French Cut Lamb Chops and Roasted Potatoes

It's finally cool around these parts. The low is getting into the 50s this week and last night we even had to use the heater for the first time this year. Poor little Baz woke up in the middle of the night because he was cold so we had to turn it on. I am actually really enjoying it and it helps make it seem more like Christmas. I am really excited this year. My whole side of the family is coming to Florida this year. It's the first time we've all spent the holidays together in a long time. I can't wait.

We'll be eating a lot of pork this week since our Cuban tradition is to make a whole leg of pork that we eat for Christmas dinner and then in Cuban sandwiches for the rest of the week. My dad is really the best at making them, knowing just the right amount of pork, ham, cheese, pickles and condiments to include before he grills them into the delicious pressed sandwiches I've been eating as long as I can remember.

So, until then, no pork. Instead I got a great deal on some french cut lamb chops this week. Turns out two of the three packages I bought were mislabeled so I paid a price that was for ground chuck instead of the beautiful lamb chops I got. Not bad.

I am marinating them right now in some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, white wine (cuz it was open - I would have used red if I had it) pressed garlic, salt, pepper and some fresh rosemary. I'll cook them in my cast iron grill when it gets nice and hot so that the outside of the chops browns nicely.

I'm going to serve them with some steamed broccoli and roasted red potatoes. I am already cooking the potatoes because they need to cook for about an hour. I just cut them up in quarters and poured some olive oil over them. Then I sprinkled some salt and freshly ground pepper over them as well as some more pressed garlic and some of the rosemary that I bought for the lamb chops. Could be too much rosemary, but I didn't really use much for the potatoes.

I'll let you know how it all works out, but I am definitely excited.

UPDATE: Turned out terrifically. I cooked the lamb chops for about 4 minutes on each side. A couple of the thicker ones could have used another minute per side, but for the most part they were pink and delicious! And the rosemary on both the potatoes and chops turned out just fine.

Pork Chops Milanese and Potatoes Au Gratin

Damien was supposed to be away last night reporting a story, but he ended up coming home instead of spending the night. So, I sort of had to scramble for dinner because I had planned on having left over Shrimp Creole.

So Baz and I took a walk to Publix to see if we could get inspired. There really wasn't much jumping out at me, but I remembered seeing a recipe for Potatoes Gratin in the Balthazar Cookbook and that sounded really good. What could be the main dish? Not wanting to spend a fortune, I decided on pork chops.

Then I was strolling past the produce section and I saw a bag of key limes sitting there. I thought, "Wow, maybe I should try and make key lime pie!"

This is very ambitious considering how tired I was feeling. But, I feel like I haven't really been cooking anything too interesting lately. With work, it's hard to make it a priority. So, I pushed through and it actually worked out well. Now, the potatoes take a bit of time so keep that in mind and start those early. Here's what I did:

Potatoes Gratin (inspired by the Balthazar Cookbook with some major changes)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
4 cloves or garlic - crushed with a knife
10 - 12 sage leaves, whole (Balthazar uses thyme)
4 stems parsley, whole (Balthazar uses rosemary)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
3 -4 medium Idaho potatoes
salt and white pepper
1 tablespoon butter

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream milk, garlic, sage, parsley, salt and pepper over medium heat. When it begins to simmer, lower the heat and continue simmering for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, peel and slice the potatoes into 1/8 thick slices. Use the butter to coat the bottom of a shallow cooking dish or ovenproof skillet.

After 30 minutes, strain the cream, removing the herbs and garlic. Layer the bottom of the buttered cooking dish with the most abnormally sized pieces of potato (so the top layer that you will see will look more uniform.) Overlap the potatoes by nearly half. Sprinkle so salt and pepper on the potato layer. Then pour 1/2 cup of the garlic infused cream over the potatoes. Arrange a second layer of potatoes and repeat the process. Continue repeating until all the potatoes have been used.

I also sprinkled a bit of cheddar cheese on the top layer, which Balthazar does not do. I liked it, but I think that just the cream would be delicious as well. I just like cheese.

Cover the dish or skillet with aluminum foil and place in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to cook for 15 minutes until the top is golden. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Worth the time and effort.

Then I made the pork chops:

Pork Chops Milanese (also inspired by the Balthazar Cookbook with some major changes)
4 - 1/4 inch slices or red onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper
1 cup, romaine lettuce, finely chopped
1 medium vine ripe tomato, finely diced
2 pork chops
salt and pepper
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup bread crumbs (Balthazar suggested panko, but I used Italian because it is what I had)
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
Balsamic vinaigrette
2 lemon wedges

Brush the onion slices with a little bit of olive oil. Use the broiler or a grill (if you are lucky enough to have one) to char the onion slices a bit. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Create a little chopped salad using the romaine and tomatoes. When the onion has cooled enough, dice and add as well. Set the salad aside.

Pat dry the pork chops and use a mallet (or in my case, a potato masher) to pound the chops down until they are about a 1/2 inch thick, making sure not to miss the section nearest to the bone. Sprinkle both sides with a little bit of salt and pepper.

