Sassy Black Friend

Cooking for the unappreciative

My mother is not a person who likes to try new things. Especially when it comes to food. She likes what she likes, and has no real interest in finding new exciting foods to love. I love trying new things with cooking, and do so often. Because my mom doesn’t enjoy cooking, I am in charge of food preparation while I’m staying here. Given the above, that’s fine with me.

Since it’s just the two of us I usually cook something for dinner twice a week, the rest of the days are leftovers or eating elsewhere. If I left it up to my mother we’d have spaghetti every week. I couldn’t take it. I’ve tried making safe but slightly more interesting things, and so far her favorite is sauteed spinach. Yawn. Tasty, but yawn.

This week I made what she referred to as a “fancy elaborate” meal of the spinach, skillet roasted potatoes, and pork chops. For me that’s just fine comfort food. Nothing fancy about it. Here’s the details, you tell me who’s right.

Pork Chops:

4 1 inch bone in chops
1-2 onion
1 clove garlic
Dash paprika
Dash dried thyme
Olive oil
Bit of butter
Pepper
A bit of wine or stock (or water) if needed

Brine pork chops for 2-4 hours (keeps moist so all cooking can be done on stovetop). Remove and dry on paper towels – allow to come up to room temperature. Season with pepper, paprika and thyme. Heat oil in a pan (cast iron works best) until just smoking and add chops (do in 2 batches if your pan is small – don’t crowd). Brown on each side for 2-3 minutes. Remove chops and add half of onions. Saute until slightly translucent and add diced garlic. As soon as you can smell the garlic, add a tiny bit of butter, stir, and place chops on top of onions*. Lay reserved onion on top of chops. Turn chops and stir onions every 3-5 minutes until chops are cooked through. If the pan is getting dry, add stock one tablespoon at a time as necessary. Occasionally spoon pan juices on top of chops.

Depending on the pan you use and the width of your chops this should take anywhere from 10-25 minutes. Pull chops out when barely pink and rest. Continue to cook onions until all are brown and soft (I like them very dark but not burnt).

*I cook the chops between onions to help with flavor and keep them from drying out.

Skillet Roasted Potatoes:

I just use the Cook’s Illustrated recipe and method. Yum. Basically par cook in microwave and finish in skillet. Season only with salt and pepper.

Sauteed Spinach:

Big pile of fresh spinach
1 onion
1 clove garlic
Soy sauce
Crushed red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper to taste
Feta cheese (optional)

Dice onion small and sweat in olive oil (or butter). When translucent, add diced garlic & red pepper and stir for a minute. Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and let thicken for a minute. Begin adding spinach in batches. (I tend to do this in a wide bottom pot or dutch oven because it’s easier to deal with the spinach, but a saute pan is fine.) Stir and toss spinach often. As it begins to wilt, keep adding, stirring and tossing. Add a bit more soy sauce if spinach is too dry. When done, add salt and pepper to taste. Can be served with crumbed feta cheese.

I think it took longer to type this out than it does to cook everything.