The Other White Meat

Tonight's menu is brought to you by pork not beef (even though "it's what's for dinner.") We should probably count ourselves lucky that anything was for dinner tonight since I haven't been to the grocery store in over a week. (Not that I didn't have good intentions, but Saturday we had teenagers in the house, Sunday I was sick, and today we spent all day at school - again.) So, when dinner time rolled around the pickings were a little slim with only three options: pork,  tacos (sans salsa because we're out), or something from a box. Once pork was chosen, how to fix it became a concern. My first thought was a nice roast, but we were too hungry to wait for it. Next, I considered cutting the roast into chops and grilling them, but we were out of barbecue sauce, too. Ultimately, I flipped through a couple of cook books looking for a quick fix, some kind of sauce, and a side dish. The result was a supper good enough for the guys to eat seconds.

I started by cutting up the last two sweet potatoes, dousing them in a little olive oil, and shaking them in some bread crumbs mixed with Parmesan cheese. These roasted in a hot oven (475 degrees) for about twenty minutes to get a caramel colored coating. While the potatoes cooked, I sliced up the pork roast and put about two thirds in the freezer. The rest went into a hot non-stick skillet where it sizzled on medium high heat in liberal doses of salt and black pepper. Since I cut them fairly thick, they stayed in the pan for nearly five minutes on each side until they were browned and cooked through. Once done, they went on a platter and into the (now turned off) oven to rest. Finally, I made a modified cream sauce flavored with spicy brown mustard to go on top of the chops. It only took a couple of minutes, but tasted like a million bucks. Start by deglazing the pan with about half a cup of chicken stock or white wine. Next add about two thirds of a cup of half-and-half (or milk or cream), along with a good squeeze of spicy brown mustard, and the juice from half a lemon. Since I used fat free milk, I also put in about a tablespoon of flour to help thicken it up. Stir this until it bubbles and thickens slightly, and then serve it up with the pork chops.

The sauce was tangy and a little sweet creating a nice contrast to the juicy, peppery pork chops and the crunchy-chewy potato wedges. The entire process took about 25 minutes start to finish (including cutting up and putting away all of the pork chops I didn't use tonight), and had easy clean up to boot (one skillet and a baking sheet lined with foil). This was a satisfying family dinner and definitely better than any of us expected with the cupboards running bare. However, I did promise my son I'd get groceries tomorrow.