Skillet Pork and Peppers

Day 9-I’m still not feeling excited to cook. I want to feel excited. I want to feel passion. I want to feel anything other then exhaustion and defeat. I’d like to note for everyone that this was meant to be a daily blog. Obviously it hasn’t always worked out that way. The planets have to align a certain way and then you might get a daily blog again. This meal (Day 9) was cooked on Wednesday. Oops. I did watch MasterChef Tuesday night and so far I’m not impressed. I’m assuming it will get better once they pick all the contestants. So we will just have to wait and see. After watching it though I now believe Anthony should try out next year and not me. There is no way I would be able to stand in front of two famous chefs (and that other guy) and serve them something I made. I would be so nervous. I probably would just speak a bunch of gibberish and stand there shaking. There is no way that I want that to be my first Gordon Ramsay meeting. I love Gordon Ramsay!

Tonight it was either cook the pork tenderloin or starve. I cooked; I can’t go more then 2 hours without putting some kind of food in my mouth. That raw pork tenderloin did not look very appetizing to me. (Okay that link makes it seem even less appetizing) I tried to stop thinking about it and move on. Raw meat does not appeal to me. I find it gross to hold it and trim. Every time I have to handle raw meat I ask myself why I’m not a vegetarian. If I never had to see meat in its raw form I wouldn’t have any problem with it. But I do and it’s not pretty.

I prepped the vegetables: widely sliced peppers, thickly sliced onion, sliced pepperoncinis, and smashed garlic. I decided to make brown rice with the pork. Anthony doesn’t love brown rice, but it’s healthy so we have to eat it! So I started the rice. Then it was time to trim and cut the pork. Ick. Ok no problem, I’ve got this. I trimmed off all of the fat that came off easily. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to trim off the fat that wasn’t easy to get to. So after poking at it for awhile I just left it. Fat helps gives meat a good flavor anyway, right?

I did learn the other night when I made the pasta dish with the red pepper, that Anthony doesn’t really like red peppers either. How can you not like red peppers? He says they are too sweet. This recipe has whatever color you want peppers in it, so I chose orange and yellow. I’m not really sure how Anthony feels about orange and yellow peppers. Guess we will find out. The list of foods he doesn’t really care to eat is growing: cherry tomatoes, blue cheese, cilantro and red peppers. He did clarify with me last night that the only one he will NEVER eat is blue cheese. If the other things are already in something that he has to eat he will eat it. Good to know. Although to be kind I will try not to make recipes that include the items he will eat if forced, that’s not enjoyable.

Overall this recipe is pretty easy to make. I’m enjoying using one pan for everything. Once the peppers and onions are cooked you take them out of the pan and put the pork in and sear that. Then the pork comes out and you put in the garlic, pepperoncinis, chicken broth, wine, sage, and tomato paste. Once that makes a sauce, you place the pork in a single layer on top of the sauce with the peppers and onions on top of that. Sprinkle parmesan on the top and pop it in the broiler for 4-7 minutes. Done!

Final Product:

My thoughts: I thought this dish tasted good. I didn’t have any problems with it. Anthony said the dish wasn’t his taste, but couldn’t explain why. He did comment on the peppers and the tomato paste sauce as being things he wasn’t terribly fond of. He did however say the pork was cooked perfectly! Score! I will definitely continue to make pork tenderloin, but probably not use this recipe.

Totals: 15 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking time, 1 large skillet.

I will surely have anther post for you about Sunday’s dinner. Now I just have to come up with what that will be. Any ideas??? (I hate that part!)

Skillet Pork and Peppers

Pasta With Broccoli and Artichokes

Day 7-Still counting the days. I feel less depressed today even though I don't feel well. Let me just state for the record, I do not believe my food is the cause of my illness. Anthony eats all the same things as me and is as healthy as a horse. (Apparently horses are very healthy!) I'm hoping there will still be cooking happening tonight, but I will just have to wait and see how I feel.

Onto last night. I felt the need for redemption. After that terrible excuse for a pasta dish-Pasta Ponza and let's not forget the Pasta Nests-I really felt like I needed to redeem myself. I'm not creating these recipes (I haven't gotten to that stage yet), but I'm assuming they work out perfectly when the recipe creators make them. Maybe it's my lack of skill and finesse in the kitchen. I won't give up that easily. I refuse to believe that as an Italian, I can not make a good pasta dish. Plus I make really good lasagna and that's pasta! That's why I decided to make Pasta With Broccoli and Artichokes. I'm not quite sure why the title of the recipe is what it is. There is more in the dish then broccoli and artichokes, such as red peppers, onions, and black olives. I guess the name would have been ridiculous though if it were, Pasta With Broccoli, Artichokes, Red Peppers, Onions, and Black Olives.

As we all know I am not good when it comes to cutting food products. This recipe was daunting. Here is a picture of all the items I needed to cut, plus parsley is omitted from the photo.

Yikes! I was up for the challenge though, all I wanted was for the dish to look like the picture in the cookbook and to taste good. I chopped the broccoli up (most likely not correctly) and put it on the stove to steam. I did have to review with Anthony how to steam veggies. I know I steamed green beans earlier in this blog, but that was before vacation. Also I'm super proud of myself for using fresh broccoli. The recipe only calls for 1 cup of cooked broccoli, chopped. I could have used frozen, but I didn't want to take the easy way out. I then sliced the red pepper (definitely not the proper way! Glad Anthony didn't walk in!) and onion (I'm getting a little better at those) and put them in the skillet to cook.

I had to mix a couple of opened boxes of pasta, a ziti and penne. It didn't look like enough with only the one, although looking back it would have been. I wanted to cut the recipe in half, because I didn't want to be eating this all week again. Since I cooked a bit too much pasta though, I think it screwed up the ratios of everything else. Oh well. You can't win them all and I am slowly losing the battle with pasta. The rest of the recipe was easy enough, slicing artichokes wasn't a big deal and chopping olives takes awhile, but was doable. I did have to substitute red wine vinegar for sherry vinegar since I didn't have that. In another recipe I cooked recently you could substitute one for the other, so I assume that's common, but I don't really know.

After all the cooking is done everything gets mixed together. The pasta dish looked like the picture to me and I cooked everything right, but where the heck was the flavor. I found it really bland. We put some Romano cheese on it, but I don't even think that helped much. Hmm...peculiar.

Final Product :

My thoughts: I would add some spices or more Italian herbs to this dish. It needs something. I was even thinking maybe balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar. I'm not going to rush to try this again, but if I can't come up with enough meals one week I might make this and tweek it.

Totals: 10 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking time, 2 pots, 1 skillet, 1 steamer basket

If you like what you are reading, please follow me using the link on the side. Thanks!!

This recipe is from Cook's Encyclopedia of 30-Minute Cooking.