In the Kitchen With Mattie

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

I haven’t been doing a lot of cooking lately as I’ve been under the weather. Last night I finally managed to get in the kitchen and put together this simple dinner for us and it felt good to eat a home cooked meal again, instead of the usual fast food hubby has had to bring home each night. While I did feel a bit better I still wasn’t thinking I would be able to pull off a big meal so these boneless chops were the perfect thing for me to make.

 

I had bought a big boneless pork roast a few weeks ago and as is my usual routine when I buy one I brought it home and cut it into chops and roasts then wrapped and froze it all. So I took out two of the really thick chops I had cut out to defrost and then when they were defrosted I butterflied them.  I seasoned them with salt, pepper and a bit of thyme and then pounded them to an even thickness.  I took about 1 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs and seasoned them with salt, pepper, thyme and some smoked paparika and set it all in a shallow bowl. To another bowl I added two fresh eggs, scrambled together with a few tablespoons of water, I put about 1/2 cup of flour onto a plate separately. When I had everything assembled I dredged the butterflied chops into the flour and shook off the excess, then I dipped them into the egg mixture and then finally the panko mixture and pressed down on them to make sure they were well coated with the crumbs. I set them on a rack over a small sheet pan and put them into the fridge for an hour to help dry out the coating and make it adhere to the chops.

 

I placed some small red potatoes, that I had peeled a thin strip of skin off into a pressure cooker with a cup of water and set the timer for 4 minutes, I let the cooker come up to pressure and then when it was finished cooking I let the pressure release on its own. When the pressure was released I removed the potatoes to a bowl into which I had added 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, basil and tossed it all together.

 

I removed the chops from the fridge and put a large saute pan on the stovetop to heat, when it was hot I added a tablespoon of olive oil and another of butter and let that heat up. When it was hot a added the chops and browned them well on each side, when they were nicely browned I added the potatoes to the pan and set the whole thing into the oven that had been pre-heated to 375, I let it all cook until the chops registered 155 on an instant read thermometer, that took about 20 minutes for these thick chops, we like our pork pretty well done around here. I left the food to set while I make a simple accompaniment of sliced fresh mozzarella and tomatoes which I poured some olive oil and fresh oregano on.

 

It was a really easy meal to put together and when hubby tasted it he remarked he wanted me to make it again soon, the chops themselves came out very tasty and moist inside and the potatoes got very crispy.

 

When I was a child I spent weekends with my grandparents, my fathers parents.  I loved them and they loved me. I can’t say that my grandmother loved or even liked to cook, she did it out of necessity more than as a way to get some enjoyment. I’m the opposite, I am happiest being in my kitchen cooking for those I love or anyone who needs a good meal, I love to nourish people and see them enjoy what I make.

 

The meals that my grandmother turned out were pretty basic to say the least. My grandfather was not an adventurist when it came to food and he ruled the roost at home. My favorite meals that she turned out included her pot roast and spaetzle, her “red soup” which in reality was a very basic tomato based vegetable soup, usually made with some short ribs and it had the addition of some tiny spaetzle in it too……..are you sensing a theme here? I grew up eating spaetzle and have passed my love of them onto my children and others too. I remember when I was very young my grandmother had a round plastic disc that sat over the pot of simmering water, it had holes in it that were approximately 1/4 inch round. It was placed over the pot and the spaetzle dough was then forced thru the holes into the simmering water below. They would cook in the simmering water and then rise to the top when they were cooked thru, she would then remove them from the water and place them into a shallow bowl with some butter, they would then be served with the roast and gravy. At one point my grandfather decided that he liked his spaetzles a little larger in size so the plastic pot topper disappeared and she began to place the dough into the water by small spoonfuls, in all these ensuing years I had never seen another pot topper like she had until about 3 weeks ago when I was browsing Amazon for some staples I usually order from them. Suddenly there it was!  A pot topper that looked just like the one my grandmother had all those years ago, only this one was made in stainless steel. I pushed the order button and was left alone with my memories until it arrived, such wonderful memories of a long ago simpler time when life was always sunny wrapped in my grandparents arms. Here is my grandmothers recipe for spaetzle:

