Pork Medallions with Sage and Balsamic Vinegar Sauce

A family favorite

1.5 lb. Pork Tenderloin

Flour

Salt

Pepper

2 Tablespoon butter

2 Tablespoon oil

2/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried Sage

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Dredge pork slices in seasoned flour. Brown in hot butter and oil mixture. It may take a couple of batches to get it all browned. Don't overload the pan, they won't brown. As they brown, remove to plate. When all meat is browned, pour off excess fat. Add vinegar to pan, scraping brown bits into liquid. Reduce to 1/2. Add stock and juice from plate. Boil until reduced to a dark, shiny sauce, about a minute or so. Add Sage. You can pour over pork and serve, or quickly add pork back to pan to warm up.

Serve over hot noodles.

Enjoy!

Gather ingredients

Dredge pork in seasoned flour.

Add to hot pan, with room to breathe.

If you crowd them, they won't brown nicely. 

Turn them as they brown on one side. 

Once they are browned nicely on both sides, remove them from the pan to rest while you make the sauce.

Cover them with foil to keep them warm. 

Add in the broth and vinegar to pan.

Boil the vinegar until it reduces to about half. 

That looks to be about half. Turn off the heat. 

Any juices on the plate can be put back into the vinegar sauce. 

Add the sage to the sauce. Mix well, and it's finished! 

Arrange your pork in an attractive presentation. 

Spoon the sauce over the pork and noodles.

Delicious and tender! A little tangy and just a touch sweet from the vinegar. 

Black and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter

6 Tablespoons sugar

6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips
3/4 Ghirardelli white chocolate chips
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Makes about 3.5 dozen cookies
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Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350*

Cream butter and sugars.
Add egg, extracts, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
Add flour, allowing mixture to blend well.
Add both varieties of chocolate chips, mixing slowly, but well.

Drop by rounded teaspoon onto cookie sheet, preferably lined with parchment. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the sheet before removing.

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You all know how to mix cookie dough. Here's the dough, ready to go. This dough does not need to be chilled. 

I have found that putting cookies onto parchment is a life saver. They NEVER stick, the cookie sheets never get old enough to throw away. No worries! And believe it or not, parchment is reusable. I use it till it burns or gets ripped up. Just shake off the crumbs and store between your cookie sheets to protect it from wear and tear.

Another tip, using a scoop to get evenly sized cookies. This is the smallest, about 1.25 inches. 

Cooling racks are key for fast production. There are 4 separate racks standing here.

Here they are in use. I put two trays of cookie dough, ready to bake, one on the counter top, one immediately above that. One rack stays empty as an air break. The hot cookies right out of the oven go onto the top two racks to cool. I only have 4 cookie sheets, so once the baked cookies have cooled for a few minutes, I pull the parchment off onto the stove or a free counter to finish cooking, then I load those cookie sheets with another parchment sheet and raw dough. It's a very efficient way to crank out tons of cookies in no time at all. I mixed the dough while making dinner, almost no effort. I then baked 8.5 dozen cookies in 30 minutes.

After the cookies cool completely on the counter, I stack them in a travel box for Jonathan to take to school in the morning.

Done... Don't they look delicious? P.S. I doubled the recipe to make this many cookies. I had all of these plus a bowl with 20 cookies for us, at home. 

All finished with the cooling racks. They collapse and get put back into the cupboard. All four racks, about 1 inch high.

City Chicken

A favorite from my childhood, and it's not chicken

Pork Loin

Flour to dip

Egg to dip

Panko Crumbs to dip

Oil for frying

Bamboo Skewers

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For my Ohio friends, you'll notice that this is not the traditional veal, pork and beef version. For those who've never heard of this dish before, it's a traditional working class meal from the Depression Era. From what I understand, pork was cheaper than chicken, especially for those who lived far from the rural areas where chicken were bred. So, they put cubes of meat on skewers to fake a chicken leg and fried them. You'll find this dish primarily in the Midwestern vicinity of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and parts of New York State.

