Vietnamese “Get Real Into It” Pork Chops

Posted By under Main Courses, Main Ingredient, Pork, Recipes

It’s been a while since we posted anything of substance, and it’s beyond time for this one because we have one particularly loyal reader and friend who deserves more than a list of what we’re eating for dinner each week. I don’t promise that it will be our best post, and it certainly won’t compare to the literature our friend is reading these days, but it’s written with love, admiration and respect for a guy going through something incomprehensible, with intractable grace and dignity. (Yes, I had to look up the definition of “intractable,” and yes, if there is anyone who embodies “difficult, stubborn” grace and dignity more than our friend, such a person would be a good one to know.) Although I haven’t been inspired to write much lately, dusting off the blog as a way to let our friend know we’re thinking of him seems like the right thing to do, and I know I’ll be glad that I did. Similarly, I am often uninspired in the kitchen, yet the meals I’ve made when cooking is the very last thing I feel like doing tend to be the most satisfying. Like that time I spent all day painting our living room and dreaded having to cook dinner, until I remembered this delicious, quick and crazy-easy pork chop recipe. I whisked up the marinade, cleaned up my paint supplies while the chops infused with Asian flavor, and about half an hour later we enjoyed a meal that tasted like I’d spent hours in the kitchen. Totally worth it.
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Weekly Menu (April 4)

Posted By under Weekly Menus

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Saturday

  •  Shrimp & Turkey Sausage Jambalaya

Sunday   Happy Easter!

  • Baked Ham, Roasted Asparagus, Scalloped Potatoes

Monday

  • Grilled Marlin w/ Lime Ginger Vinaigrette, Grilled Veggie, Wild Rice

Tuesday

  •  Take-Out

Wednesday

  • Potato Soup w/ Leftover Ham, Salad

Thursday

Friday

  • Dinner Out

Weekly Menu (Feb. 28)

Posted By under Weekly Menus

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Saturday

  •  Grilled Bone-In New York Strips, Garlic-Roasted Cauliflower

Sunday

  • “Happy Union,” Jasmine Rice, Homemade Egg Rolls

Monday

  • Tilapia Milanese

Tuesday

Wednesday

  • Take-Out

Thursday

  • Fettuccine w/ Shiitake Mushrooms & Basil, Roasted Asparagus

Friday

  • Dinner Out

Chicken Tinga Tacos

Posted By under Main Courses, Main Ingredient, Poultry, Recipes

File this one under successful mistake:  what happened when we screwed up a recipe but somehow ended up with a dish that was even better than the original. Because we like a good chicken and rice dish (this one is a particular favorite) and we’re fans of smoky, spicy Southwestern flavor, we figured that this recipe for chipotle chicken and rice would be a winner. So why is the title of this post “chicken tinga tacos” instead of “chipotle chicken and rice”? Because someone mistakenly used brown rice instead of white rice the first time she attempted the recipe, which meant that the dish had to cook a lot longer for the rice to be done, causing the chicken to become tender enough to shred with a spoon (and us to eat dinner about two hours late). On that night we realized that the slow-cooked chicken and rice mixture would be far better suited as a taco filling than a main course. And not just any taco filling—we accidentally created a recipe for chicken “tinga,” which generally refers to meat slowly cooked in a chipotle sauce and served shredded in a taco or on a tostada. The first night we ate our happy accident, all we could think about was how good it would be wrapped in a white corn tortilla with minced onion, cilantro and a squeeze of lime. I will probably never be fearless in the kitchen, and my cooking will definitely never be perfect, but it’s comforting to know that sometimes it turns out that a mistake is just what the recipe needed.

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