Sweet and Saucy Pork Chops

Homemaker Emily is here! Kind of.

I’ve decided to try to do better at cooking new dishes for us to try and add to our weekly rotation. It’s getting hard when all we cook is pasta or rice bowls. I’d like to order out less but that won’t happen unless I get better at meal prepping and planning. It’s not going to be easy at all, especially since Caleb doesn’t like beef or seafood.

This time, I figured I’d try to make Chris Morocco’s sweet and saucy pork chops. It’s a simple recipe with a few ingredients that I mostly had already and didn’t take much prep time in advance. Easy to make after a full day at work. This is adulting.

Chris also has a youtube video on Bon Appetit’s channel which is always helpful and encouraging to have just as a reference while cooking. I’ve had pork chops often growing up but they’re tricky for me to cook without drying out. They aren’t terribly fatty which is also good because Caleb doesn’t like the texture of fat and gets weirded out by bone-in meat sometimes so a boneless chop worked for this recipe and felt doable. I did deviate and left out the capers and rosemary just due to sheer laziness and I didn’t want to buy either and have so much leftover that wouldn’t get used again. Less waste but I’m sure this led to less flavor as well. A sacrifice I deemed acceptable. There’s still shallots, garlic, and red wine vinegar for a flavorful enough sauce that I felt confident about making my adjustments.

Overall, the recipe was easy to follow, it went well with some (pre-made) mashed potatoes, baked zucchini, and the timing of it all was quick. Everything came together well and the flavors worked. I really enjoyed the flavors of the red wine vinegar with the shallots and garlic, the pork was simple enough to cook following Chris’ directs, and I felt I was careful to not overcook it.

Unfortunately, Caleb wasn’t a huge fan and pork chops overall throw him off with their texture. So, while the flavor was good and would eat again, it’s a no-go on pork chops moving forward. I tried. It’s been a few attempts and none of them have been successful so while I like this recipe, I’ll have to keep testing other options. However, I would recommend this to other people to try. It’s pretty tasty and easy to make for sure.

CORT - Wild Ginger Asian Fusion

I’ve been watching too much food TV and too many youtube videos with people eating sushi because I’ve been craving it so often lately. I decided to splurge today too and get a super fancy roll because I deserve it.

LOCATION: 47 MAIN ST., CORTLAND, NY, 13045

Enter the special Yummy Yummy Roll at Wild Ginger Asian Fusion. I’ve seen this special on their specials board every time I walk inside to pick up my order but I finally noticed it online when I was ordering. The Yummy Yummy roll is lobster tempura, avocado, crab wrapped in soy paper topped with fresh mango. No surprise that it’s an $18 roll so this was a very special day and the only thing I ordered. Usually, I add shrimp nigiri to my orders to bump up the price and make it worth ordering online for me and for the restaurant but this was all on its own.

I was a little worried about the quantity I would be getting and assumed the lobster was the big price and it would only get 6 or so pieces. I was happily surprised.

I actually ate half of my order then took the photo so there’d be a cross-section to see what’s inside so this was a full 12pc order. 12pcs is definitely enough for me especially since these pieces were actually very very large (more of a two-bite situation for me per piece.)

Overall, it tasted great. I was nervous about the mango being too overpowering but they were actually great and it was a well-balanced piece. I will say, that while it was a solid quantity of sushi and it tasted good, I wouldn’t get it again. The flavors were good but not $18 worth, in my opinion. Lobster doesn’t add too much to the flavor and isn’t worth the cost in this instance. The mango added more to it than the lobster did and I just wouldn’t ever crave this flavor. Worth the try once, just to end the wondering if it’s good.

Pasta e Fagioli

It’s getting cold out and fall is in full swing so it’s soup season!!

My friend Julia makes soup every week when the weather gets cool and I’m super jealous of that consistency and the idea if having a ready to eat soup for the rest of the week for lunch or dinner. The problem I’m facing is that, while I love soup, Caleb is not a huge super person so I end up eating a batch almost by myself all week and boy, does it last. I swear soup is one of those things that you eat and eat and eat and it doesn’t look like you’ve even made a dent. It’s a small hurdle I’ll have to face this soup season, so maybe not soup every week but I’m going to try to make it more of a part of my meal planning schedule.

First up this year is pasta e fagioli from Carla Lalli Music. I first found the recipe on Bon Appetit’s youtube channel (remember when that was a thing?) and decided to give it a shot last year. It’s been great to make a few times and learn from the process and I feel like it just gets better and better.

I know Carla is huge about soaking beans and there’s a whole thing with it but honestly, I just bought a can of white cannellini beans and went with it. Sorry, Carla. I followed Carla’s process otherwise and pulsed carrots, leeks, and garlic in a food processor and reduced it in a dutch over with hot olive oil. I did find that it took me longer to do than the estimated times in the website but that’s okay. I did get a little nervous about it and rushed the process to fit what the recipe said but I should’ve taken the time to make sure it was right because the end result this time was a chunkier soup that we like but the flavor was all there so it’s a minor adjustment. Gotta follow my gut a little better in the kitchen. It can all still feel intimidating.

