Saturday's Snow and Sauces

I remembered late last night to fill the coffee pot and set it on the timer, so I woke up at 7:00 to the smell of fresh coffee for a change. And, it was good! That was breakfast.

I checked outside and it was snowing, but just a little. I checked the Weather Channel and they are still saying just 1-3 inches for me (it looks like it is snowing in Detroit, Mt. Clemens and Port Huron, but I am just on the western edge of the clouds!)

I sat down and finalized my grocery list, then hopped in the shower and got ready to roll. I started my errands just after 10:00 AM. I went to Kroger's for my groceries, Westborn Market for my veggies and fresh herbs and then stopped at the Wine Palace. I need two obscure items for this weekend's menus, and if anybody would have them, they would. And, they did!

So, I picked up some Maderia (for a sauce tonight) and some Belgium beer, Chimay Peres Trappistes Ale Premier (a 25.4 ounce bottle) for tomorrow's dinner. The beer has been made in Belgium by Trappist monks since 1862, BTW.

But, back to the weather. By the time I got out of Kroger's, the wind had picked up tremendously. In fact, it cut like a knife and took your breath away. It's still snowing a little, but the wind is the real problem!

I got back home just after noon and by 1:00 PM, I had the old items in the fridge discarded, all the groceries put away and the bird feeder and suet cage refilled. I finished the tuna salad for my lunch. I threw the white kitchen towels and the bath towel, hand towel and bath map from my bathroom into the washer. I grabbed my book and took a break on the couch.

I got tired of that, but not ambitious enough to "do" something, (hey, I got all weekend, right?) so I moved into the bedroom and watched a movie. Then I watched Jamie Oliver's taped show from this morning. Then I started something else (don't remember what) but dozed off. I woke up about 30 minutes later and lay there; debating if that was really enough time to call it a "nap".

Now, my friend, B___, insists that a 20-30 minute nap is optimum for rejuvenating the body and soul. But I like the one hour plus naps that allow me to stay up later at night. Not sure which is "correct" but I guess I took one of "his" naps, today.

One nice thing happened while I was asleep: the sun came out! It's streaming in all the west windows and making the fresh snow glow. Speaking of snow, it's all over, here, and I doubt we got more than an inch, all told. We definitely dodged the bullet on this storm.

So, now it's 7:00 PM and time for dinner. This will truly be one of the Captain's recipes as it takes its inspiration from about four different recipes (or we will say it's the bastard child of four recipes, depending on how it turns out, lol!).

I started off by melting two tablespoons of my reserved bacon fat in my biggest cast iron skillet (pork fat rules, baby!) I took the four bone-in thin pork chops I'd thawed and hit both sides of them with house seasoning. Then, I seared them, two at a time in the skillet. When they were each done on both sides, I piled them all back in the skillet and put them in a preheated (350 degrees F) oven for another 8 minutes to finish.

Meanwhile, I heated two tablespoons of butter in a non-stick skillet. I added one whole shallot, minced fine. When they were about done, I added 1/2 pound of sliced fresh mushrooms (remember I said shallots and mushrooms were best friends). I sliced the mushrooms rather large, so they wouldn't fall apart. When I thought they were about done, I added 1/4 cup of the Maderia, a good splash of heavy whipping cream and two tablespoons of fines herbes (you can buy it - I did - but its equal parts of chopped chives, chervil, parsley and tarragon). I let that all simmer and get happy while I heated up the leftover mashed potatoes with scallions (from last weekend) in the microwave.

Finally, I plated the dish: a mound of mashed potatoes in the middle with a pork chop leaning up against it. I drizzled 1/4 of the sauce on both, then dug in (hungry enough to forget taking a photo for the Blog). Result? Pork chop was perfect! Nice sear and inside was moist. The potatoes were still excellent. And the sauce? Well, I'll admit I was disappointed it wasn't "bolder" but it really did have a nice, subtle flavor.

I finished the evening by watching the boxing on HBO and I did stay up until it ended around midnight.