 

1  1/2 cups unbleached white flour

2 large eggs at room temperature

2 tablespoons softened, not melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole milk

finely chopped chives…….optional

 

Mix batter together and press thru spaetzle maker into simmering water. When spaetzle float remove from water and place into a bowl, mix in a bit of butter to stop them from sticking together. Leftover spaetzle are wonderful re-heated by sauteing in some butter in a frying pan until they are toasty and crisp. If adding them to a soup, prepare them in a separate pot of simmering water so they don’t cloud the broth, add them to each bowl as you serve the soup.

 

Tonight I was finally feeling well enough to go into the kitchen and recreate one of my grandmothers meals that was one of my favorites.  Here are some pictures of it, I have to say it came out excellent and you will find my standard recipe for short ribs on this site, enter short ribs into the search area and it will bring up all those posts. I hope if you try this meal you enjoy it as much as we do. If you love spaetzle I would highly suggest that you invest in one of these pot toppers, they aren’t inexpensive but one will last you a lifetime and one of your children will probably fight the will over it.

 

 

 

 

I had wanted to make a fresh ham today but alas, after going to three local grocery stores I came up empty handed as far as a fresh ham went. I had asked hubby this morning what he wanted for dinner and his answer was “anything with pork” so I went with pork tenderloin. They are lean, quick cooking and tender and we do enjoy them a lot. I seasoned them simply with fresh thyme, salt and pepper and then simply seared them in an enameled cast iron pan until they had a nice char on them, then I lowered the heat and let them finish cooking. I made some fresh mashed potatoes to go along with it and some sauteed cabbage too, it was an easy quick meal but I am still looking forward to making a nice fresh ham soon!

 

 

Sauteed Cabbage with Bacon

 

12-16 ounces bacon cut into 1 inch pieces

 

1 teaspoon pepper

 

1/2 teaspoon Accent

 

3 pound cabbage cut thinly on a mandoline or sliced thinly by hand

 

 

In a large saute pan place bacon and cook until it is crispy, drain off fat and add pepper and Accent. Rinse cabbage and shake off excess water, add cabbage to pan and cover for 5 minutes, then remove cover and continue cooking until the cabbage is softened and cooked through, adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed.

 

 

Back when hubby and I were dating…….way back in the stone age that is…….ok, it was actually back in the 1960′s, the neighborhood we grew up in had all kinds of great foods and we loved it all. The neighborhood was predominantly Irish/German/Italian and those nationalities were well represented in the local restaurants. We enjoyed them all! There was the Ideal that served hand grated potato pancakes and saurbraten and knockwurst,  Joe’s Spaghetti House that had the best sauce I have ever tasted to this day, the Heidleburg (still in operation) for other German specialties, the Lotus Chinese restaurant where everyone went to celebrate making their communion or graduations and so on. Whatever you felt like eating you could find within 4 city blocks of where we lived, even a Horn & Hardarts cafeteria where you put the nickles in the slots and got your food out of the little glass windows……..oooohhh for some of their mac and cheese today. Our favorite for pizza and other Italian dishes, besides Joe’s, was Anna Marias on east 87th street. It was owned by Hector and his wife, back then and they had the best pizza within a short walk of our block, we frequented the place a lot. One of our favorites was their meatball parmesan sandwich that we would share, practically no one could finish one on their own back then. Tonight I went retro and made us each a meatball parm, the two sandwiches I made put together wouldn’t be as big as one of the ones from way back when, but they were more than enough for each of us and we are both stuffed to capacity. Alas the neighborhood has undergone many changes over the years and Hector sold out long ago to return to Italy after his young son was tragically killed in an accident. The H&H Automat closed and so did most of the other places, a few do remain but even they have changed over time. It is nice however to be able to re-create a lot of the things we enjoyed way back then. Perhaps that is one of the things that fueled my desire to always be in the kitchen, the ability to return to those old familiar tastes we grew up with, the other being to remember my childhood spent with my grandparents and the love they showed me.