I did find a ham hock, to my surprise, at the grocery store, and that worked out well with the beans, kale (chopped finely) tomatoes, and a parmesan rind I saved just for this soup. I let it simmer, waited for the ham hock to get tender enough to pull off the bone and shred, then I cooked pasta on the side and served them together. Since I eat this over the week, I’ve figured out keeping the pasta separate until it’s ready to get eaten or a serving is packed up for lunch is the best way to avoid mushy noodles. There may be a slight miss in the melding of flavors by keeping the pasta separate but this is a choice I’m happy to make.

I actually really love the flavor of this soup and it feels really nostalgic and reminds me of something but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I’m not sure this is going to be in constant rotation because Caleb isn’t totally in love and it’s definitly hard to eat a full pot of soup by myself but it’s in the recipe box for sure, maybe its more of a once a season kind of soup.

CORT - Brix

I have failed to pack lunch again today. I’m understanding why people meal prep and maybe one day I’ll get on board…but until then, we’re still finding new things to try downtown. There are only a handful of places to choose from but I decided to look at the BRIX menu and see what I could find.

LOCATION: 60 MAIN ST., CORTLAND, NY 13045

Brix is a local pub/bar/pizza place and they promote their brick oven pizza. It’s not my favorite place to go but their portions are always large and their menu has a lot of options for everyone. The quality is nothing I’m ever super pumped for but it’s not bad at all, just not very exciting to me. I haven’t found anything I want to order again.

This time I opted for a cup of French Onion Soup and the Fried Green Tomatoes which in found in their menu online and it’s breaded green tomatoes, topped with smoked gouda, bacon, drizzled with ranch and garnished with chives and green onions. I love french onion but my favorite sandwich place nearby is closed for construction so this was the next place to get it. Their french onion wasn’t bad but it was a little salty. A tough thing thats pretty common with french onion soup. Maybe one day my sandwich will be back open again.

The Fried Green Tomatoes were alright. I can’t say I knew there were tomatoes under all that extra toppings but I think with apps and dishes like this, that tends to be the point. The tomatoes are just a vessel for the fun stuff on top. It was a little too ranch heavy for me but the bacon and gouda were a nice pick. For some reason the bed of lettuce that it sat on was a little strong in smell which I found odd and a little distracting.

Along with the soup, I made this app stretch for two meals which was nice especially since it wasn’t terribly expensive. I’m not sure I would ever crave these again so that seems to be the runner with BRIX for me.

I’d also say I gave them the 30mins eta to make my food before I left work to walk the 5mins over to pick it up. When I got there it took another 10-15mins before my food was ready which seemed a little long for an order of soup and fried tomatoes. They weren’t terribly busy that day and I ate lunch a little late and ordered after 1pm that day so I feel like they lost my order and didn’t start cooking until I arrived. The take-out counter workers were nice and I can’t blame them for the longer wait but it was just a little annoying having to wait so long and I’m glad that work isn’t so strict with my lunch breaks.

I think BRIX will forever be one of those places I go to when other people pick it out but I’ll happily be the odd man out and pick other restaurants when I’m eating/ordering on my own.

CORT - Gorgers

The perks of being back in the office is that we’re located right at the corner of downtown Cortland meaning I get a pass at all the restaurants on Main Street whenever I manage to not have leftovers for lunch. Today, I decided to go to Gorgers right across the street and order a side of Panda Wings and small French Fries.

LOCATION: 101 MAIN ST., CORTLAND, NY 13045

Gorgers is a local sandwich shop that has a few locations in the surrounding area and they have a pretty extensive menu though right now it’s a little limited due to the pandemic. Still, there’s some nice options and their portions are always quite large. I tend to get fries whenever I go because I love potatoes and they season them like crazy and fry them extra puffy and crunchy. It can be a little much sometimes especially since I’m a potato-y fry kinda of person but sometimes the extra crust is nice.

I’m not a huge sandwich person in general so I decided to check out the limited menu and looked at some reviews and went for an order of Panda Wings, which are fried eggplant coated in buffalo sauce. They’re basically a vegetarian buffalo wing and I love the idea of a panda munching on these so I had to give it a shot. I’ve also been craving eggplant parm since people I know have been posting about it a lot recently so this was my eggplant fix. Not exactly the same as a parm but it’ll do.

I ordered it to go for lunch so one of the guys at the counter who was making my meal gave me the side of buffalo sauce instead of coating them to make sure they stayed crispy and not soggy which I did appreciate though since they have a tendency to fry extra crispy I think it would’ve been okay if they were tossed as well, especially since my commute back to work is a total of 1 minute walking.

Overall, these were pretty great. The order was well worth the $5 of fried eggplant and I can’t complain about it at all. Like I said with the fries, they can be a little salty and heavily seasoned so I don’t tend to eat tons of it but it was really good and I was happy with this choice. It’s a great alternative to eating buffalo wings if you’re not into chicken wings and it’s very filling.