So let's visit ridiculousness.
In the past several months I've hosted a bevy of dinners that would have been perfect for this blog.
Just last week I had a couple of friends over and I made a killer orzo salad and shaved fennel and arugula salad with fresh mango and grapefruit that would have been an easy "summer salad" or "what to bring to a picnic/BBQ" post.
Shooting fish in a barrel easy.
I had Spanish Tapas night with a famous punk rock singer recently that was crazy good and easily photographable. And a Chicken Riesling cook-off (unbeknownst to them) with Balthazar that I'd call a tie. Their spaetzle and onions were better, my sauce was better, and the chicken was a tie.
These are just the "big deal" nights. I've cooked pastas, and pork dishes, steaks, and chicken galore.
I cooked a lamb leg on a wood fired grill just a weekend ago up at Liz's moms that would have looked like a photo shoot for Sauveur's "back yard BBQ" issue...
If I had taken any pictures of them that is...
Conversely I've been taking tons of pictures lately. Albeit mostly kid related, but my camera hasn't been in the shop or anything. In fact I'd say it's been either around my neck or in my bag almost every single day except when I left it at Sages school after doing a cooking demo of strawberry short cake with 15 adorable children (also ready-made for a post).
Alas, my iphoto cache remains food-photoless...
So what does one do with an influx of free time and a commitment to writing the summer months away with no pictures?
I'll borrow the wise advice that any serious music lover would tell to a person sick of all the bubblegum pop called rock and roll these days that doesn't know where to look for new music that doesn't suck:
"Go back, young man. Go back..."
So I've been flipping through some old pictures and came across a post I never did for some reason.
At the time I think I was my last post with my "old" camera, so it wasn't new and shiny. But looking at it now I wish I could eat it, so I guess that's good enough for a post, huh?
So without further ado I present to you the best idea I can't figure out why no one else has ever done (that I know of that is, I'm sure it's been done a billion times, I've just never seen it...)
Pork Chop Parmesan!!!
From what I remember (this was well over a year ago after all) I picked up some Salvatore BKLYN Ricotta some fresh mozzarella, organic pork chops, skinless chicken breast (for Liz, I know, I know...) and whatever else you can see in this picture (some basil?).
I wrapped the pork and chicken in plastic wrap and beat the crap out of it until it was the same amount of thin all the way through:
I set up a breading station with flour, eggs, and in this case panko breadcrumbs:
Breaded them and fried them on a shallow pan with a cup or so of (probably) peanut oil:
Until:
I let them drain for a few minutes and then added some sliced mozzarella...
I put that in the oven to melt, in the mean time I made a simple tomato sauce and pasta.
This is what pasta looks like...
After that I checked on the stuff in the oven.
See?
(this was so long ago I actually still wore glasses!)
In the meantime, meantime I made them pretty with the brilliant addition of a basil leaf...
Did other things:
Notice the empty Snapple bottle, this was an important part of the process I guess...
And made it all look like this:
I then grated some parmesan for good measure (the best kind of measure)
And finally...
Yummy dinner...
Given the choice between pork chop, and the always delicious Chicken Parmesan I know I'd choose pork chop almost every time, so that's why it surprises me I've never seen it on any menus...
Oh well...
Give her a shot next time you want an easy/impressive dinner, or if you want to have a "red sauce italian dinner night" along with some crappy wine and an okay dessert on a red checkered table cloth...
It's the kind of theme night that some might think is cute, or for some it might remind me of my horrible, born-and-raised-on-staten-island "italian" ex-girlfriend (think Jersey Shore) that made my friends and I the single worst "authentic" Italian meal we've ever had in our lives (we still joke about it often, in a "glad we all made it out of that one alive" sort of way---seriously she threatened to put a mob hit on us)...
Anyhoo, neither here nor there...
Neither here nor there.
So I guess that's all for now, I'll comb through the past a little bit more and see if I can't find another post or two, and maybe I'll start taking some pictures of all these good times being had at Chez Gerloff, or in this case Casa Gerloffino...
See you then mon amis, er, amica mia...
See you then.
Chow,
n*
