Tenderized Pork Cutlet

Even cheap cuts of pork taste good so I don't mind those mechanically chewed cutlets at all. This one I seasoned well with salt, mixed pepper, thyme and rosemary. Then dredge it in 25% corn flour/75% wheat flour. Wheat flour browns nicely and corn flour adds a slightly sweet flavour. (if you use All Purpose Flour to make cakes, substitute a little (10-15%) corn flour for wheat flour to get a softer texture cake.) Fry the cutlet in plenty of hot oil. The oil must be hot when the food goes in so the outside cooks instantly and doesn't have time to stick to the pan. The cutlet has a dollop of Fern's tomato/pear ketchup. Apple sauce also works well.

Frozen corn microwaved with fresh carrots then dressed with butter, salt and black pepper. Simple but good. Mashed potatoes have just a little butter, salt and milk. The last of the salad with the usual vinaigrette. This meal is on the table in less than 60 minutes and the protein cost is less than $2.00 per serving. It doesn't cost a lot or take a lot of skill to produce a really tasty meal. 

Wet Lasagna

Sometimes it just doesn't work. There was too much water and my Lasagna drowned. What went wrong? I didn't have enough spaghetti sauce to finish the dish so I added half a can of tomato sauce to it.  I didn't think to cook that down so it was too thin to start with. I also added the water from the frozen spinach, I should have poured it off. The two mistakes together were more than the recipe could accommodate and it served up like slop. Tasted good, just a bit soupy. I basically follow the recipe on the box of Catelli Express Lasagna. I won't dwell on my failure. I have to eat it again for lunch. It has dried out a bit so it might be firmer this time.

Chicken Something with a salad

In an effort to find a new way to serve chicken I came up with this peanut butter curry, for lack of a better name. I started with a diced onion and chicken pieces that I seasoned, floured and browned in the pan.  A teaspoon of curry powder sprinkled over top.  Next, a dash of chicken stock and a can coconut milk. I didn't want to go sweet by adding pineapple pieces so I added a tablespoon of peanut butter. A teaspoon of oyster sauce to give some umami background. A few drops of Tabasco sauce. Frozen peas and frozen diced peppers. I think that was everything. I served it on rice with a side salad. 

It tasted good but I couldn't quite tell why. A little bit of India, a touch of South East Asia and a splash of North American suburb. The dish lacked focus.  It tasted good, it was pleasant to eat but I couldn't tell you what I had eaten. A little soy sauce might have landed it more firmly in Asia so if I get to this point again I might try that.  In any case, a can of coconut milk can make a fairly interesting meal if one is willing to experiment.

Cajun Snapper

Fern want's more fish and no red meat. I'm not sure he'll get that but I'll try to hold the beef till he goes away for the weekend. This time I went to the butcher instead of the supermarket to buy the fish. He is the closest we have to a fish monger. The fish appeared fresher and more substantial than the paper thin fillets from the grocer. Fresh vegetables are expensive right now so frozen will do since we also have a salad.

I paired the fish with frozen peas and fresh carrots done in the microwave with olive oil.  Mashed potatoes with butter and milk and a salad with a simple vinaigrette of oil, rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Cajun Spice Rub

2 tbsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp paprika 

1 1/2 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp freshly ground white pepper

1 tbsp garlic powder

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp ground mustard

1/8 tsp ground cloves

First, I sprinkle salt on the fish, then I add the rub. I have a pan with plenty of hot oil ready and lay the fillets into it. As the fish cooks the meat will change texture and colour starting in the oil and rising up through the fish. When it gets to the middle, turn the fish over. The second side takes less time than the first.

I added a few drops of lemon juice over the fish on the plate. It was really good. I'm not sure if it was better quality fish or proper cooking. Next time will tell.

Pasta and Prawns in Tomato, Basil Sauce

I didn't feel like a big production for dinner so good ol' prawns and pasta make an easy, tasty meal. I sweated a shallot and should have sweated the garlic too but forgot. Next I par cooked the prawns then removed them from the pan. I added a whole can of tomato paste, a little chicken stock and water to the pan.  Two chopped garlic cloves, salt, black pepper and basil. Bring to a simmer and add a bay leaf. Add water as needed for a thick sauce. 