My mother used to make City Chicken half and half, veal and pork. Mine is all pork. Feel free to adjust the recipe to your own tastes.

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Cut slices of pork loin into cubes and thread onto skewers. 6 inch skewers are most easily handled. You'll see that I used 8 inch, couldn't find 6 inch and they are too long to fit into the dish of flour, etc. Messy.

Flour, egg wash and crumb the skewers and add to pan with hot oil. Fry until browned and crispy.

Very simple; yet crisp, tender and extremely moist. The crumb coating locks in the moisture and they are always delicious.

Don't worry if you have leftovers. They are delicious cold as lunch the next day. 

I start with whole pork loin. Even with a hungry family with teenage boys, I can get three generous meals from one loin.

Cut loin slices into cubes.

Thread cubes onto skewers.Just touching, not PACKED on.

Fill the skewer.

Flour, egg wash and Panko Crumbs. Regular bread crumbs are just fine as well.

Ready to fry.

Into the hot oil they go.

I pepper them. I pepper just about everything but ice cream. :)

You have some time. Clean up as you go...

Turn them so all sides get browned.

Remove to plate with paper toweling under to catch excess oil.

To the table. Served tonight with wild rice, green beans, mandarin oranges and garlic bread. :)

Christmas Rice Pudding

A colorful rice pudding that is good for any day!

This has been such a hit at the Women's Brunch that I felt compelled to share it here. It's a barely adapted old time recipe from my original Red Plaid Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.

2 cups milk
1/2 cup raw rice
1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit
1/4 cup butter
3 beaten eggs
2 more cups of milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
nutmeg to sprinkle
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What makes it Christmassy, for me, is adding dried cranberries or other festive looking fruit instead of plain old raisins. :)

In a saucepan, bring 2 cups of milk, dried fruit and rice to boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer till rice is tender, about 15 minutes.

While that is cooking, in a large bowl, mix together beaten eggs, sugar, 2 more cups of milk, vanilla and salt.

When rice is done, remove from heat, stir in butter till melted.

Gradually stir cooked rice mixture into egg mixture. Slowly adding cooked rice, because eggs will cook if you add hot stuff too fast.

When everything is stirred together, pour into 9 X 9 baking dish. Bake at 325*F for 30 minutes. Stir well. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

I didn't have any dried cranberries this year. This is what I used. These little bags are about the size to toss into a kid's lunch. Very colorful and fruity. :) Open as many as you need to measure out the right amount.

Doesn't it look delicious? The ladies at the brunch just raved over it and all wanted the recipe. I kept trying to say how easy and simple it was. I bake it in the oven, in my crockpot liner (all ceramic), and then transport it in the crockpot. That way I can plug it in to keep it warm till everyone starts to eat.

Simple Marsala Chicken

Why go out for an expensive Italian meal at a restaurant, when you can make this so easily at home?

2lb. boneless chicken, cut into strips. I prefer thighs, they don't dry out like breast meat.
Flour
Oil
Black pepper
3-6 cloves garlic, smashed
1 large onion, chopped or cut into thin strings
6oz. Marsala wine
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
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Dredge chicken in flour, brown in oil in large frying pan. Pepper the chicken. When chicken is getting crispy, add onions and garlic, continue cooking for a few more minutes. Add wine and lemon juice, cover and simmer. Simmer over low heat 5 minutes or so. It will thicken up and be ready to spoon over hot pasta. If it thickens too much, add a few tablespoons of water to thin.

Wasn't THAT simple enough?

Gather ingredients

Dredge cut up chicken in flour. This is my preferred method, in a plastic bag. 

Floured chicken goes into hot oil, toss around as they cook to brown on all sides. Pepper before browning. 

Measure out your Marsala.

Add the lemon juice to the wine. 

Crisp the chicken nicely.

Add chopped onion and garlic once chicken is browned well.

When onion is well incorporated and starting to wilt, add wine and lemon juice. 

Cover, simmer for 5 minutes or until onion is done. 

Serve over pasta of your choice. 

Enjoy!