I've recognized a trend. Nights when I come home cranky, I just do not cook very good food. Tonight was one of those nights - I was cranky to begin with and only got crankier after grocery shopping & cooking complications. Tonight's dinner was 5-spice crusted pork with roasted cauliflower and asparagus. Let's start with the pork chops. My plan had been to purchase pork tenderloin, which I have absolutely mastered. Unfortunately, Whole Foods was out of them (huh?) and with no back-up plan, I settled for a couple of super thick boneless pork chops. I ignored my instinct to take a mallet to those chops to flatten them out a bit and speed up the cooking time and therefore, had a really difficult time cooking them through. I managed to get a lovely crust on the outside, but the middle was still too rare so I wound up slicing and nuking them for a minute. That, of course, caused them to toughen up and dry up.
Despite the toughness and dryness, the flavor was good. 5-spice powder is a Chinese seasoning that is absolutely divine on pork. If you've never tried it, give it a shot. You'll find it in the seasoning section at most supermarkets.
Our cauliflower and asparagus side dish was inspired by a recipe I found on Epicurious.com and prepared for our Thanksgiving meal. I sliced up a head of cauliflower and laid it flat on a rimmed baking sheet and then sprinkled salt and cayenne pepper over the top. I laid a bunch of thin asparagus over the top and salted that layer. The veggies roasted at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. While they cooked, I melted 2 T butter in a small saucepan and whisked in 1 T olive oil, 1 T lemon juice, and 1 heaping tsp dijon mustard.
Using a pastry brush, I coated the veggies with the mixture and returned them to the oven for another 10 minutes.
The only thing I really did wrong with the veggies was the over generous sprinkling of cayenne. It was really a bit too spicy.
So lots of lessons in tonight's entry: wield the mallet when necessary, take it easy on the cayenne, and when cranky...order in!!
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Do you always pound thicker cuts of meat? Do you ever use ones that are already cutlets to save that step? Just curious. I have never pounded meat in my life and am wondering the difference between pounded and cutlets in terms of taste.
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