Saturday, June 7, 2008

Pan Fried Pork with Blueberries from Everyday with Rachael Ray

First, I would like to thank everyone for the well wishes on my wedding and my birthday. Both were fantastic and perfect. Some folks asked if the SO will stay the SO or will now be the hubby. Hubby sure has a lot more letters to type than SO but I think I like it ;) We have been together for nearly 8 years so its pretty exciting to now call him my husband.

I have mentioned before that I am a huge fan of sweet and savory foods together, I am also a huge fan of pork. This recipe turned out great and blueberries are in season right now so you can grab some fresh even though I used frozen.




The recipe comes for the Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine. Lets grab our ingredients.




Grab some shallot or onion




I had to use frozen blueberries because the store I visited had fresh on sale and they were sold out!




Some real butter.




some flour. Since this photo was taken I gave up on my gallon size bag and actually bought a plastic container to store my flour. Pour some of this out on a plate and set it aside.




Chicken broth.




Get the blueberries out to thaw if you are using frozen.




Dice up the shallot or onion pretty finely.




Now the fun part. Get a boneless pork chop and stick it between some plastic wrap.




Grab something to smack the crap out of your pork. I use this rubber mallet I got for a few bucks. I stick a plastic bag over it for easy clean up. You can use a heavy pan or a rolling pin if you don't have a mallet around.




Once you have it pounded out cut it in half.




Then just roll it around in the flour to coat it.




Drop it in the pan with a little olive oil and get it cooking. Because you have pounded the meat pretty flat you don't have to cook it too long. Once its cooked remove it from the pan and cover it up to keep it warm.




Add the shallot and cook for about a minute.




Add the blueberries and the chicken broth and let it bubble for a few minutes to reduce and condense the flavors. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the yummy pork bits that stick in the sauce.




Toss in the butter and give it a stir to create your sauce. Put the pork back in and turn off the heat. Give it a good stir and then plate it up. Spoon the sauce over the pork.




I served it with a side of my cheating instant mashed potatoes. I really need to do better with my side dishes.




YUM.

Thanks again for visiting and spending some time reading my blog!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Lemon Parmesan Pasta

I am back from the wedding and birthday vacation extravaganza so regularly scheduled posts will now resume. Someone asked about the cupcakes from the wedding and whether or not I made them, no I did not. They come from a fancy cupcake place called Sprinkles. They are based out of Beverly Hills but we got a store here in Arizona. Cupcakes are all the rage these days apparently!

I love pasta as you may have figured out. I also love meals I can make quickly after work. This is a perfect pasta dish for a busy night.




The sauce requires no cooking, just toss it with the cooked pasta.




First thing, get your water boiling.




Grab some pasta, I prefer angel hair.




Get your lemon and a zester or grater.




You want to be sure to just get the yellow part of the lemon, not the white part, it is bitter.




grab some capers, I am really beginning to love these little guys. they pack quite a bit of flavor into those tiny flower buds. (you can see the SO preparing his boca burger behind the capers)




anything tastes better with cheese.




I used my lime squeezer to rinse the capers.




you will also need some tasty olive oil. please note the SO behind eating his own dinner while watching some baseball.




Cook the pasta and then add the capers, cheese and olive oil. I also added dried parsley. Give it a toss. be careful about adding any salt to the pasta because the capers are already salty and you don't want to over season.




I hope this helps get dinner on the table on a busy weeknight for you!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Wedding Week

I got married this week so forgive the lack of posts. I will show you the delicious cupcakes we got from Sprinkles Cupcakes.




YUM