 

The reason I made them is because I had made a bunch of meatballs with a little gift that hubby had bought me. It is kind of a one trick pony and as such I usually don’t have those kinds of gadgets in my kitchen where real estate is in short supply. It is an electric meatball maker, a novel idea for sure. I was going to return it to the store but the fact that hubby went and bought it for me on his own makes it sort of precious to me so it will stay here and I will make room for it. I thought it would turn out a decent meatball, but was surprised when it turned out a great one in under 15 minutes!  They were all even sized, perfectly browned all around and retained their moistness. Part of the thrill was I didn’t have to stand at the stove and turn and brown them, or turn on the oven to bake them. I made three batches of them the other day so I made the sandwiches tonight with some of the leftovers, we all know sauce and meatballs only improve with age.

 

 

I’ve been thinking that it may also be possible to make a sort of round calzone in the machine, in theory it should work if you use a stiff no too wet dough. Also I think I could do arrancini (rice balls) in it, my mind keeps trying to think up other uses for it, after the holidays I’ll have more time for some experimentation and will let you know how it works out.

 

If you would like to also enjoy these sandwiches you will need a few leftover meatballs, I used 6 tonight. Two sub, hoagie, or po boy rolls…….whatever name you call them by they are just small rolls a bit longer than a hot dog bun and they need to be of a sturdy variety to hold all the gooey goodness.

 

Preheat the meatballs in a bit of sauce, make sure they are heated thru. Split the roll legnthwise and place the meatballs inside. Now sprikle a bit of good parmesan cheese on them and then liberally cover them with some sliced fresh mozzarella. Place them into a warm over for about 15 minutes until the cheese melts and the roll gets crispy. That’s all there is to it. It’s a great meal to make when you have leftover meatballs, especially during this season when everyone is rushing around trying to get all their holiday things done.

 

 

What do you make when it is Thanksgiving week and you’re up to your elbows in the prep for the holiday and then you realize you need to get dinner on the table shortly?  Well, with a few basic ingredients and a pressure cooker you can make this in about 40 or so minutes, counting prep time and all!

 

I’m sorry for the horrid picture but as I went to take the pics the camera decided to yell that it needed new batteries and off it went. Oh well I thought I was prepared since it also happened not too long ago and I had bought a large package of the size it needed. Unfortunately what I forgot was that when we had the power outage last week for quite a while I had used them in all the lanterns and flashlights in the house and now they were all pretty weak too, none of them were strong enough to get more than this lousy picture. I think it is time for me to get a new camera………and maybe even learn to use it!

 

Chicken and Tomatoes

 

2 large bone in skinless chicken breasts or any parts you prefer

 

1  28 ounce can of whole plum tomatoes

 

1 clove garlic minced fine

 

1/2 small onion, diced fine

 

2 teaspoons of mixed Italian seasoning

 

1/4  cup of dry white wine

 

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

 

salt and pepper to taste

 

Brown the chicken in just a tiny bit of oil in a pressure cooker, add the seasonings and the garlic and onion and saute a few minutes. Add the white wine and then the tomatoes on top, do not stir the tomatoes into the wine yet. Close the top on the cooker and bring it up to high pressure, cook for 15 minutes and then remove from heat or shut the cooker off and allow the pressure to reduce naturally, stir the contents and break up the tomatoes if you like. See easy and really quick!  We had this with some Colavita Long Ziti pasta, I love this stuff and it is great in casseroles too, layered with cheese and meats and baked like you would do a lasagna.

 

In case I don’t get a chance to post before Thanksgiving I hope you all have a wonderfull holiday, shared with good family, friends and food!