What's for Dinner 4

Home style Baked Pork Chop (Hong Kong Style)

No need to go out to your local Hong Kong style cafe to order this iconic menu item. It's pretty easy to make by following some classic cooking techniques. There's really no need to use the classic breading technique, so avoid the mess and just use seasoned breadcrumbs.

The Chops:

• pound chops thin under plastic wrap; careful not to tear the meat. Thickness should be about 1/4"
• season pork with s+p, garlic powder. enhance the bread crumbs with garlic powder and seasoned salt
• dredge pork in bread crumbs and cook over med-high heat with oil. cook 3 mins. per side or until golden. keep warm in 200F oven

The Sauce:

It's all about the sauce in this dish. I use simple canned tomatoes, ketchup, and a combination of seasonings

• use one 796ml can of tomatoes. cut into small pieces. place in saucepan over medium heat
• add about one cup of ketchup and 2 tbsp of tomato paste.
• season with 1 tbsp on garlic powder, 1tsp ground ginger, 2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce, s+p to taste. sweeten with sugar (this will draw the ire of my Italian friends - but hey, this is what they do in Hong Kong!!!)
• thicken with cornstarch slurry
• place pork chops in an oven proof dish, cover with sauce and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until sauce has 'crusted'....watch for burning!!!

Usually served with fried rice, but it is fine with steamed rice.

What's for Dinner 3

Cauliflower and Ham casserole with Yams

casseroles are great options when you have leftovers or just use up items in the fridge. I had 1/2 a head of cauliflower and some ham left over from a previous meal - throw in some pantry regulars and you have a quick one dish meal. Casserole: a mainstay of the 70's and 80's - retro is definitely back!



The casserole:

• use a deep square corning ware dish or a regular lasagna pan
• cut up cauliflower into bite sized pieces. sprinkle ground pepper
  
• heat up 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (only using 1 full can of additional water or milk)
• add soup to the cauliflower. top with grated cheddar cheese. sprinkle with 4Tbsp bread crumbs
• add sliced ham
• top with 1/8"sliced yams. cover with foil and cook in 350F oven for 45 minutes
  
• broil until yams are golden (about 5 minutes)
• serve over rice
  

Simple simple simple...put it together in 15 minutes!!!

Bring back the casserole indeed!

What's For Dinner 2

Easy Cacciatore with Whole Wheat Fettuccine

started with a whole chicken and cut it up into 10 parts (split breasts). However, use whatever
chicken you have if you are not comfortable with butchery. I removed the skin as well.

Chicken:

season chicken parts with salt, pepper, garlic powder and let sit in bowl for 20 minutes
over medium heat, sear chicken parts to a golden brown.
set aside in casserole dish


Sauce:

1/2" dice zucchini and saute til golden in the same pan used to sear chicken
add 1 - 796ml can of tomatoes (whole, plum, stewed - your choice) with 2 tsps of tomato paste
season with s+p, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 2 tsp parsley flakes, 1 tsp oregano, 1 bay leaf.
bring sauce to boil.
add to chicken in casserole

Bake covered in a 350F oven for 25 minutes

remove chicken from sauce and rest covered with foil
cook fettuccine to desired texture
add pasta to sauce and toss. add optional parmesan

Place pasta n' sauce in serving dish and place chicken on top of pasta

....Easy cacciatore n' fettuccine!!!

What's For Dinner 1

Made this in the 'other' kitchen

Korean Jajangmyun (noodles in black bean sauce)

The noodles:

• bought at a Korean supermarket (dry wheat noodles) cooks up just like dried pasta
• must remember to give a good rinse once removed from cooking liquid

The sauce:

• slice up 5 mushrooms
• 1/4" dice one medium zucchini
• 1/4" dice some cabbage (as much as you like)
• 1/4" dice 1/2 yellow onion (optional - we didn't because i hate onions)
• 1/4" dice lean pork (M decided to use fatty pork belly)
• Korean black bean sauce bought at Korean Supermarket
• cook pork over medium heat until brown, add all veggies at once and cook til zucchini is just soft
• add packaged sauce, 1/2 cup of water (maybe more according to desired thickness) . we added sugar and sesame oil to taste.

After cooking sauce for about 4 minutes, add cooked noodles and mix thoroughly. Eat while still hot. Traditionally served with Japanese pickled radish (Oshinko) and Kimchi.

Christmas Cheers

So we here on the west coast have been through a white Christmas....and it was beautiful - we just all wished that the white stuff didn't stay beyond Dec 25th. As it turns out, this year's white Christmas turned out to be white New Year's and now that we are into the 4th day of the new year, yes...another snowfall warning...with another promise of 'snow turning to rain' - at this point, i'll believe it when i see it. Oh how we miss our rain!

In the mean time, here is a jovial greeting from our java friends at Starbucks!