I should point out right now that this made sauce that was too acid, too much tomato paste.  I needed to water it down and use a thickener to get a proper tomato sauce.  Half a can of tomato paste probably would have been about right.

Once I had a sauce, I had the penne pasta half cooked so I added the prawns to the sauce to finish cooking. I whisked up a vinaigrette from olive oil, canola oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice. The lemon juice wasn't as successful in this vinaigrette as hoped.  White wine vinegar would have been better. The bin of precut salad in the fridge is so far working well. It's cheaper, fresher and better than the bags of salad.

A bit of fresh grated parmesan on the pasta and serve. It was good but the sauce was too intense. It should have been thinned with water and then thickened.

Greekified Pork Tenderloin

Fern is in a no red meat mode since returning home so I'm trying to see how long I can go before I just have to buy a nice steak. This is pork tenderloin diced up and marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, paprika, fresh garlic, fresh chives, fresh parsley and fresh oregano. The oil/lemon base is 2 parts oil to 1 part lemon juice just like a vinaigrette. It marinated for a bit over an hour.

I did the rice in the microwave with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh chives. The vegetables were steamed, cooled and reheated in olive oil. The pork was fried in olive oil at high heat because the marinade needed to boil off as it cooked or it would braise, not fry. The trick is to get the meat in the pan as soon as it gets hot. If olive oil is over heated it becomes bitter so care must be taken.

The salad is a new innovation.  I was buying bags of cut up lettuce for $1.79 every other day. I decided to try making it myself.  A head of iceberg lettuce was $1.49.  Half a small red cabbage was .48 and a couple of carrots probably cost .20. That makes a stuffed full 4 litre bin of salad for about $2.17. To make a salad for dinner I only have to whisk up a quick vinaigrette, toss a couple of handfuls of salad in it and serve. 

It was really tasty, I definitely have this dish down. It may not be quite authentic greek but it tastes wonderful and that's what counts. It's easy to make too.

Welcome Home Fern Chicken Caesar

Fern said he'd eaten fish every day in Hawaii so I knew he wouldn't want a big slab of red meat. I considered fish but the only thing fresh right now is snapper or sole, it's too bad this town seems to be too small to support a fish monger. So I decided chicken with a salad would be best. We haven't had Caesar Salad since I learned how to make a vinaigrette. It seems odd that I learned how to make mayonnaise before whisking oil and vinegar together, but I tend to learn things to meet an immediate need. So Caesar it was.

Caesar Salad Dressing

1 egg yolk

1/3 to 1/2 cup olive/canola oil

Whisk the oil into the egg yolk 1/2 tsp at a time. Adding it faster will break it. I find pure olive oil too strong a flavour. Rice bran oil tastes better than canola but try your favourite.

1-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Tasting is important here to get the acid level correct.

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 tsp salt

black pepper

anchovy fillet

I've been using a few drops of chinese fish sauce instead of anchovy fillet but I've never compared the two flavours to see if they are interchangeable. Fern says not but anchovy was the main ingredient in garum, a Roman fish sauce. Experiment is called for.

Did you catch what I forgot? Worcestershire sauce, I completely forgot it. Didn't seem to matter too much.

For the croutons I bought a stale multi grain baguette, sliced it up and put it in the oven at about 150ºF to dry out. Then I blended half of it for crumbs and cubed up the other half into croutons. I then fried the croutons with oil, salt, pepper and garlic to get a sear on them. Brown not black.

Since I was going to use an egg yolk for the salad dressing I whisked up a small egg and the white to coat the chicken. Again this time I put the seasoning in the egg.  Some of the egg was wasted so I compensated by putting more salt, pepper, cayenne and cumin than the breasts needed. It worked, the seasoning was about right. I did mess up by putting a breast in the egg before the flour. It wasn't entirely coated so I put it in the flour then again dipped it in the egg and finally the bread crumbs.  Fern complained his coating wasn't crisp so it was a mistake to do that.  I should have rinsed and dried the chicken then put it in the flour. Fail and learn. Too bad it ended up on Fern's plate, I try to give him the best one but this time I didn't catch the error.

I baked the chicken breasts at 350ºF for 30 minutes.

I grated parmesan cheese for the salad which was tossed in the dressing before adding the croutons and cheese. I put a squirt of mayonnaise with my chicken. It was a nice meal and skipping the starch helps control my weight.