND tasty - blueberry salad. I tossed mixed greens with a few blueberries, some halved yellow pear tomatoes, a little red onion, and a white wine vinaigrette. It was delicious and healthy. I have also seen similar salads that include crab or shrimp, which I'll try next time.

I also made chicken breasts topped with pesto, and though it doesn't look as pretty as the salad it was good. Just salted and peppered two breasts, topped with pesto (a little too much, as you can see by the photo) and baked at 425F for 30 minutes or so.

Spending in order to save

In an effort to use up food we already have I sometimes find myself spending more than I should. Well, it wasn't crazy, but lamb is probably an expense that wasn't necessary. But it's just so damn good. Last night, in an effort to use up some tomatoes and feta, I made a lamb, feta, and tomato baked pasta dish. Also, any chance to use some of the mint that just grows and grows in the garden is an opportunity I can't pass up. Drew made a roux, then added crumbled feta. In a lasagna dish, I tossed the creamy mixture with halved red and yellow cherry tomatoes, small pasta shells, minced fresh mint, and some homemade lamb meatballs (1 lb ground lamb, 1/2 tspn each of allspice, ground clove, cayenne pepper, salty and black pepper, and 1/4 cup bread crumbs, 3 minced garlic cloves). I baked the dish at 425F for about 30 minutes, when the pasta started to brown a little on top. It tasted very good. I would have liked it a little bit creamier, and may next time add some mozzerella to the creamy mixture, but Drew said he wouldn't change a thing.