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Wednesday night dinner - Chicken Pot Pie, Pork Chop w Balsamic Syrup, Baklava
Wednesday night dinner - Chicken Pot Pie, Pork Chop w Balsamic Syrup, Baklava I made a pork chop for my girlfriend tonight while she had a little of the chicken pot pie. I marinated the pork chop for 15 minutes in balsamic vinegar, ketchup, yellow mustard, honey, red wine, garlic, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, then put in a pan with canola oil. I heated the pan smoking hot before I put the pork chop in. I wanted to sear the faces keeping the juices in. I change my recipe for pork chops every time I make them. No matter what I do, she says it's the best pork chops she's ever had. When we go out for dinner, she is so disappointed with her pork chop, I try to do a better job when I cook them. It is so disappointing when a non-trained home cook does a better job making food taste better than someone who does it full time for a living in a restaurant. Back to the chop. When one side was done, I flipped it, and added a little bit of the marinade. The marinade and the juices of the pork chop formed the sauce. It was so pretty on the plate with the sauce on top and the juices on the plate around the chop. But it was missing something. It deserved some mashed potatoes or steak fries and a fantastic vegetable. Chicken Pot Pie - This is one of my favorite dishes because it tastes so good though it takes a long long time to make. Crust - I make different types of crusts for different dishes including my pies. My crust for my banana<b> cream pie </font></b>is different than my crust for my coconut custard which is different than for my apple pie. For this dish, I make a double crust, top and bottom using flour, salt, ice cold water, Crisco (I've tried others and they do not work as well), 1 tsp baking powder to make the crust rise and became lighter and flakier, the Crisco helps with this, plus refrigerating the dough before you roll it out, and I use 1/4 cup of vodka in the crust in addition to the ice cold water. I keep my vodka in the freezer, don't worry, it won't freeze. The alcohol evaporates when the dough cooks leaving the crust even flakier. I bake the bottom crust first in a 9"x9"x2" pyrex dish. While the crust is baking, I make the filling and put it in the bottom and then the top crust. For the filling, I cook the diced chicken in a pot in olive oil, adding seasonings such as sage, thyme, paprika, garlic powder. When done I remove and add the vegetables, thinly sliced celery, diced carrots, (if the plural of carrot is carrots, why isn't the plural of celery, celeries rather than the same as the singular form, celery), onion, frozen peas, very thinly sliced mushrooms, a touch of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce, white zinfandel wine (I've used Inglenook, Sutter Home, however Berringer is my favorite), and homemade chicken broth that I have frozen in both containers and silicon cupcake molds for smaller portions, (1 cupcake equals 1/4 cup of chicken broth). Sometimes I use curry powder, other times I use chili powder and cumin. I try to put curry powder in everything as curry has many spices that are health happy such as tumeric, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol. I steam the carrots then I take the rest of the vegetables and sweat them down. When they have reduced, I add the liquids with just a touch of heavy cream. And the final ingredient before I pour it into the crust, I mix in just a touch of grated cheddar cheese. Dessert - Almost always have dessert, tonight it was baklava. For those who don't know what that is, it's a pastry that's layered with strudel, chopped walnuts, honey syrup, then I add my own twists of seasonings, raisins. Tomorrow night's dessert? I was thinking of chicken tetrazini, maybe chicken scallopini, or maybe I'll hit the truck stop for their fish and chips. |
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