Pork Scallopini

Here's another simple one that seems more complicated and involved than it is.

3/4 lb. Pork tenderloin or loin
1 beaten egg mixed with 1 Tablespoon water
Fine cracker crumbs or corn flake crumbs

Garlic clove, minced
Small onion, chopped finely
Pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine (I've used Chardonnay and Marsala, both were delicious)
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch mixed in 1 Tablespoon cold water
parsley

butter
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Remove excess fat from meat and slice thin. 

Mix together egg and water as egg wash for meat.

Gently cook onion and garlic in butter and remove from pan. You only want the onion cooked, not browned. 

Toss sliced meat in egg wash and dredge in crumbs. Lay, single layer in hot butter in skillet. Turn to brown on both sides. Repeat for a second layer if all slices didn't fit into pan at one time. Add butter as you need to keep meat from becoming dry or sticking to skillet. Keep warm. 

When all meat is browned, move to the side of pan. Put cooked onions back into pan. Add wine and another pat of butter into skillet. Bring to boil and add cornstarch and water mix after re-stirring it. Once it begins to bubble and thicken, return all meat to pan. Just warm through and serve. Sprinkle with parsley after spooning sauce over pork and pasta. 



Gather ingredients.



Chop up onion, garlic and slice meat.



Onion and garlic in the skillet first with some butter to gently cook, not brown.



Once the onion is cooked, it will be removed, try to leave the butter behind in the pan.



Sliced pork goes into the egg wash then into crumbs. Layer into skillet to brown.



Flip and move the slices to brown evenly.



I've had to cook the pork in two shifts. I will add the onions back and make the sauce now.



To the onions, I add the wine and butter. Bring to a quick boil.



Once it boils, the alcohol is gone.



Now add the stirred cornstarch and water. Bring this to a boil while stirring it in the pan.



Once it thickens a bit, add back all your meat and warm it all up. It's all cooked, so don't overcook at this point. You just want to make sure all the meat is hot again.



I've paired it with hot pasta and a simple salad of sliced tomatoes with goat's cheese. After spooning sauce over meat and pasta, sprinkle with a little parsley for color. We'll add a splash of olive oil to the tomatoes, at the table.



Doesn't that look delicious? :D

Tenderest Pork Parmesan

Pork Loin
Flour
Butter and oil
Spaghetti sauce
S&P

Cooked pasta for serving
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Dredge pork loin slices in flour and fry in butter and/or oil. I use half and half. Brown nicely on both sides. Pour spaghetti sauce over the top and simmer, covered, for 20 - 30 minutes. The longer you simmer, the more tender it will be. Make sure the heat is low so you don't evaporate away all the liquid. 

Serve over hot pasta. A nice salad of green veggie on the side, maybe add some hot bread and it's done! 

Could that be simpler??? 



Slice the pork loin nice and thick.



Dredge in flour. Slip into skillet with hot oil and butter to brown.



This is the spaghetti sauce I used today. This was a gift. It comes from the Rossi Pasta factory in Marietta, Ohio. If you've never been there, it's really a fun field trip. They make their own pasta and sauces there and it is open to the public. I used to take visitors there when they came to visit, when I lived down there.



Pour the sauce over the browned pork slices. Put the heat to low and simmer with a lid on for 20 to 30
minutes.



A wonderful comfort food dinner. Put the pork and sauce over pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan or mozzarella cheese.



YUM! It might be cold outside, but it's warm and yummy indoors!

Chicken Fricasse

Fricasse!? Frickizat? Just pure easy comfort food. Simple, simple! 

Chicken thighs or breasts
flour to dredge
oil
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 1/2 cup milk

Rice or pasta to serve
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Preheat oven to 325*

Coat chicken in flour mixed with salt and paprika. Brown in oil in skillet. When browned well, transfer to a casserole. Blend soup and milk, pour over chicken. Sprinkle with additional paprika and parsley.

Bake at 325* for 60 minutes. Serve over hot rice or pasta. Vegetable or salad on the side and you've covered all the bases. A wonderful winter meal since the oven helps warm up the house to boot! :)



Brown the dredged chicken.



Mix soup and milk, whisk together well. Lumps are not welcome...



After placing browned chicken into a casserole, pour soup mixture over the top.



Sprinkle with paprika and parsley to pretty it up. Bake one hour at 325*.



All done... Hot and bubbly.



A little salad and pasta and we're good to go. Enjoy! 

Dijon Lemon Chicken

SO simple a meal, and oh-so yummy!