Prepare three bowls in an assembly line -- one with the flour, one with the egg whisked with the milk, and the other with the bread crumbs. Dredge the pork chops in the flour first, then coat in the egg mixture and then coat with bread crumbs.

Heat up a large skillet over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of butter and melt until just starts to brown. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and heat. Place both pork chops in the butter/oil and cook on each side for 4 minutes. The bread crumbs should be nice and golden brown.

Remove from the pan and arrange on the plate.

Add balsamic vinaigrette to the salad and mix well. Put a dollop of salad on top of each pork chop. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

Then there's dessert. It is best to make key lime pie much earlier in the day so it has plenty of time to cool. But, since I thought of it too late in the game, we settled for a slightly still warm pie after dinner.

Key Lime Pie (adapted from the Miami Spice cookbook)

Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs (I used half a box of graham crackers in my food processor)
1/2 cup butter

Preheat the oven to 350.

Get your crumbs to a fine consistency in a food processor. Melt the butter and add to the crumbs. Mix well until it is like a paste. Press the mixture into a pie pan. Put in the oven for 8 minutes. Remove from the pie pan from the oven, but leave the oven on.

Filling
1/2 cup key lime juice
2 teaspoons key lime zest
1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks

The toughest part is juicing the small little key limes and grating the zest so leave yourself plenty of time to do this. (It took me about 15 or 20 minutes.) You don't want to skimp.

Combine the condensed milk and the egg yolks in a bowl. Use an electric hand mixer at high speed to mix until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the key lime juice. Then add in the zest.

Pour the mixture into the prepared graham cracker crust. Then put the pie in the oven and cook for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Then place the pie in the refrigerator and cool for as long as you can resist.

So there you have it. We really enjoyed it, I hope you all do too.

Pork Loin for a Whole Family

With Damien's family here visiting, I had to come up with something for a bigger group. When I couldn't find the McCormick pulled pork packet, or a boneless pork shoulder for that matter, I decided on a pork loin that I found at Costco last time I was there. It was a huge 4 pound pork loin that was already in a onion and garlic marinade. It was so super simple. I just put in a roasting pan and cooked it for about an hour. I covered it which may have helped keep it moist. I used a meat thermometer to make sure it was fully cooked and then I sliced it and put the slices back into the roaster so that I could coat the individual slices with the juices that had pooled in the bottom of the pan.

I served it with some Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and steamed (well, microwaved really) broccoli. It was actually really tasty and good. Comfort food. We paired it with a nice bottle of La Crema Chardonnay, one of our favorites, and had a lovely dinner with Damien's siblings.

This is how I made the mashed potatoes and they turned out really well:

Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes
(for 6 people)
7 or 8 medium or large Yukon Gold potatoes
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup of milk (more or less to taste)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup Asiago cheese, shredded

Cut the potatoes into chunks and place in a pot of water so that all the potatoes are covered. I don't peel the potatoes, but if you prefer you can peel them. Cook until soft (about 20 minutes). Pour the potatoes into a strainer to get rid of the water.

Put the olive oil in the emptied pot. Add the garlic and saute until lightly browned. Add the butter and pour the hot potatoes back into the pot. Add milk and coat the potatoes with the butter and milk. Use a masher to mash the potatoes in the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the cheese and mix.

I use Yukon Gold because they really are the tastiest for mashed or roasted potatoes. Check them out.

We top off our simple meal with some ice cream for dessert and everybody seemed happy. It was a great visit and I can't wait for them all to come back again.

Publix Fried Chicken and Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

I know, I know, I didn't write a post yesterday which goes against everything I wanted this to be.

I'll just quickly fill you in on what we did for dinner. See I was waiting for my miso glaze to really soak in to my Chilean sea bass fillets. So, on Monday night I did something a little bad, but so good. I went and picked up an 8 piece fried chicken box from our local Publix.

This is a really delicious quick dinner fix. Damien and I do it every so often, usually on days that I hit the supermarket anyway. They have both rotisserie and fried chicken, but since the fried was on sale I went with that one. The rotisserie is wonderful though and I imagine a wee bit healthier.

Then I pick up a side of cole slaw, macaroni and cheese and I'll steam a vegetable. This time I made broccoli. And that's it. Dinner in a few minutes.

Then last night I was ready to make my favorite meal. The miso glaze was soking in to the fish for two days. It was time!

I also was able to make the wasabi mashed potatoes because of my Japanese market find.

Wasabi Mashed Potatoes
8-10 small red creamer potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons sour cream
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon wasabi paster or 1 tablespoon wasabi powder

Boil the little red creamer potatoes (I peel them half way so there is not too much skin when I mash them) for about 15 minutes. After pouring them into the colander, use the same pot to saute some garlic in a little bit of olive oil. When the garlic is just browning, return the potatoes to the pot and add some milk, butter and a tablespoon or two of sour cream. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher until smooth. Sprinkle some salt and a little bit of pepper on the potatoes. Then squeezed about a teaspoon of wasabi into the potatoes and mix.


They were delicious and the perfect compliment to the Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass along with some steamed aspargus. I think next time I'll try a little bit more wasabi, but it definitely had the flavor I was looking for. And Damien loved it!