It had to be some kind of pork tonight. We've had enough of those seasoned cutlets, they're good but we don't want to eat the same thing all the time. I didn't really feel like tenderloin so I had an open mind when I perused the pork section. I decided on a package of three cutlets. A bit tough but lots of flavour and an extra one for the dogs, all for the price of a small tenderloin!
Soon as I got home I got out my trusty vacuum marinator. I'm not convinced it aids marination but I need a covered dish anyway and it's ideal. A couple of tablespoons of olive oil. A few glugs of white wine, Chardonnay in this case. Half a teaspoon of salt, black pepper and a teaspoon Dijon mustard. Whisk it all up and lay the cutlets in it. Then turn them over to coat both sides. Close it up and suck the air out or use a spoon or your hands to work the marinade into the meat a little then put it aside till ready to cook it. In this case it was only half an hour, but it was enough because I left it on the counter. Longer and it would go in the fridge.
Mashed potatoes. Salt, butter and milk. Never use an immersion blender on potatoes. It turns them into thick unpalatable paste that no one will want to eat.
Broccoli was steamed, run under cold water to stop cooking then reheated in olive oil. This cooks the oil and adds extra yumminess to vegetables. A bit of salt helps too.
Greek Salad, it's best to make it fresh every day. Use English cucumber, the long ones, because the skin isn't bitter so they can be left on for extra colour. For two people I cut about four to five inches off cucumber, slice and quarter it up. Wrap the rest in plastic and put back in fridge. A small tomato cut into twelve sections and each section cut in half. Larger tomato, cut section into three or four pieces. A handful of black olives pitted and cut in half. Use better quality here, it pays off. Some diced red onion or whatever is available, I used sweet new chives from the garden.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil and one to two teaspoons of white wine vinegar. Salt, pepper. I would have added fresh oregano if I'd thought of it. Toss it all to coat evenly then add crumbled feta cheese. I use local cow feta. Again, paying a little more pays off with feta.
Mushroom sauce was simple. First I seared the sliced mushrooms in butter then removed them from the pan. More butter and a teaspoon of flour, mix and cook the flour taste off for a minute. Add a splash of beef stock and half a cup of white wine. Whisk it up and add wine till it's the right consistency. Cook the alcohol off and add the mushrooms back in. It would have looked better to put the sauce on the plate and the cutlet on top but I didn't think of it in time.
Fern never lifted his face from his plate, he just said, "you really have learned to cook well!"
No comments:
Post a Comment