Boneless Chicken thighs or breasts, I used 5 thighs
butter
***********************************************

1/3 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup white wine (I used an inexpensive Chardonnay)
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
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Saute chicken in butter until nicely browned and completely cooked.

Mix together the other ingredients, whisking to keep mixed.

When chicken is done, move it to one side of the pan and pour in the sauce mixture. Whisking until thickened and bubbly. 

Move chicken back into sauce, serve over rice or pasta. 

Couldn't be simpler!


Collect your ingredients. Being prepared before you start cooking helps everything move smoothly.



Saute chicken in skillet, in butter.



Turn over and cook thoroughly.



While the chicken is cooking, combine your sauce ingredients in measuring cup.



Don't forget the cornstarch. Whisk it all up.



Pour into skillet after moving chicken to one side.



Allow the sauce to get all bubbly and hot.



Then move chicken back into sauce before serving.



Doesn't that look yummy!!

Egg Foo Yong

Serves 2  --- Increase the recipe as needed!

1/2 cup finely chopped Chinese Cabbage or cabbage
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup cold water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup fresh or canned bean sprouts, drained and rinsed
oil for frying
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In a large skillet cook cabbage, onion and green pepper in 1 tablespoon oil, for two minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

For sauce; combine cornstarch, beef bouillon and sugar. Stir in water and soy sauce. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Cook 1-2 minutes more. Keep it warm while you fry up the egg foo yong.

In a mixing bowl, beat together eggs, salt and pepper. Stir in the cooled cooked vegetables and the bean sprouts. In the same skillet that you used earlier, heat a couple tablespoons of oil. Using a 1/4 cup measure, scoop out enough for one patty. As you see egg spreading out into the pan bottom, push vegetables to meet edge of egg so the veggies are evenly around your patty. Fry a minute or so on each side, until golden brown. Remove from pan, keep warm under foil on a plate, repeat until you've used all your egg and vegetable mixture. Stir up the bowl before each scoop, to keep the mixture evenly mixed. Add more oil to pan as you need to. Serve over rice with your warmed sauce. 

Feel free to add meats as you'd like to. Leftover cooked chicken, ham and shrimp are all great additions. :D

Cambodian Chicken Curry with Lemongrass and Coconut Milk

This dish, although it's a curry, is not at all like Thai or Indian curries. It's not hot. It's a little tart and quite enjoyable. 

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1  4-inch finger of ginger, roughly chopped
2 large shallots, chopped
The bulb ends of 4 fresh lemongrass stalks, peeled and sliced thinly
1 1/2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
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oil
6 boneless chicken breasts or ten thighs
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice

Hot rice for serving
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Combine the ingredients from the top part of the list in your food processor. The original recipe says you can do it the traditional way with mortar and pestle... Not me, not in this life!! Holy Cow! It took me a good ten minutes of pureeing this into a paste in the food processor. By hand it might take one whole day! 

Run the processor intermittently scraping down the solids and running it again, until it's almost like a paste. It will look fibrous, that's okay. You just don't want it to look chunky. 

Heat oil in skillet until hot, then add spice mixture. Cook, stirring about a minute or two until the aroma is noticeable. 

Add the chicken, cook, turning often until lightly browned. This might take 5 minutes or so, depending on the size of your skillet and how you rotate everything to brown. 

Stir in broth and the rest of the ingredients (except lime juice), scraping up any browned bits in the pan into the sauce. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for ten minutes over low heat. 

Just before serving, stir in the lime juice. 

Serve immediately over hot rice. Jasmine Rice is suggested, since it goes with the Cambodian theme, but regular white rice will be good. 

   

Gather all your ingredients.

Grate the zest off your fresh lime.

Put all the spice ingredients into the food processor. I should have cut them a bit smaller. It took WAY too long to pulverize everything.

OK, after about week (just kidding)... it's a pasty consistency.

Add spice to hot oil in skillet.

Cook stirring till it's heated well and smells divine.

Add your chicken. I prefer to cut mine up. You could leave the pieces whole, but boneless.

Stir until chicken is all cooked and browned a bit. It won't get crispy, don't look for THAT browned.

Add broth...

Coconut milk...

Fish sauce and Spices...

Add everything but the lime juice.

Stir it up nicely.

And cover to simmer about ten minutes.

After simmering, add the lime juice. Stir it in and serve right away.

Doesn't that look delicious? It really is!!

A nice salad on the side completes the meal.