Pig Under the Duvet

Of course, I mean pork, not the whole pig :-) the name for the dish was somehow inspired by the names of dishes I used to find really fascinating as a kid. A lot of dishes served covered with some variety of white sauce, often a cream or cheese based sauces tend to be called ".... under the duvet" or "... under the cover". Funny, isn't it?
I remember how gripping I used to find cookbooks, or my mum's recipe scrapbook as a child. Not that I wouldn't read other books, I did. I was quite a bookworm, and actually that hasn't changed.
There was certainly something intriguing about the dish names I found there, sadly most of the dishes rarely lived up to the expectations :-)
The names still don't cease to amuse me - when I see all the "the royal style" dishes - meats (mostly game), fish, pates, and even soups. There were also the 'luxurious', 'exquisite' or 'gourment' dishes - raging from meats, through salads, bakes, to cakes and desserts - who wouldn't want to try those
There were many dishes "with a surprise" - which to me sounded promising, until I found out that the surprise was hard-boiled egg, cheese, mushrooms or some vegetables. Come on, what sort of surprise is that? :-)
My favourite one of the lot is the so-called "Nothing Soup", which actually isn't a soup but a kind of creamy dessert. Ah well, bearing in mind that my early childhood fell in the martial law period, I supposed people were trying to use fancy-sounding names to colour-up the grey reality. Maybe.

My dish doesn't really need any sugarcoating, it tastes delicious even if you call it exactly what it is - namely, pork with mushrooms and cream and cheese sauce.

Ingredients:

4 pork chops
salt, pepper
paprika
turmeric
plain all purpose flour
oil for frying

Sauce:
200g mushrooms
a clove of garlic
a pot of cream
200g grated strong cheese

Beat the chops with a mallet, sprinkle spices on both sides and toss each chop in flour. Heat the oil on a frying pan and fry the chops until golden brown on both sides. Place the chops on a baking tray.

Peel and chop the mushrooms and garlic, season and fry them. Put mushrooms on each chop and put them into the oven (180C).

In the meantime, combine the cream with grated cheese in a bowl, add salt, pepper, paprika and turmeric. Pour the sauce onto the chops and bake for a bit longer, until the top is golden and crispy. It's ready to serve, and truly delicious!

Comments

My Take on Italian

Italian cuisine is often to be considered to be simple. I guess it is like with elegance - simplicity is the key. Good quality, real Italian ingredients are crucial, combined with a bit a passion, and not too complex a recipe. Pronto! Though, to tell you the truth, my very first steps with Italian cuisine included ... using instant sauces ... Nowadays I can't quite comprehend how anybody can claim they taste of anything, but I guess it takes trying to "the real deal" ... The very first thing I cooked from scratch, and we both instantly loved, was spaghetti Pomodoro e Basilico, as the Italian call it. Even though for the Italian it is "primo piato" (first dish), an introduction to the main meal, it is just the matter of the amount, as it surely can be the main meal as well! All we need is spaghetti pasta, 4-5 ripe, sweet tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of passata, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, a few basil leaves, salt and pepper to seaso...

Gingerbread Layer Cake

This Christmas I decided to "pimp up" my gingerbread a bit, after a last minute inspiration. I saw a photo of this cake, literally a day before making the cake and decided it's an absolute must this Christmas. I really like how the cake combines gingerbread and gateau type cake features, it's both presentable and delicious. The cake (4 layers): 150 g honey (liquid) 200 g butter or margarine 500 g plain flour 3 yolks 4 tbsp milk 1 tbs purified soda 100 g sugar 1 tbsp ground ginger 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1 tsp ground cardamon 1tsp ground cloves a pinch of ground black pepper Combine the ingredients in a large bowl - as it's really hard to do, you may be best off using dough whisks on a food mixer. Cover the bowl with cling film and put into the fridge for 24 hours. After that time, divide the dough into 4 parts, place on a baking paper-lined baking tray and bake in 180C for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool. The cream: ...

How come I'm in Italy?

My little students often ask me: "Miss, how is it possible that you speak Italian and also English?" It's very cute when they do, but others ask equally often - how come you live here? Well, some people have their "American dream", I've got my Italian one. That's it. I've always loved Italy. I've liked the sound of the language, Italian food's always been one of my absolute favourites, and one day as I was travelling in Italy I had a thought - why not try to live and work here? There are some many teachers like me, who work in this country, I could do it too! I like doing things my way instead of following the same path as others. Life's short and what's the point wasting it repeating the things other people have already done? And so, a day before the end of the year we landed in Brindisi, Puglia where our Italian life began. I'll always have a soft spot for Puglia. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but I feel that it was the time o...

Search This Blog